Bouncer charged with stabbing Palos Hills Marine Daniel Martinez to death in Boston
BOSTON (CBS Chicago/CBS Boston) -- A bouncer has pleaded not guilty to murder after police said he stabbed a Marine from the southwest suburbs to death over the weekend in Boston.
The victim, 23-year-old Daniel Martinez, was from Palos Hills. He was stabbed to death at 7 p.m. Eastern time Saturday outside the Sons of Boston pub in Boston.
Alvaro Larrama, a 38-year-old bouncer at the bar, was later identified as the suspect. He turned himself into police Monday and is now charged with murder.
Larrama was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court Monday afternoon. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors said Martinez was in town with friends. He had recently been discharged after serving four years in the Marines.
"I was in complete disbelief that my boy's gone. How is this even possible?" said Martinez's mother, Apolonia Martinez. "He served four years in the Marines, you know, and he came back – and now he's gone? That man does not have any clue how many lives he destroyed when he took my son."
Ms. Martinez told WBZ-TV, Boston's Kristina Rex she can't stop thinking about the last time she saw her son last week.
"He hugged me so tight and he said, 'Mom I love you and I'll see you soon,' and I thought, 'I'll see you soon.' And now it's not going to be soon. It's going to be in another life, on another world in heaven," Apolonia Martinez said. "I think I could have held him a little bit longer, I could have stopped him from going."
Martinez and his friends left the Sons of Boston and tried to get back in, but a quarrel ensued. Prosecutors said in court Martinez and his friends walked away from the bar and Larrama followed them.
Prosecutors said surveillance video shows Martinez striking Larrama's head with an aluminum beer bottle. The video then shows Larrama striking the victim in the chest, prosecutors said.
Larrama then allegedly entered Sons of Boston where he is seen washing his hands, discarding his sweatshirt and turning his shirt inside out before leaving through a back exit. Larrama's defense attorney said his client has no convictions in over 20 years and is a father of four.
The judge ordered Larrama held without bail. He is due back in court on April 28.
