BOSTON -- As two Boston teenagers and a 20-year-old waited to be arraigned Tuesday for the stabbing death of a pizza delivery man, friends of the victim were speaking out about the heinous crime.

Michel Andre St. Jean, 20 and Alexander Emmanuel Gallett, 18, both of Hyde Park, and Yamily Mathurin, 17, of Mattapan, were taken into custody on Friday night for the murder of Richel Nova, 58, of Hyde Park.

Steven Guerrero, 14, choked back tears Sunday remembering the man who was his mentor and was always there for him.

“He’s just a really good friend and I don’t know why someone would do that to him,” said Guerrero.

In 1985, Nova moved to Massachusetts from the Dominican Republic with Pablo Guerrero, Steven’s father. Pablo Guerrero said the two men were best friends whose families grew up together and remained close.

Longtime friend Rafael Hernandez said Nova worked for two years at a Pizza Hut in Hyde Park but quit two months ago because he didn’t want to deliver to unsafe neighborhoods. Nova started delivering for Dominos recently.

“It’s a shame,” said friend Rafael Hernandez. “You come here to change your life and do better and that’s what happens to you.”

Nova worked three jobs to try and provide a better life for his son and twin 20-year-old daughters.

“He always said, 'Go do something active so you can become something better in your future,'” said Guerrero.

Boston Mayor Tom Menino was also taking Nova’s death personally. Nova’s daughters, who are juniors in college, have worked at City Hall for the past four summers.

Police said St. Jean, Gallett and Mathurin broke into a vacant Hyde Park apartment Thursday night and called for a pizza. When Nova showed up, authorities said the trio lured him to a kitchen a door, where he was stabbed to death.

Police said the trio fled the scene in Nova’s Subaru Legacy, taking with them Nova’s $100 in tip money and a box of pizza. The car was found in a church parking lot on River Street.

Authorities linked evidence in the car and from the scene to the suspects, and had surveillance tape from a nearby building, leading to the arrests.

St. Jean, Gallett and Yamily were scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in West Roxbury District Court on charges of murder, armed robbery and armed breaking and entering.

"Richel Nova was a hardworking man making an honest living to provide for his family when he was preyed upon by three vicious thugs," said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.