A Troubled Past, a Startling Action

Juan Manuel Alvarez’s troubles had been building long before he drove his Jeep Cherokee onto the train tracks in an aborted suicide attempt that derailed two commuter trains and killed 11 people, according to family members, acquaintances and court records.

Alvarez, a pony-tailed sometime construction worker, had been separated from his wife for several months amid allegations that he had threatened her and her family.

Carmelita Alvarez alleged that drug use had addled his mind, according to court papers she filed in support of a restraining order. She described him as a jealous man possessed by paranoid fantasies that she was cheating.

Family members and acquaintances said he used drugs heavily.

Alvarez, 25, described as a devotee of ancient Mexican rituals, was in custody late Wednesday, booked on suspicion of murder.

Authorities disclosed little about his background, and even some of those close to Alvarez said they were mystified about what led him to a railroad crossing near Glendale early Wednesday.

Alvarez had never been convicted of a serious crime, but was arrested several times on suspicion of burglary and drug possession beginning in 1994, authorities said. A cocaine possession charge against him, dating from a 1999 arrest in Carson, was later dismissed, court documents show.

And while he had threatened his wife, he had never assaulted her nor their children, according to a questionnaire Carmelita Alvarez filled out last fall to get the restraining order.

“He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members,” she wrote. “He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy a gun and threatened to use it. He has caused damage to family property.... He has primarily threatened my brother, saying that he would shoot and stab him.”

The order was granted Dec. 14, court papers indicated. Its terms included a suspension of Alvarez’s right to visit his two children: a stepdaughter, 6, and a 3-year-old son.

He and Carmelita met in Los Angeles about six years ago, said Carmelita’s brother Ruben Ochoa, 26.

At that time, Alvarez was not working much, said Sergio Lopez, who manages an apartment complex in Bell where the couple had lived for several months.

But he played traditional drums used in ancient Mexican Indian ceremonies.

Lopez said Alvarez was in a group that performed such ceremonies in Aztec costume -- headdresses, loincloths and sandals with bells.

When Alvarez’s son was born, the couple gave him the middle name Nezahualcoyotl. The name is taken from a pre-Columbian warrior-poet and a Mexican city.

Relatives said the couple married about two years ago and moved into a converted garage behind the tidy, tan stucco home of his in-laws on a quiet, well-kept street in Compton.

Accounts of more recent events varied:

Alejandro Amaya, 50, who is married to Carmelita’s sister and also lived in the Compton house, said Alvarez was “like a brother.” Amaya said he sometimes drank beer with Alvarez but was not aware of any drug addictions. “He was never a problem,” Amaya said.

But neighbors and Ochoa, Carmelita’s brother, tell a different story. Ochoa said Alvarez was an alcoholic and used many drugs. In court papers, Carmelita alleged that Alvarez had been using drugs “a very long time,” despite twice completing rehabilitation programs.

The couple split up several months ago, relatives said. On Nov. 24, Carmelita applied for the restraining order, alleging that Alvarez had begun hallucinating, convinced she was having affairs and making pornographic movies.

Alvarez accused her, she wrote, of setting up hidden cameras in the couple’s bedroom. She said he told her he would buy a gun and take revenge on her, her family members and an imaginary lover.

Carmelita also described three incidents from Nov. 12 to Nov. 21 in which Alvarez made threats, including two menacing phone calls. He was especially hostile toward her brother, she said, who Alvarez believed introduced her to other men.

About 6 a.m. Wednesday, police said, Alvarez drove his Jeep Cherokee onto the tracks at the border of Los Angeles and Glendale east of the Golden State Freeway and north of Los Feliz Boulevard.

Authorities offered fragmentary accounts of what happened next:

According to some reports, Alvarez turned onto the tracks south of Chevy Chase Drive, hooking his front two wheels over the rails.

Later, police would find marks on the tires suggesting the Jeep had moved back and forth before the train hit. They concluded that Alvarez tried to drive forward over the tracks, but the car wouldn’t move. So he tried to back up and failed. He was stuck.

As the train bore down on him, police said, he got out of the car.

He then stood by watching as the oncoming train flattened the car under its wheels. At first the car shattered easily -- but then the train hit the Jeep’s unyielding engine block.

That’s when the train wheels lifted and it skipped the tracks, unleashing the collisions that followed.

Alvarez was arrested by police a few blocks away as he was being treated by paramedics, said Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams.

He was injured, not from the train crash but from self-inflicted wounds, police said.

He had tried to slit his wrists and had stabbed himself, police said. There were conflicting reports of when these injuries occurred -- whether before the accident, or as police said some witnesses reported, afterward, while watching the disaster unfold.

Police described Alvarez as cooperative, suicidal, and remorseful.

He was treated for his wounds and is being held at an undisclosed facility.

A man who described himself as one of Alvarez’s relatives declined to answer questions about him, saying the family is trying to get a lawyer.

“We don’t know what to do,” said the man, speaking from a small home in Monterey Park. “We regret everything that happened.”