‘Life cut short’: Las Cruces muralists honor 5-year-old boy killed by drunk driver in 1995

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- In 1995, Jesus Robledo had his entire life ahead of him.

The five-year-old boy was never able to go to college, start his career or meet his soulmate.

On June 3rd, 1995, Robledo's life was cut short after he was struck by a drunk driver on a sidewalk in central Las Cruces.

“We’d like (this) to be a memorial, so that people always remember his life and what can happen with such an incident as drunk driving," said Cameron Vigil, who was moved by Robledo's story.

Vigil and Robert Azure painted a stunning, 100-foot-long memorial that overlooks the sidewalk where Robledo lost his life on Solano Drive off of Idaho Avenue in Central Las Cruces.

Kevin Carpenter was convicted of the crime.

"We just needed to put it together well, you know," Azure said. "To represent what he went through and to give the neighborhood something good and positive to look at everyday, too."

The mural portrays a vivid sunset, with a boy holding a balloon. Broken shapes represent "his life being cut short," Vigil explained. "Almost like a window breaking."

"He’s not able to grow up and experience life anymore," Vigil said. "We just like people to remember the negative side, what were to happen if you were to drink and drive or speed through a neighborhood.”