ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sarah Rowe said she and her brother, Michael, should have spent Monday eating cake and ice cream, and opening presents at their grandma’s house. 

“Mikey” as she calls him, would have turned 16. Instead, she and her family gathered outside the place he was murdered just weeks ago. 

“We just want his memory to live on. We just want people to remember him for just being the bright, happy boy he was,” Rowe said. 

Police said Mikey was murdered outside XXL Washer laundromat on San Mateo and Zuni Dec. 7. They said he and two other teens got into a fight with Jamel Coriz. She allegedly left the laundromat and came back with her boyfriend, Oscar Orozco. 

According to police, Orozco chased Mikey outside into the parking lot before he shot and killed him. 

A judge ruled to keep Coriz and Orozco in jail until their trials. They pleaded not guilty to murder on Dec. 27. 

Rowe said her brother could always put a smile on your face, and he lived a life full of laughter. 

A growing memorial outside the laundromat shows pictures of him with friends and a Happy Birthday banner hanging from the branches. 

“We wonder who he’d be when he was 20, 25 you know? Who would he marry, how many kids would he have, what would he do with his life? Because he was just so bright, and he had so many opportunities in front of him, and so many ways to make the world a better place. To know he doesn’t get those opportunities is just devastating,” said Rowe.