A Hollister native believed to be the victim of a grisly murder
in the city of Santa Clara was a local high school graduate who was
vivacious, full of life and a dedicated mother, her family said
Tuesday.
Hollister – A Hollister native believed to be the victim of a grisly murder in the city of Santa Clara was a local high school graduate who was vivacious, full of life and a dedicated mother, her family said Tuesday.
Though police have not yet officially identified the victim, family members, neighbors and colleagues believe that the woman who Santa Clara police officers found dead and dismembered in a car Sunday night is Hollister native Dolores “Dee” Gonzales, 43.
“She was so full of life,” said her sister, Beatrice Gonzales, who lives in Hollister. “She was so alive, and she enjoyed being a mother.”
Officers found what are believed to be Gonzales’ remains in Alexandre Laurent Hochstraser’s 1994 maroon Volkswagen Jetta parked at an apartment complex on Malabar Avenue in Santa Clara Sunday night. Police arrived after a caller requested that authorities check on the man’s 2-year-old son, Santa Clara police Sgt. Kurt Clarke said.
Hochstraser, 46, an employee at Cupertino’s De Anza College, was arrested on suspicion of murder and remained in the Santa Clara County Jail Tuesday, according to police. Police declined to comment on the possible motive behind the killing.
The body was mangled and a coroner will need to confirm the victim’s identity, police said. Hochstraser’s neighbors and colleagues say they believe the dead woman is Gonzales, the toddler’s mother. Hochstraser and Gonzales were not married, according to Beatrice Gonzales.
While Beatrice Gonzales said police had asked her and the family not to discuss the details of the case while it’s under investigation, she said her sister was the fourth of 10 children. Dolores Gonzales was born in Hollister in 1961. She played flute and piccolo in San Benito High School band before graduating in 1979. After graduating, she worked for the San Benito County Library for about two years. And for more than two decades, she worked as an administrator at Mission College in Santa Clara, her sister said.
“Dolores was a devoted mother and much-loved sister. She was a spirited and vivacious woman with a personality that could warm your heart,” according to an obituary released Tuesday by Gonzales’ family.
Gonzales’ parents still live in Hollister, and family members are coming from throughout the state and from as far as North Dakota for a service that will be held at 10am on Friday – which would have been Gonzales’ 44th birthday – at Mission San Juan Bautista. Family members declined to comment further.
In lieu of flowers, Gonzales’ family requested that donations be made to the Dolores Gonzales Memorial Fund through any San Benito Bank, First National Bank or South Valley Bank location. Donations will be placed in a trust for Gonzales’ son Daniel.
“Dolores was always there when you needed someone and often said that she is proud of her children. She has been called home to be seated by God’s side, and Dee’s beautiful soul will be missed forever,” the family said in the obituary.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Luke Roney covers politics and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected]
