A Pontiac man, Angel Jose Alvarez, has been convicted and sentenced for the 2018 murder of 20-year-old Emilio Valdez. On Monday, Judge Daniel O'Brien of Oakland County sentenced Alvarez to a prison term ranging from 36.5 to 80 years after evidence presented at trial showed he shot Valdez and disposed of his body and the vehicle used in the crime in separate lakes, according to WWJ Newsradio.
Alvarez's incarceration comes after a jury found him guilty in June, an outcome that emphasized public safety and accountability for violent crimes; Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald remarked, "The jury verdict and Judge O'Brien’s sentence ensure that the public will be protected from this violent defendant", as per WXYZ. Two co-defendants, Alvarez's brother Juan Diego Hernandez and their mother Guadalupe Maria Davila-Rodriguez, have also faced charges related to the case, serving as accessories after the fact, with their sentencing scheduled for August 19, detailed by The Detroit News.
The incident took a gruesome turn on June 7, 2018, when blood and evidence of violence were found at Osmun Lake, prompting a 911 call that led to the discovery of Valdez's body in the water, per WWJ Newsradio. Police later tied the body to a stolen vehicle, identified as belonging to Alvarez's mother, found in Scott Lake, which assisted in connecting the dots of the murder's aftermath.
After the crime's execution, Alvarez reportedly relied on co-conspirators; he sought extraction from the scene using cell phone communications, as prosecutors presented evidence that Alvarez made multiple calls to one co-defendant to get a ride and then to another who reported the stolen car, as described by the WXYZ report. The act of violence that shattered a family, leading to the eventual sentencing of Alvarez, left a lingering impact on the community, with Prosecutor Karen McDonald stating, "While these three convictions will not bring back the victim’s life, I do hope that the victim's family and loved ones take some solace in the fact that those responsible for this murder were caught, convicted, and punished for their crimes," as noted by The Detroit News.
