PONTIAC (WWJ) — A Pontiac man has been sentenced to up to eight decades in prison for murdering a 20-year-old man in 2018 and dumping his body in a lake.
Earlier this week Judge Daniel O’Brien sentenced Angel Jose Alvarez to 36.5 to 80 years in prison for his role in the death of Emilio Valdez.
A jury of 12 convicted Alvarez in June after hearing evidence that he shot and killed Valdez before dumping his body in Osmun Lake in Pontiac. He then dumped the car used in the crime into a different lake.
Two additional co-defendants in the case — Alvarez’s mother and her other son — previously pleaded no contest to lying to police and are scheduled to be sentenced in August. The victim was the much-younger brother of Alvarez’s mother, Guadalupe Maria Davila-Rodriguez.
Alvarez was charged in April 2022 , nearly four years after he killed Valdez. Around 3:30 p.m. on June 7, 2018 someone who was fishing found a trail of blood, along with bloody clothes at Osmun Lake and called 911. When police arrived they found Valdez’s body in the lake.
Authorities were able to connect his body to a stolen vehicle that had been dumped in Scott Lake the night before, according to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Around 2 a.m. on June 7, 2018 authorities say Alvarez drove to the victim’s house in his mom’s vehicle. A short time later, Valdez got into the passenger’s side of the car and Davila-Rodriguez said she then heard multiple gunshots coming from the car before it sped off.
Alvarez then went to Osmun Lake, where he dumped the victim’s body, then to Scott Lake, where he dumped the car.
After dumping the car, according to the prosecutor’s office, cell phone data shows that Alvarez called one co-defendant's cell phone multiple times to get a ride from the scene before then calling a second co-defendant’s cell phone, who reported the car stolen.
Assistant Prosecutor Darcey Jacobs handled the Prosecution for the people, with Assistant Prosecutor Sumeet Aggarwal assisting as second chair.
“Public safety and holding criminals accountable are my top priorities as Oakland County Prosecutor and we will continue to work to keep our community safe from violent crime,” Prosecutor Karen McDonald said, per a press release “The jury verdict and Judge O'Brien’s sentence ensure that the public will be protected from this violent defendant. While these three convictions will not bring back the victim’s life, I do hope that the victim's family and loved ones take some solace in the fact that those responsible for this murder were caught, convicted, and punished for their crimes.”
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