New London — The family of a man who was killed in a crash on Pequot Avenue in New London last week is raising money to have his remains returned to his hometown of Lima, Peru, for funeral services.

Jose Sancho of New London was killed in the early morning hours of May 21, when his car struck a guardrail and tree near Glenwood Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 28-year-old grew up between New London, where his father lives, and Lima, where his mother lives. He moved to New London at the age of 15 to live with his father, who brought him to the United States “for a better life and more opportunities,” according to his stepmother, Luz Luciano. He attended New London High School, where he made lifelong friends.

On Tuesday night, Sancho’s family was gathering at his home in New London to pay their respects to their late loved one in a Peruvian ceremony meant to help guide his spirit to God. His father, Luis Sancho, said on Tuesday afternoon that they would lay out his son’s clothes and photos of him on a table that evening and light candles as they prayed.

One of the things they’re praying for is for help returning Sancho’s body to his home, Peru. His father said that he and Sancho’s mother, Raquel Cano, who lives in Lima, want him to be laid to rest there.

“I spoke to his mother and she asked me to please send him to her,” Luis Sancho said Tuesday through his wife, who translated for him from Spanish to English. He dropped his head into his hands and let out a sob as tears streamed down his wife’s face.

“We’re all still in shock,” Luciano said, adding their family has been wracked with grief since they heard the news on Friday.

The family started a GoFundMe page, at bit.ly/jsanchogfm, to raise enough money to send Sancho’s remains back home. They’re anticipating the cost to be $15,000. As of Tuesday night, it had raised $4,900 from 66 donors — less than a third of what they need. So, the family is considering other ways to fundraise, such as cooking food to sell in the community or hosting a garage sale.

“He is worried because he wants them to bury him the way they’re supposed to,” Luciano said, translating for her husband.

Jose Sancho had last seen his mother three years ago and regularly sent money home to help her because she is sick.

Translating for her husband, Luciano said Sancho’s father “just wanted people to remember him like he was, a happy person, a friendly person. He just liked to help people.”

Sancho was a hard worker, working construction jobs, laying floors and painting in New London, family and friends said.

His father and stepmother said at the time of the crash, which was reported to police about 1:40 a.m. Friday, they couldn’t say for sure where Sancho was going or coming from — a fact they said was making the grieving process even harder.

“It’s hard because we don’t have any way to know what happened,” Luciano said. “It’s hard to believe.”

One of Sancho’s friends from high school, Maria Olivia of New London, said he was a hard worker, a good person and a man with a lot of friends. She last spoke to Sancho about a week before the crash, when he apologized for missing her 30th birthday party. The two had been friends for over a decade and in the days since his death, she’s found herself wishing he’d made it to the party for one last photo together, one last memory.

As she reflected on her friend’s life, she started a group text message chat with all of her and Sancho’s mutual friends and asked them to say a few words about him. Her cousin Guiliana Verdi, a dear friend of Sancho’s, wrote paragraphs.

In her message, Verdi described Sancho as a friend who was both the life of the party and fiercely loyal. “A friend that is there for you in the good and the bad is hard to find. You knew he was humble as can be by seeing how he made (friends) with everyone. He never was one to judge, he knew we all were walking different paths in this journey called life and I felt as though his only objective was to just spread happiness to his friends and family,” she wrote.

She called her friend by his nickname, Zancho, and said there was never a dull moment with him, he always had a joke up his sleeve.

“In many difficult circumstances we find ourselves in life, Zancho was always there to give you that boost of morality and keep you faithful. He had an ability as well to make everyone laugh at any given moment.”

“He was very selfless which made him very giving and made him take a stand to everything that wasn’t justified,” she said, describing her friend as a humanitarian who cared greatly about global issues.

“His presence was very cherished by all of us, and now that he’s gone we will miss him tremendously for all he was," she said. "His soul was like no other.”

A candlelight vigil for Sancho is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 28 on Pequot Avenue, at the site of the crash, where a memorial has been set up. His family hopes it will be a place for his many friends to gather and remember him.

Luciano and Luis Sancho both said they were so thankful for the donations they have received and how much the community has rallied around them in their grief. But Luciano said her husband has been struggling both with his grief and inability to send his son home, and the family is worried about the fact that the medical examiner’s office informed them that it could only hold his body for two weeks.

“We’re running out of time,” Luciano said.

 t.hartz@theday.com