Family, pals rattled by young victim’s slaying
During a chilly winter fire drill last year, Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino offered a classmate his sweater to keep her warm. He was also a popular babysitter for his family.
“It was very cold and he gave me his sweater,” a fellow sophomore told the Herald about the freezing-cold fire drill. “And the last thing he said to me was ‘happy birthday’ earlier this week.”
Authorities announced yesterday that Lee Manuel Viloria-Paulino, 16, was found slain on the banks of the Merrimack River Thursday afternoon. His head and arms had been cut off.
His friend, who attended a vigil for the teen last night at Lawrence High School along with scores of others, said Viloria-Paulino helped her through a difficult day before a dance recital last year.
“I had really bad anxiety that day. It was really hard for me,” she said. “He calmed (you) down very easily, it was just being next to him.”
Family and friends described Viloria-Paulino as a helpful youth you could count on.
“We called it vibes, he had really nice vibes; sitting around him, you felt better,” said another classmate. “Nobody can ever be like him again.”
Students gathered at the gates of the Lawrence High football field on North Parish Street last night, lighting candles and signing placards with messages to the slain boy. More than 100 candles lighted the front of the gate as students looked on, sobbing quietly and hugging each other.
Christine Michaud, Viloria-Paulino’s aunt, described her nephew as a kindhearted lover of poetry who was excited to take a poetry-related field trip right before he went missing. The teen would help babysit her children and other kids in the neighborhood, she said, and lend a hand to people he didn’t even know.
“He helped an older lady on the side of the street one time, bringing in her groceries,” Michaud recalled. “He just stopped and helped her.
“People chalk it up to Lawrence, their kids are bad,” Michaud said. “I want people to know that’s not him, that is not him. He is not that kid.”
Another sophomore, who helped organize the vigil, said Viloria-Paulino would call her up to check on her when she wasn’t in school. She couldn’t imagine why he would be killed.
“We want justice and we want to find the person who did this because no one should be treated like this,” she said. “Whoever did this has no heart.”