This holiday season is different for Leticia Manzaneros Briseño. It’s the first without her son, Julio César Soto Jr.

“It has been difficult,” Briseño said. “People say to me, ‘but you look fine, you're very strong.’ They don't know how I feel inside.”

Soto was shot and killed on Aug. 17, 2025. The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office said the Mexican national, who was in the U.S. with a visa, was being filmed singing in a home 4500 block of Fe Drive in rural Edinburg when a man shot him in the face with an AR-style rifle.

READ MORE: Bond set for Edinburg man accused of fatally shooting man while being filmed singing

Briseño lives in Reynosa, but would visit Soto as often as she could. She said she talked with him on the phone the day before he died.

“August 31 was his daughter’s 4th birthday, he had planned a birthday party for her,” Briseño said. “We did what we could to make it happen for her.”

Now that Soto is gone, Briseño said she's doing what she can to stay connected to her grandchildren.

Freddy Mireles, the man identified by the sheriff’s office as the suspect who fatally shot Soto, pleaded not guilty to a murder charge on Dec. 1, 2025.

Briseño said she was in the courtroom during that hearing.

“It was very shocking to see this person, it was very difficult,” Briseño said. “You don't know what went through my mind.”

Briseño said she’s been travelling from Reynosa to the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg for every court hearing about her son. She's also leaning on her faith to guide her through this difficult journey.

“I live day by day and ask God to give me health, strength, and life to see justice done for my son," Briseño said. “I stand up for my baby who needs me because he is a child with Down syndrome, and I know that if my son were here, he would say, ‘do your best because my brother needs you.’”

Hidalgo County court records show Mireles’ trial begins on Jan. 20, 2026. 

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