Mexico to Prosecute Fugitive for 2 of 4 Slayings

A man accused of killing four people in Baldwin Park before fleeing to Mexico will stand trial there for only two of the slayings because those victims were Mexican nationals, authorities said.

David “Spooky” Alvarez, 30, will face murder charges in Mexico for the deaths of Joe Rojas, 32, a gardener who lived in South Whittier, and Roberto Diaz, 32, of Baldwin Park, sheriff’s officials said.

Rojas and Diaz were killed Sept. 29, 1996, at a Baldwin Park home along with 9-year-old Evelyn Torres and her 12-year-old sister, Massiel. Mexican officials cannot prosecute Alvarez in the girls’ deaths because they were U.S. citizens and Mexico’s jurisdiction is restricted to Mexican nationals, a sheriff’s official said.

Alvarez’s alleged accomplice, Trinia Irene Aguirre, 22, was arrested in November and will stand trial for murder Wednesday in Pomona Superior Court.

Alvarez was arrested in Tijuana in May, but Mexican officials refused to extradite him to California after Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti declined to promise not to seek the death penalty. Mexico does not have a death penalty.