Fugitive Gerardo Alvarez, Accused Of Killing Carrollton ISD Employee, Captured In Mexico And Returned To Texas
CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) — The suspect in the 2013 murder of a Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District employee has been captured in Mexico and returned to North Texas.
Under the guard of U.S. Marshals, Gerardo Alvarez arrived at DFW International Airport on March 9 and was transferred to the custody of Carrollton police.
Alvarez is charged with the murder of then head groundskeeper Todd Fenton.
Officials say Alvarez was also employed with the school district and was supervised by Fenton when he shot him dead. A school bus dispatcher discovered Fenton's body in a maintenance barn at the CFBISD Service Center on Randolph Street in Carrollton. Fenton had been shot several times in the back -- he had worked as a groundskeeper with the district for 15 years.
Investigators say Alvarez was seen on surveillance video at the maintenance barn at the time of the shooting and didn't show up for work the next day. By the time police put the pieces of the puzzle together they say Alvarez had already crossed the border into Mexico.
Carrollton police and U.S. Marshals worked for 7 years, along with Mexican authorities, to find Alvarez and take him into custody in October 2020 in the Mexican State of Durango.
Alvarez is just now being returned to Carrollton because he fought extradition.
"This arrest was the result of dogged determination and great police work by all involved," said Carrollton Police Chief Derick Miller. "The partnership of The U.S. Marshals, our own detective assigned to their fugitive task force, as well as the authorities in Mexico will finally allow the family of Todd Fenton some measure of peace. It may have been justice delayed, but it was not denied."
Alvarez, 43, was booked into the Carrollton City Jail and then transferred to the Dallas County Jail. He's charged with murder and his bond has been set at $5 million.