Our card this week is William Alvarado, the Ace of Spades from Connecticut.William Alvarado was 73 years old when he was found stabbed to death in his living room in Willimantic, Connecticut in 2016. For years, his case was ice cold. But just recently, it started heating up– all thanks to a tip that came in from a deck of cold case playing cards. Now, detectives are working around the clock to finally solve William’s murder – and they’re the closest they’ve ever been.If you or anyone you know has information about William Alvarado’s murder in Willimantic, Connecticut, on Sept. 7, 2016, please call the Willimantic Police Department at (860) 465-3135 or the Connecticut Cold Case Unit tip line at 1-866-623-8058. Tips can also be sent by email, to [email protected], by Facebook Messenger to the Connecticut DCJ Cold Case Unit Facebook page or mailed to the Willimantic Police Department, 22 Meadow Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226.View source material and photos for this episode at: thedeckpodcast.com/william-alvarado Let us deal you in… follow The Deck on social media.Instagram: @thedeckpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @thedeckpodcast_ | @audiochuckFacebook: /TheDeckPodcast | /audiochuckllcTo support Season of Justice and learn more, please visit seasonofjustice.org. The Deck is hosted by Ashley Flowers. Instagram: @ashleyflowersTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieTwitter: @Ash_FlowersFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Full Episode
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.
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.
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.
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