Murder Charges In Train Crash

The man whom authorities say caused the chain-reaction train derailment that killed 11 people is facing murder charges for leaving his sport utility vehicle on a railroad track after apparently changing his mind about committing suicide. Nearly 200 were injured.

Authorities said Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, of Compton, parked his Jeep Cherokee on the tracks and got out before a Metrolink train smashed into it, reports CBS News Correspondent Jerry Bowen. The train then derailed and collided with another train going in the opposite direction. That train also jumped the tracks.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley Thursday said Alvarez has been charged with 10 counts of murder, with special circumstances making him eligible for the death penalty. Cooley said the complaint would be amended to add another count to refer to the 11th victim, found in the wreckage late Wednesday night.

Arraignment was planned for Thursday afternoon but could be delayed depending on Alvarez's medical condition.

"He's not going to engage my sympathy because he was despondent. His despondency doesn't move me," the district attorney said.

Alvarez stood by and watched the gruesome collision, which scattered wreckage and bodies over a quarter-mile of track.

The transient had already slit his wrists and stabbed himself in the chest, Police Chief Randy Adams said, adding that Alvarez had a criminal record that involved drugs.

"This whole incident was started by a deranged individual that was suicidal," Glendale police Chief Randy Adams said Wednesday.

"This is warranted in this case because he violated all of the safety measures of the road," Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, angry about the death of a deputy and one of his civilian employees, on CBS News' The Early Show Thursday.

The crash was the worst U.S. rail tragedy since March 15, 1999, when an Amtrak train hit a truck and derailed near Bourbonnais, Ill., killing 11 people and injuring more than 100.

"I hope that we're able to assess this in a way that we can figure out: Is there a way that we can stop one crazed individual from creating this kind of carnage?" Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn told reporters.

About two dozen people were hospitalized in critical condition, while some people believed to have been on the trains were still listed as missing.

Alvarez's estranged wife, Carmelita Alvarez, went into seclusion shortly after the crash.

"The only thing I'm going to say is our family distanced ourselves from him," said brother-in-law Ruben Ochoa. "My sister is not with him any more. They separated four months ago and she had a restraining order against him."

She had ordered him out of her home months ago, her family said, and in November she went to court seeking a temporary restraining order keeping him away from herself, their 3-year-old son, her mother, brother and other family members.

"He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice," she said in asking for the restraining order, which was granted Dec. 14. "He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members," she added. "He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy a gun and threatened to use it."

Alvarez, who lived in a converted garage behind her sister's home in suburban Compton, told the court her husband had damaged her family's property and threatened to seek revenge on people he suspected of introducing her to another man. She said his drug use was triggering hallucinations.

The force of the collision, which happened about 6 a.m., hurled passengers down the trains' aisles.

"I heard a noise. It got louder and louder," said passenger Diane Brady, 56, of Simi Valley. "And next thing I knew the train tilted, everyone was screaming and I held onto a pole for dear life. I held on for what seemed like a week and a half it seemed. It was a complete nightmare."

First on the scene were workers at a Costco store next to the tracks. They helped take some of the injured away in shopping carts.

"We could hear people crying," an employee told CBS News.

They pulled out one man who didn't make it.

"He was so broken up. We carried him and sat him on the asphalt and he was still conscious," said the Costco employee. "He told us, 'Don't let me die. Pray for me.'"

Another trapped man had used his own blood to write a note on a seat bottom. Using the heart symbol, he wrote "I love my kids" and "I love Leslie."

The man's identity wasn't known, but Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rex Vilaubi said he was removed from the wreckage alive.

Uninjured passengers also joined the rescue effort. As a light rain fell, more than 300 firefighters climbed ladders into windows of battered train cars to rescue scores of injured.