By SUSAN HERENDEEN
BEE STAFF WRITER
Last Updated: March 17, 2006, 04:02:11 AM PST
Source: Modesto Bee
A Modesto man who was accused of killing a contractor just to steal his
car stereo was convicted of murder and robbery after a two-week trial
in Stanislaus County Superior Court.
A jury deliberated for about two hours before returning guilty verdicts
on Wednesday that are likely to send Salvador Guzman Alvarez, 22, to
prison for the rest of his life.
The victim's sister, Yvette Lopez of Camarillo, said her family is relieved, and convinced that justice was done.
She credited investigator Kirk Bunch of the district attorney's office,
who tied Alvarez to the murder of her brother, Richard M. "Rick" Lopez,
as well as three other crimes.
"He just kept kicking up rocks and finding more evidence and more evidence," Yvette Lopez said.
According to prosecutors, Alvarez shot Rick Lopez twice shortly before
5 a.m. on May 16, 2003. The two men met at the home of a mutual
acquaintance earlier that night, and Lopez offered Alvarez a ride home.
During the trial, gang experts said Alvarez killed Lopez, and left his
body in a parking lot of the Modesto Farm Labor Center on Algen Avenue,
to gain status with his street gang.
The authorities said Alvarez was a member of the Deep South Side
Modesto Norteños. They found the letters DSSM on a sidewalk in front of
Alvarez's house, carved into a tree on his lawn and on a trash can at
his home on Mount McKinley Court, adjacent to Algen Avenue.
Anonymous tips led the authorities to Alvarez. Witnesses were initially
reluctant to come forward, but several testified during the trial.
A former neighbor told the court that Alvarez bragged about the murder.
A former friend also testified. He said Alvarez confided in him shortly
before the murder, saying he planned to "jack" Lopez, or steal from him.
Investigators believe Lopez was shot at close range while he was in his
truck, then dragged a short distance and left for dead. His car stereo
was gone, ripped out of the dashboard of his truck.
The police found shell casings, a bullet and blood spatter in Lopez's
truck. They also found similar ammunition hidden in a wall in Alvarez's
bedroom.
Alvarez was arrested eight months after the murder — after he drove
past two sheriff's deputies in a stolen Ford Tempo with no lights on.
The deputies gave chase and found Alvarez after he slipped into the
home of a stranger and hid in a bed. The homeowner confronted Alvarez,
then flagged the passing deputies down.
After the arrest, Bunch closed the murder case and tied Alvarez to other crimes as well.
Attorneys still must resolve open cases involving the carjacking of an
ice cream truck driver, the theft of guns from a Modesto home and the
stolen Ford Tempo.
Deputy District Attorney Shawn Bessey said the murder conviction will
send Alvarez to prison for the rest of his life, because jurors found
two special circumstances to be true: murder during the commission of a
robbery, and murder for the benefit of a criminal street gang.
If Alvarez had been convicted of first-degree murder alone, he would be
sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. An April 12 sentencing
hearingis scheduled.
Defense attorney Larry Cole said he will file an appeal. He said his
client lived in a neighborhood where gang activity is common, but did
not have a lengthy criminal record.
"If you looked at his record, it would amaze you that he committed the crimes he is accused of committing," Cole said.
Yvette Lopez said her brother was a kind man who had struggled with
drug addiction in his 20s, but turned his life around and became a
successful cement contractor and the father of a young daughter.
She said she will always wonder about her brother's final moments.
"It was just so senseless," Yvette Lopez said.
Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at 578-2338 or
Latest Product
Anti-HR 4437 Movement in Modesto DVD
$4.99 Add to Cart
Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
FAQs 
