Real Name: David Alex Alvarez
Aliases: David Alejandro Alvarez, Dominic Alex Alvarez, Miguel Alvarez Jr, "Spooky"
Wanted For: Murder, Attempted Murder, Kidnapping
Missing Since: September 29, 1996
Case[]
Details: On September 29, 1996, twenty-nine-year-old David Alvarez and twenty-one-year-old Trinia Irene Aguirre went to a Baldwin Park, California home, looking for his estranged wife. She was not there, but ten other people were. He and Aguirre tied them up and proceeded to execute four of them. The victims were: sisters Massiel Torres, twelve, and Evelyn Torres, nine; their thirty-two-year-old uncle Robert Diaz; and their thirty-two-year-old gardener Jose Manuel Roja. Three other people were wounded, but survived. The victims were both shot and stabbed. The apparent motive was revenge against Alvarez's wife and her relatives. Some of her relatives reportedly assaulted Alvarez after he had previously abducted and assaulted her in August of 1996.
Two months later, Aguirre surrendered to police, but Alvarez remains at large. He has been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. He is fluent in English and Spanish. He was most recently seen in Southern California. He is believed to be either in the Southwestern United States or Mexico. He should be considered armed and dangerous.
Extra Notes: This case first aired as a Special Bulletin on the February 14, 1997 episode. It was also featured on America’s Most Wanted.
Results: Captured. In May of 1997, Alvarez was arrested at a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. Tips to the FBI and "America's Most Wanted" led to his arrest. However, Mexican authorities refused to extradite him back to the United States because he faced the death penalty there. He was only tried for Robert and Jose's murders because they were Mexican nationals. In October of 1998, Alvarez was convicted of the murders and sentenced to fifty years in prison. He also received a forty-year sentence for the attempted murder of two of the surviving victims.
In December of 1998, Aguirre was also convicted of the murders. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Links:
- FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s on Wikipedia
- David Alex Alvarez on FBI Website
- Suspect in Slaughter Had Woman's Help, Investigators Say
- FBI adds to 'most wanted' list
- FBI Seeks Suspect in Baldwin Park Slayings
- Baldwin Park killings suspect now on FBI list
- Fugitive caught in Mexico
- Fugitive: 'I'm being falsely accused'
- Suspect in slayings of 4 in Baldwin Park arrested in Tijuana
- U.S. man accused of killing fellow inmate in Mexican prison
- Mexico to try U.S. fugitive for murder
- Murder trial starts for man wanted for killing four in Los Angeles
- Woman Is Convicted in Killings of 2 Men, 2 Girls
- Mexico Gives Man 50 Years for 2 Baldwin Park Killings
- Woman Gets Life Sentence in Role in 4 Slayings
- Love and Murder in Gangland