CHANDLER, Arizona — It would be the last speech 18-year-old Romeo Alvarez would ever give.
He was dressed in a blue cap and gown. Underneath his gown was a red Spiderman costume, a joke he'd reference in his graduation speech.
"Good evening, everybody. My name is Romeo Alvarez."
He sounded a little nervous. He's one of a handful of senior graduation speakers at Dobson High. Two had already spoken. The jokes that they told set the bar high for him.
His mother was in the audience watching the product of 18 years of hard work to keep Romeo in school, away from the wrong sort of people and heading toward his dreams of success.
"I feel like she was a huge inspiration to him. He thanked her in his graduation speech," Jessica Alvarez, Romeo's aunt, said. "It was dedicated to her because of how much she pushed him."
Romeo looked down at his notes on the football field during graduation, then turned and pointed to the stands.
"I'm also thankful for my family, but I'm especially thankful for this beautiful woman in the crowd, my mom," he said.
There should have been more speeches for Alvarez to give. Graduation speeches when he became an EMT or maybe a doctor. Wedding toasts, maybe speeches at his own children's events.
But Romeo Alvarez wouldn't give any more speeches or even see his 19th birthday. He died in what was an entirely preventable accident in a Chandler garage on Monday. His aunt said she doesn't think he even knew about carbon monoxide poisoning.
Car left on in closed garage
Monday night, Romeo left his mother's house and headed for a friend's apartment. It has a detached garage in a row with other garages. The garage door is the only way in or out. He parked there with his friend, just hanging out as teenagers do.
But after a while, Romeo's mother realized she hadn't heard from him, which wasn't like her son.
She called the police and the family went searching and finally, she figured out how to find his phone's location from a laptop. It led them to the garage. The door was closed and the car was running. Romeo Alvarez and his friend were both dead.
Police said it was accidental. Jessica Alvarez said she didn't know why the door was closed or what happened.
“His mom is devastated," she said. "She's devastated. This, her only son. My mom is devastated. This was my mom's only son's only son.”
“Romeo was my brother's legacy," Jessica Alvarez said. "And Romeo leaves behind an incredible legacy because of who he was in this short period of time in his life.”
Mother vowed to protect son after his father was killed when he was just 2 months old
“His plan for his life was supposed to be much different," Jessica Alvarez said Thursday morning.
“The whole world was open for this kid," she said. "You know, the sky was the limit, like he had every opportunity available to him because of how great his grades were, how much he applied himself, how ambitious he was."
Jessica Alvarez said that the Alvarez family knew Romeo Alvarez was special. He was smart, driven, loyal and happy. He was accepted to Arizona State University and was living in a dorm there. He was pursuing a degree that would lead him to the medical field. A doctor, maybe, but he'd said he wanted to be a medic on a SWAT team to help injured police officers.
The hopes were so high because Romeo's life could easily have gone the other way.
Romeo's father, Armando Paul Alvarez, was shot and killed when Romeo was only two months old, Jessica Alvarez said. She said he'd had a past on the streets but had left that behind.
Armando Alvarez died in 2006 after Raymond Bianco hired three teenagers to kill him over a debt. Bianco is in prison for the rest of his life, convicted of first-degree murder.
After losing her husband to violence, Jessica Alvarez said Romeo's mother vowed to do whatever it took to keep from losing her son as well.
"[She] built him up to be the perfect son," Jessica Alvarez said.
'Do it with all your heart'
In the last few seconds of the last speech he ever gave, Romeo Alvarez passed on advice he'd learned in his 18 years on Earth. Advice that his aunt says he lived every day.
"My piece of advice to you is, whatever you do," Romeo said to his fellow graduates, "you do it with all your heart."
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