William Alvarado (Ace of Spades, Connecticut)
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Who was William Alvarado and what happened to him?
Our card this week is William Alvarado, the Ace of Spades from Connecticut. William's case is one that has stumped investigators for more than eight years. But it's one that may soon be called a success story thanks to a tip that came in from someone who saw William's face and case details on a playing card. So today, we're going to do something a little different.
What led to the reopening of William's cold case?
We're going to tell you a story of how a cold case heated up thanks to a deck and give you a front row seat to how it all unfolded and what officials say still needs to be done to finally close this case. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. When first responders heard a call for a medical emergency at the John J. Ashton Towers apartment building come over their dispatch just before 2 a.m. on September 7, 2016, they acted on muscle memory. They suited up, turned on their sirens, and drove the familiar route from the fire station to the apartment complex on Valley Street, just as they'd likely done the night before. And the night before that. And the night before that.
If you want to define a routine Commonwealth Manic, it's pretty much that. We got a medical at Ashen Towers. They go there all the time for medical emergencies, all the time, all the time, all the time.
That's Willimantic Police Department Detective Eric Dean, a member of Connecticut's Cold Case Unit. He told us that John J. Ashton Towers, known simply as The Towers, was home to more than 100 residents, most of whom were elderly, disabled, or living with mental illnesses. So emergency services were needed there pretty regularly. And this particular call and how it came in fit the bill. Representatives from a third-party medical device company had made contact. You might remember those quotable life alert commercials where someone's grandparent has fallen and can't get up. They can't reach the phone. Well, instead, they hit a button on a little device around their neck. So this is basically that same device, same concept, just a different company.
What did the investigation reveal about the crime scene?
And all the medical device company told the dispatchers was that a patient named William Alvarado needed medical attention. So again, muscle memory. Paramedics and firefighters made their way up to William's unit on the second floor and walked in expecting to take his blood pressure, maybe check his oxygen, help him off the floor and load him into an ambulance. But instead, just minutes after stepping into William's home, they found themselves backing right back out without William because it was clear right away to those first responders there was nothing they could do to help him.
The initial officers go in there and they immediately know that he's deceased. There was large amounts of blood on and surrounding William. It was obvious that there was some kind of violent struggle or violent attack, I should say. In plain sight, there was no obvious wound. There was no bullet. Usually when you go to some of these scenes, you could tell if it's a gunshot victim, a strangulation. You can see sometimes the ligature marks or cordage or something that was used. For this case, you couldn't really see anything. They just knew that he was deceased and there's a large amount of blood. In fact, it wasn't until we called the medical examiner and they started moving William that they noticed the stab wound.
Detectives hadn't been able to see it at first due to the way William was positioned in his chair. But once the side of William's neck was visible, there was no question about it. He had been stabbed once from the left side of his neck deep into his chest.
So at that point, you're looking for knives, ice picks, screwdrivers, anything that's linear and can cause that kind of damage.
While detectives didn't find a bloodied knife laying near his body or anything like that, they did find some sharp objects. Specifically, they found knives. Like, a lot of knives.
There was a lot of knives. Like, when I tell you there was a lot of knives, Ballpark, he's probably over 20. We located knives in bedrooms, the dining area. So they were all over, probably everywhere but the bathroom.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Who was William Alvarado and what happened to him?
0:04–0:28
2
What led to the reopening of William's cold case?
0:28–2:42
3
What did the investigation reveal about the crime scene?
2:42–13:19
4
How did William's relationships impact his life?
13:19–27:16
5
What role did Carmen play in William's last night?
27:16–34:29
6
What were the challenges faced during the investigation?
34:29–40:10