In just over a month, it will be three years since Melanie Guerrero's son Michael Jose Castro was murdered. 

"Reflecting back on who Michael was right, and learning more about my son along the way, right, like, meeting people," she told KUAM News. "There's a depth of careness about his character, like, he cared. I’m his mom and I read back all the messages, right? That he used to write to me in Texas, right, like, God, how am I going to move forward, except to just remember all these memories ."

Next Saturday Guerrero and family will finally lay her son to rest at the Guam Memorial Park in Barrigada. Castro's body was only recently released. 

"I'm very grateful. I thank God that 26 years, like, I had that," she said. "I'm looking back now and thanking God, like, Thank you for giving me that 26 years with my son."

Guerrero reported her son missing on Nov. 8, 2020. He was last seen a week before, on Oct. 29.  His car was later found in Santa Rita more than a week after he was reported missing.

 

In June 2021, Nicholas Wayne Moore was arrested in Florida and extradited back to Guam charged with Castro's murder. 

Guerrero told KUAM Moore and her son were more than acquaintances-- they were friends.

"Like a year or two prior, Michael would bring up Nick," she said. "In the context of like, I'm going to have dinner with my friend and I knew he was talking about Nick. Because he did bring up his name and then he would say like, my friend Nick is offering me a job. His dad does this, Like, this is what the dad does. And he helps his dad. So I said, Oh, wow, that's very nice that he's offering you a job. And then I've heard from my brother that he would see them out, like, at the beach, just hanging out." I've heard throughout the years that Michael has visited him at his own home a lot of times."

According to court documents, Moore allegedly admitted he knew Castro and their relationship dealt with drugs. 

In October 2021, Castro’s remains were found in Yigo.

When Castro first heard the news of Moore’s arrest, she was in shock.

"It didn't make sense to me in the beginning at all. Like why? It still honestly doesn't make sense to me today," she said. Like, why? Like, this was, like, what could have happened that everything that I was told from Michael lead to this? How does that happen? Because I have children, I have friends myself and I like my friends, I trust my friends. How could something--a moment be so big that it could lead to this big thing of my son being killed?"

Those questions have given her pause. 

"We encourage our children to make friends but now reflecting back, like, my mindset has changed a bit in parenting. You have to watch who your friends are," she said. "Michael is not here to speak about betrayal, right, but I can speak for him that I know my son. At that moment, he felt betrayed by his friend."

 

As the murder trial approaches possibly early next year, Guerrero says she and family can only hold their breaths and just wait and see how things unfold.

"I want to know, I still don't really know and I can see that," she said. "I don't really know. There's so many assumptions, but we need to get to the real reason right behind all of this. And I'm waiting for that."

When asked if she has a message for Moore and his family, Guerrero said this: "It's not just about, to me, the way I feel. It's not. It's a lot deeper right than that because murder affects all of us. Because we stay behind to suffer, we stay behind for the suffering. We stay as the victim's family, we stay behind for the suffering. We have to process all these feelings and emotions and so does his family. He's the one being accused. I thank God I'm not sitting on his mother's chair and his father's chair to have to look at my son and being accused of such a crime. I'm not them. That's-God knows the answers, right? God sees it all. But that's going- I wouldn't want to be on that other side. Never. So I'm just a person. I'm a mother, myself. And so as she like, I never want to be her to answer questions. Why do you think your son did this to my son? I thank God, I'm not that mother. That has to answer those questions."