San Jose jewelry store owner who was fatally stabbed was hardworking man

Salvador Peña was a hardworking man.

He took care of horses, gardened, worked at Lucky's grocery stores and sold shoes.

Twelve years ago, he bought a small music and jewelry shop on Alum Rock Avenue in San Jose, where family members said he spent most of his waking hours. On Dec. 15, the 56-year-old Peña was stabbed multiple times in the front of his store, Peña Joyeria Y Discoteca.

And on Saturday, Peña died as a result of those wounds.

Now, as police are investigating this possible robbery-turned-homicide, Peña's extended family, in which he was the eldest of 13 siblings, is grappling with his death. They also are busy arranging his funeral and determining who, if anyone, in their brood is willing to take on the responsibility of keeping his store open.

"Grandma is going to decide," said David Madrigal, Peña's 17-year-old nephew.

On Monday, David Madrigal joined Peña's brother-in-law Javier Madrigal and Peña's brother Raul Pena, 49, at the closed shop, which sells CDs, watches, jewelry and religious icons. It also serves as a money-transfer/check-cashing station. The men briefly assisted two police detectives who came by about noon to review evidence in the case.

Police have released few details about the crime, but they have said a witness described a black man in his mid-20s, standing about 6 feet tall, of medium build and wearing dark clothes, who was seen inside the shop about 9:35 p.m. Dec. 15. A man who works next door told the Mercury News that video surveillance taken from his shop showed the man also was wearing a long coat, down to his knees. Peña's family thought there might even be two suspects.

The family said when paramedics arrived to help Salvador, who was suffering from severe knife wounds, he was conscious. But he wasn't awake by the time the family got there. They said he had gone back to the shop after hours because in the busy holiday shopping season he felt there was much work to do.

"We've never been able to speak with him," David Madrigal said.

Raul Peñasaid Salvador came to Southern California more than 30 years ago from Jalisco, Mexico, where he worked in a variety of jobs, often holding two at once. Salvador Peña never married and had no kids of his own.
"He worked too hard," Raul Peña said. But Salvador Peña treated his large family, especially his two nephews who lived with him, as his own.

"People thought I was his son," David Madrigal said. "He always brought me to work. He brought me to church. He'd watch me when my parents were at work and when we didn't have a lot of money. We lived in his home. He was our landlord."

Often quiet at home, his uncle became an extrovert at his shop, David Madrigal said. Several customers left online comments on the Mercury News website. One woman wrote that he often trusted customers to pay him later if they couldn't come up with the funds immediately.
Javier Madrigal, who worked in the shop part time, said Salvador Peña was more like a blood brother to him. "But we are a close family," he said. "And that helps."