Suspect in Slaughter Had Woman’s Help, Investigators Say

A convicted felon and alleged gang associate had help from an as-yet unidentified woman in methodically slaughtering four people in Baldwin Park on Sunday, investigators said Monday.

David Alvarez, 28, remained at large Monday evening after allegedly killing two men and two girls while searching for his estranged wife, authorities said. He also wounded three other members of his wife’s extended family, and they told investigators a woman they did not know helped him, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Stoneman said Monday.

New details also emerged Monday that showed how an obscure court case could have made the difference between Alvarez being a state prisoner rather than an at-large homicide suspect. Alvarez pleaded guilty to assault with a gun in 1992 and was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison rather than the maximum nine, which prosecutors originally sought. He was paroled in November of 1994.

That case, so routine in Los Angeles’ clogged court system that many of the principals could not recall it Monday, may have made the difference for the Torres family, which a stunned community mourned Monday.

A handmade cross and heart-shaped balloons were tied to the wrought-iron fence surrounding the house on Stewart Avenue where the afternoon massacre occurred. A few blocks away, at the Santa Fe School, students sobbed in the courtyard and hugged each other as they remembered 12-year-old Massiel Torres, an eighth grader who had just announced she was running for student body president.

“She was quiet. She was charming. She was happy,” Principal Nancy Franks said. “Just one of those young people everybody loves.”

The school’s marquee read: “Massiel We Will Always Remember You For Your Grace and Charm.” Flowers lay underneath.

“Her friendship meant a lot to me,” said classmate Katya Duran, 15, who lives on the same block as the Torres family. “She would always invite me to her house. She said, ‘Would you be my bigger sister?’ She loved to talk about school, friends and family--and how her parents wouldn’t let her have a boyfriend.”

A few blocks from Santa Fe is Margaret Heath School, a 560-student elementary school and Massiel’s alma mater. Her younger sister Evelyn, 8, who was also killed Sunday, was a third-grade student there. A memorial message to both girls was on the marquee.

“She was a very nice little girl,” Principal Ramon Zavala said of Evelyn. “She was very proud of her big sister. She would always ask me if I knew her older sister.”

Neighbors said the girls’ father, Peter Torres, is an auto mechanic and their mother, Patricia, cleans houses. Both were described as dedicated parents and ideal neighbors, regulars at parent-teacher conferences and the local church.

“They were a very united family,” said neighbor Elvira Gonzalez, 41.

The Torres’ modest wood-frame house was often the scene of extended-family gatherings like the one Sunday, which was attended by Roberto Diaz, 34, his wife Martha, and sons Hector and Robert.

About 1:30 p.m., Alvarez stormed into the house, police said. He was looking for his estranged wife, Massiel’s and Evelyn’s cousin, who had a temporary restraining order against him.

Alvarez had kidnapped his wife once before and had a warrant out for his arrest, police said. He had gotten into a fistfight with members of the Torres family this summer when they tried to get her back, authorities said.

This time the Torreses didn’t stand a chance, police said.

Gardener Jose Rojas, 33, was working in the front yard when Alvarez arrived. He promptly marched Rojas inside at gunpoint, then bound seven members of the extended family before fatally shooting Rojas, the girls and Roberto Diaz execution-style, investigators said.

Alvarez also shot Peter Torres in the head and stabbed or shot the other adults as Hector and Robert Diaz, ages 3 and 2, hid. After Alvarez left, Peter Torres stumbled out of the house with blood gushing from his head, whispering Alvarez’s name. Behind him was his wife, a gag still dangling from her mouth and arms chafed from a rope, screaming that her daughters were dead. More bloodied people emerged, one woman carrying the two young boys and collapsing on the lawn, witnesses said.

Peter Torres was taken to an undisclosed hospital in critical condition and continued to fight for his life Monday, authorities said.

The search was on for Alvarez, who was described as armed and dangerous and was believed to still be in the area. LAPD officers who patrol Alvarez’s Highland Park neighborhood said they are familiar with him and that he often associates with gang members. Authorities said they did not know who his alleged accomplice in the Sunday slaughter was, but said she was “actively involved.”

Sunday’s carnage was not Alvarez’s first experience with gun violence, authorities said. Court records show he was charged in 1992 with shooting into a car and injuring a passenger, to which he pleaded guilty.

At Alvarez’s sentencing hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Maria Palomino stated “for the record” that she had sought a nine-year sentence for Alvarez. But Superior Court Pro Tem Judge H. Ronald Hauptman said that after reading a probation report he would sentence Alvarez to five years.

On Monday, Palomino said she could not recall the case and that, judging from the transcript, she may have agreed to the sentence. Hauptman, now a commissioner in Los Angeles Family Court, also could not remember the case.

“There must have been something to justify a five-year sentence in my mind at the time,” he said. “What you’re asking me about is a complete shock.”

Times staff writers Tina Daunt and Duke Helfand contributed to this story.