Family to celebrate birthday with somber tribute

Originally published August 11, 2001

His murder robbed Matthew Kimble of the chance to celebrate his 21st birthday, but his family and friends will mark the occasion this weekend during a private celebration of his life.

An Elgin High School graduate, Kimble was shot and killed at an Elgin party in April 2000. Police say he was trying to help a friend by breaking up a fight when one of the partygoers pulled out a gun and started firing.

One bullet pierced Kimble's heart, killing him within minutes. Two of his best friends also were shot outside the late-night party on Illinois Avenue, but they survived.

The killer remains on the loose.

"It's a tough week knowing it's his 21st birthday ... that's an important birthday and he won't be here for it," said Terry Kimble, Matthew's mother. "It's been a lot harder than I thought it would be because it just brings home again how much we're missing Matt."

Matthew's family and friends will meet at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin at 2 p.m. today for a memorial service in his honor. They then will head to the family's house on the city's east side for a pig roast - a longtime family tradition that now serves as an annual celebration of Matthew's life.

During the party, Terry Kimble also will award the first Matt Kimble Memorial Scholarship. This year's $500 scholarship - awarded based on community or athletic involvement and academic success - will go to Elgin Community College student Shawn Hayes.

"We want to keep Matthew's memory alive and one of the ways to do that is by having the events and giving out the scholarship, and we want to have even more money for it next year," Terry Kimble said. "And I'm not one of those people that wants to be in sorrow alone ... it helps having people around to celebrate the event of his birth."

The money for this year's Matt Kimble Memorial Scholarship comes from individual donations and the golf tournament his family hosted last October in Kimble's honor. The Kimble family already is working on this year's golf outing, which they hope will subsidize the memorial scholarship fund for years to come.

Portions of the proceeds also go to the reward fund that will pay the person who can lead authorities to the arrest and conviction of Matthew Kimble's killer. So far, $10,000 is being offered, and Terry Kimble hopes to add to that amount, as well.

Elgin police say 19-year-old Roberto Vences of Gilberts is the gunman who killed Kimble. He is wanted on a first-degree murder warrant in Kimble's death, and he tops Kane County's 10 Most Wanted list.

Vences has been a fugitive since the shooting 14 months ago. Police say they believe he may be in Mexico, but that he still visits family and friends in Gilberts, Carpentersville and Elgin.

Vences also is charged with attempted murder for the shootings of Kimble's two friends.

Terry Kimble, her husband Richard and their other children have been relentless in leading the search for Vences. They repeatedly canvass the city passing out fliers with Vences' picture, and recently, Terry Kimble talked to the television program "America's Most Wanted," which ran a segment on the murder.

"I still don't have a lot of anger because that's too hard to sustain and grieve at the same time," Terry Kimble said. "But (Vences) needs to stand up for it and face the consequences ... I wonder how his mother sleeps at night knowing her son killed my son."