Colombian-born actress Sofia Vergara got emotional during last week's episode of "America's Got Talent" after a contestant revealed that his sister died around the same time Vergara's brother was murdered.

AGT contestant Brandon Leaked performed a spoken word about his younger sister, who died in 1997 at eight months old.

The spoken word had a line that said, "If this pain and these memories are all that I got left of you, I won't never regret these scars from just trying to hold onto you."

Sofia said it was a beautiful poem and told Leaked that she can feel his pain.

"I know what this is. I know what it is to have somebody taken from you without you knowing," she was quoted in a report. But what exactly happened to the "Modern Family" star's brother?

Rafael Vergara's Death

Rafael Vergara was gunned down in 1996 during an attempted kidnapping. His killers were never brought to justice. He was killed in his family's hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia.

Sofia once said in an interview that they come from a successful family and her brother was a target for kidnapping. That's why his brother always went out with bodyguards. She said her brother went out alone one day and was shot dead. For this, she was devastated.

Private investigator Marcos Rubio visited Vergara's hometown with an Enquirer reporter. Rubio told the Enquirer that there were witnesses, who were afraid to talk back then or they may have been blackmailed.

Rubio said the police should re-open the case get her brother's murder. On the other hand, there were rumors that Rafael was having an affair with the girlfriend of a local crime boss. The source said all of Rafael's friends told him to break it off.

"A lot of people believe that the mobster found out about Rafael and his girl and ordered the hit." Rubio said police never checked out these rumors. He said evidence should be looked at for possible connection to the murder.

Sofia Vergara Now

Vergara is known for her Emmy-nominated role as Gloria on the popular sitcom "Modern Family." She was also in "Meet the Browns," "Happy Feet Two," "Hot Pursuit," and "Smurfs."

Vergara started her first on-screen through a Pepsi commercial for the Latin American markets. She then began her work as a model and actress in a Mexican telenovela.

She has a net worth of $180 million and was the top-earning actress in American television in 2012, 2013, and 2016. Vergara is the highest-paid TV actress in the world as of 2019.

Aside from being the highest-paid TV actress in the world, she also received a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 7, 2015.

She won People's Choice Awards for Favorite TV Comedy Actress and the Screen Actor Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

She won the Best Actress category in ALMA Awards, Image Foundation Awards, and NAACP Image Awards. She started as a judge on AGT's 15th season last February.

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