BROWNSVILLE – March 11, 2003, is a day many people in Brownsville will never forget. Three Brownsville children were murdered by their parents. But nearly 15 years after the crime, closure came in the form of a park. 

Neighbors and city officials remembered that day as they dedicated a park to the victims.

The building where it happened was torn down and the Tres Angeles Park was built in its place. The spot features three trees planted for the children.

One neighbor says she's lived in the neighborhood her whole life.

"I was born right there, two houses from here," said Minnie Perez.

She says the neighborhood changed when John Allen Rubio and his common-law wife Angela Camacho killed their three children.

The children, 3-year-old Julissa Quezada, 1-year-old John Rubio and 2-month-old Mary Jane were smothered and beheaded.

It wasn't until the building was torn down last year that Perez says she felt a sense of peace, not only for herself but for the three children.

"It was a release you know because a lot of things were happening that we didn't like," she said.

Now the park featuring three trees in memory of the children sits where their house used to on the corner of East Tyler and 8th streets.

The former judge who issued the arrest warrants for Rubio and Camacho says he will never forget the children.

"They didn't have a chance to live their life out,” said Brownsville Commissioner Ben Neece.

The city officials agree they want to keep the memory of the three children alive.

Camacho, 37, is serving three life sentences for her role in the killings of her children. She is originally from Mexico, in the U.S. illegally and therefore could not be eligible for the death sentence.

During the trial, she was seen as mentally unfit to testify.

She will be eligible for parole in 40 years and will face deportation after she serves her sentence.

Rubio, 37, is currently on death row in the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas. He originally asked for the death sentence as his punishment but has since appealed it.