EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Longtime Borderland journalist and writer Eraldo “Dino” Chiecchi has a new book out, tackling the tragic death by suicide of an El Paso teenager back in 2017.
“Josue: A Young Man’s Life Lost to Suicide” is now available via Amazon.
“Josue Legarda was a seemingly happy young man. The 14-year-old was the life of the party and made everyone smile. Josue was the one to make sure everyone was doing well, cared about their concerns and assured all was well,” according to a synopsis provided by Chiecchi.
“He had plans to ultimately join the Marine Corps. He joined the Young Marines, an unaffiliated group in El Paso, Texas, to prepare for a military life. He excelled at all he did and showed leadership and made great friends. But one morning while his mother was in the hospital for a difficult appendectomy, Josue`s body was found on an Interstate 10 frontage road not far from where he lived,” the synopsis continued.
Chiecchi conducted exhaustive interviews with key people in Josue’s life to try to unravel this story.
Chiecchi is a multimedia professor at Texas State University in San Marcos and was previously a professor of communication at the University of Texas at El Paso. Prior to becoming a journalism professor, he had worked as a reporter and editor for 33 years. He had worked at the El Paso Herald-Post, the Austin American-Statesmen, San Antonio Express-News, South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, the Tucson Citizen, the Associated Press and the El Paso Times.
To order Chiecchi’s book, click here.
