Metrolink tragedy
Juan Manuel Alvarez, 29, yawns after his conviction on 11 counts of first-degree murder are read in court Thursday. He was convicted of causing a 2005 Metrolink rail disaster that turned two commuter trains into a tangled mass of smoking wreckage littered with victims. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Cousins Alberto Romero, left, and Henry Romero, nephews of Metrolink victim Leonardo Romero, embrace after the verdict is announced. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Teresa Nance, whose mother, Elizabeth Hill, was killed in the Metrolink derailment, talks to the media after the murder convictions are announced. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Eleven people died and at least 180 were injured as a result of the Jan. 26, 2005, derailment of two Metrolink trains. The crash was triggered when one train hit a Jeep Cherokee parked on the tracks by Juan Manuel Alvarez. He was convicted Thursday of 11 counts of first-degree murder. (Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times)
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Investigators survey the crash scene in Glendale, where a southbound Metrolink commuter train slammed into Alvarez’s Jeep, which as parked on the tracks. The train derailed, struck a parked Union Pacific freight train and then collided with a northbound Metrolink train. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
The collision left a tangled mess of twisted steel and debris, including seat cushions, bloody towels and luggage discarded by fleeing passengers. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A coroner’s office investigator looks over the crash scene. During five days of testimony near the start of the defense’s presentation of its case, Alvarez apologized for causing the tragedy, and asked for forgiveness from relatives of the victims. He told jurors that although he expected to be punished, he was “not a murderer.” (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)
Officials examine the crash scene near Glendale. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman is whisked away by emergency personnel as she talks on a cellphone after the derailment. (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)
A woman is moved into an ambulance at the crash scene. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
A wheel and axle found at the site was thought to have been from the Jeep Cherokee parked on the tracks that led to the crash. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Authorities use search dogs to help locate victims in the wreckage. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
