GILBERT, Ariz. — Isaiah Panez loved celebrating the Fourth of July with his family, but this year they were forced to honor the day without him.
The 22-year-old was murdered on Father’s Day in downtown Gilbert. His girlfriend witnessed the attack.
“It completely shattered our family and broke my heart to many pieces,” his mother, Erica Panez, told 12News on Tuesday.
Isaiah and his girlfriend were leaving a bar just after 1 a.m. on June 18 when police said they somehow got into an altercation with three men as they walked to their car near Ash Street and Vaughn Avenue.
Isaiah was stabbed seven times in the chest, but doctors couldn’t save him.
“We don’t know why they fought, but whatever it was, I can’t imagine being so detrimental to someone’s person that it would have to go to what they did to my son,” the victim’s mother said. “My son was good and kind and didn’t deserve this.”
Three days after the murder, investigators arrested Dennis Fernando Pacheco, 36, in Tempe. Detectives tracked him down after reviewing surveillance video and other evidence at the scene.
“I know there are two more [men] that we’re hoping and praying will come forward and say something of what happened and are held accountable, just as much as the first guy,” Erica Panez said.
Isaiah’s family hopes anyone in the area and may have witnessed or heard the assault reports it to authorities.
They said the 22-year-old was planning to propose to his girlfriend of three years and was imagining his life as a father after becoming an uncle.
“My brother really strived to be his best self and I don’t want that to get overlooked,” Mariah Garcia said. “He was a great worker, great brother, great son. We miss him a lot.”
As they cope with their loss, Isaiah’s family said they are holding on to the love he gave them.
“The father-son bond is what I’m going to miss the most,” said Victor Panez. “He was my best friend. I still wasn’t done teaching him things about life.”
Isaiah is described as a jokester who loved to make people laugh. His mother said he was a “homebody,” and had to “scold from time to time so he did social things” and got out of the house.
While he was eager to take on life, his family said Isaiah was a child at heart, who loved Spiderman. His family made black T-shirts with a Spiderman face shaped into a heart, in his memory.
“We want people to know that he wasn’t just someone, he was someone great, he was someone that had a purpose and he won’t be forgotten,” his sister Mariah Panez said. “If there’s people that can help us, or knows anything, please come forward.”
If you know anything about Isaiah Panez's murder, you’re asked to call Gilbert police.
“It would just give us some peace,” the victim’s mother said. “My son deserves justice.”
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