Man charged with murdering four family members in California in 1999
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man accused of killing his father, stepmother and two half-brothers in 1999, when he was 16, has been charged with their murders after being extradited back to the United States from Guatemala, prosecutors said on Monday.
Saulo Cesar Alvarado, 33, was charged with four counts of murder in connection with the case, which was delayed following his extradition from Guatemala in February while prosecutors sought successfully to have him tried as an adult.
Alvarado was also charged with two counts of committing lewd acts on an underage girl, crimes that according to the charging documents were carried out on the same day as the murders.
Prosecutors declined to elaborate on the alleged sex crimes or say how they related to the killings of Alvarado's family members. The victim is identified in court papers only as "Ashley A." and her age as under 18.
Alvarado was expected to make an initial court appearance on the charges in Los Angeles Superior Court later on Monday.
The case began on April 26, 1999, when the bodies of Rudolfo Alvarado, 51, his wife, Eva Veronica, 36, and two sons Renzo, 16, and Victor, 4, were found in their apartment in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
All four members of the family had been shot to death with a revolver, with the gun placed in Renzo's hand to make it look like a murder-suicide, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Alvarado had been deported to Guatemala following a 2003 conviction for rape in an unrelated case. Following his deportation, Los Angeles police investigators developed evidence that he had committed the murders, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said.
Because he is charged with four counts of murder along with so-called special circumstances, in this case multiple murders and lying in wait, Alvarado could face the death penalty if convicted at trial.
California, however, has not executed a condemned inmate since 2006.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Beech)
