Fact 1: At the time of my son’s shooting, another person was in the apartment but didn’t call 911 – yet was not treated as a person of interest, contrary to standard death investigation protocols.

Since April 1, 2023, the Guam Police Department (GPD) has maintained the investigative assumption that my son’s death was a suicide, even though the manner of death was officially undetermined, as of July 10, 2023, on his Certificate of Death. 

The fact is, my son was not alone. A female was with him at the time he was shot, and her parents were on scene before the police even arrived.

Friday, March 31, 2023

Security footage, which GPD failed to review or obtain the night of the incident, confirmed that a female known to my son, identified as Mariana, was with him. The footage shows her entering his apartment building at 4:49 p.m. with a black backpack, which she left there. At 6:14 p.m., my son walked Mariana out to her car. They later met up. At 8:30 p.m., they joined my son’s friends at a club for a fundraiser – a fact supported by witness statements and a credit card charge. The two returned to his apartment, and she stayed the night.

Saturday, April 1, 2023

The day began with what seemed like a typical Saturday. At 10:50 a.m., he and Mariana were on camera walking his dog before they left the apartment together in her car at 10:58 a.m. At 12:11 p.m., my son texted me from a coffee shop, where a purchase was confirmed on his card. He then went to Macy's to buy swim shorts for a planned beach outing with his grandmother the next day, a detail confirmed by the receipt and tagged shorts I found in his apartment. Mariana and my son returned to the apartment at 2:07 p.m. 

The last footage of my son shows him retrieving cleaning equipment from his car at 3:13 p.m. He was fatally shot sometime between then and 6:00 p.m. 

(It's also worth noting: Jaren had made dinner plans with his close friends for that Saturday night and was planning to cook steak for them. The plans were only rescheduled due to a family commitment on their end.)

The Guam Police Department’s Call for Service Detailed Report (CFS 676) indicates that her father, not Mariana, contacted GPD at 6:19 p.m. He reported a domestic disturbance. Within eight minutes, her parents arrived at the apartment complex. Security footage shows them pulling up in a flame-designed truck right in front of the building's loading zone (a few feet from the staircase). As they exited the vehicle, both appeared calm, each on their phone. Her mother went upstairs to the third-floor apartment first, followed by her father about a minute later. 

At 6:29 p.m., just minutes after police were dispatched, the call was reclassified as a possible suicide.

At the same time, a tenant phoned the landlord after hearing what sounded like a gunshot and yelling. She saw two females come down the stairs and exit the building shortly after. The landlord then contacted GPD’s dispatch, which was noted on the CFS 676 report at 6:34 p.m. – “as per CVPR…his neighbors heard gunshots at location.” (CVPR - Civilian Police Reserve)

Mariana and her mother walked down the stairs and across the street, away from her father's truck. Her father remained upstairs for approximately three to four more minutes before GPD officers arrived at 6:31 p.m. Two officers went upstairs, while others met and stayed with Mariana and her mother across the street. 

Medics and GPD Supervisor Corpuz arrived at 6:36 p.m., but Corpuz remained across the street. At 6:47 p.m., my son was officially classified as an “expired person.” 

After GPD Lieutenant Arriola went upstairs at 7:23 p.m., in just four minutes, he ruled the death a suicide. 

The crime lab arrived at 7:12 p.m. but didn't enter the apartment until 8:12 p.m., only to leave six minutes later at 8:18 p.m.

At 6:58 p.m., medics examined Mariana roadside, with her parents present. The parents briefly separated from their daughter at 7:11 p.m. By 7:20 p.m., a family member in an SUV picked up Mariana and her mother, presumably to transport them to the precinct. The father, however, remained at the scene and didn’t move his vehicle until 7:36 p.m. A priest arrived at 8:17 p.m. and was permitted to enter the ambulance, presumably to administer final rites or a blessing, with the girl’s father present.

Investigative Process

In most jurisdictions, a death reported during a domestic disturbance is treated as a potential homicide to ensure a thorough investigation. Police are trained to secure the scene, preserve and analyze evidence (i.e., gunshot residue and fingerprints), and treat any surviving individual as a person of interest (i.e., reviewing phone records, examining statements for inconsistencies).  None of this protocol was followed.

Police actions at the scene of my son’s death show they did not treat it as an active crime scene or initiate a formal investigation. They failed to follow standard protocol by not securing or cordoning off the area. They also did not obtain or preserve security footage of my son’s entire day, which could have corroborated witness statements and established an evidentiary timeline of his activities.

Days After

Four days later, my daughter (who often worked out with her brother) unexpectedly saw Mariana at the gym. That same day, Mariana messaged her: "The police were just very specific about not contacting your family until after the investigation." This statement is deeply concerning, given the lack of an investigation and how quickly a conclusion was reached. 

I didn’t hear from her parents until my son's funeral mass, when her father approached me for the first time. We politely asked him to leave, as it wasn’t the appropriate time for introductions. In the guestbook, her parents had written a four-line message. It felt out of place, especially the final line: “May the Lord have mercy on your son’s soul!”

To this day, her parents have never reached out, neither before the funeral nor in the time since.

As a mother, deciding to share these details, including who my son was with when he was shot, has been an incredibly hard one to make. Mariana was someone my son considered a friend, and I’ve kept that in mind all this time, even though I never met her. But Jaren is more than just a name in a report or a file in a cabinet. He is my child. His life and his truth matter. And Mariana is part of that truth.

Fact 1 and its layers reveal a clear bias, and that there is more to my son’s death — a death that GPD processed in only one hour and 47 minutes.