To his friends, he was funny and selfless. To his fraternity brothers, he was a role model. To his sister Julieta, he always had a childlike gentleness about him. 

Vicente Mundo was a junior studying statistics at the University who grew up in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago. He was the first in his family to go away to college.

Close friends and family laughed and cried as they shared memories of Mundo at a vigil held at La Casa Cultural Latina on Monday night to remember his life. 

The vigil began with a prayer and a message written by Mundo’s family, who attended a vigil in Chicago but asked the local community to share stories.

He was described as a funny, generous and driven person by several friends, who said they are determined to keep his memory alive through sharing stories. 

“If you would’ve known him, even for just a little bit, you would’ve fallen in love with him because that’s just the type of guy he was,” said Erika Castillo, a close friend of Mundo who attended Curie Metropolitan High School with him.

Castillo evoked both tears and laughs from the audience as she recalled a time when Mundo spontaneously came to visit her in the hospital after she underwent surgery. He joked and danced to make her laugh, she said.

The crowd reacted to the recollections with a mixture of mourning and laughter. 

Those who attended the gathering were encouraged to wear white. A table in the center of the room was decorated with colorful veladoras, white flowers and pictures of Mundo. Behind the table was a tree-shaped mural where mourners wrote down individual messages that will be posted on the display throughout the week at the center. 

A soccer ball, in honor of Mundo’s love of the sport, was passed around to be signed by those who attended. Mundo served as a coach for the Liga Latinoamericana, a Hispanic soccer league, in Chicago. The ball will be given to Mundo’s family.

Mundo’s friends and fraternity brothers spoke of his kind heart and sense of humor. 

“I’m trying to think of any time he ever said anything bad about anyone, any time he was ever not helpful — and there isn’t one,” Enrique Escarpita, Mundo’s fraternity brother in Theta Chi said. “That’s why this whole situation to me is just overwhelming because something that bad can happen to someone that good.”

Escarpita described Mundo as a role model in their fraternity. 

University Chief of Police Jeffrey Christensen spoke briefly during the vigil. 

“It’s a tragic loss, and we will find who did this and bring them to justice. I promise you,” he said. 

In a separate interview with The Daily Illini, Julieta LaMalfa, Mundo’s older sister, said the stories his friends told her about her brother served as a source of joy during the week that followed his disappearance. 

“I learned so many cute things about him,” LaMalfa said. “People are telling me they don’t have a lot of photos of him. So I’m hoping that if one person out there has one, even if he’s in the background. I want to know everything about him.”

Mundo’s family members held their own vigil at St. Gall Church on Monday night.

LaMalfa also said she wanted to thank all who helped search for him and for the memories they shared of him.

“There were many, many people I can’t even start to thank,” LaMalfa said. “Anybody that has said anything about him has only said the best things. He was gentle and innocent in so many ways. I just feel blessed that he had such a happy life.”

Camille and Charlotte can be reached at [email protected].