Houston man sentenced in 2009 cold case stabbing death of mom of 5

HOUSTON (TCN) -- A 52-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for the 2009 fatal stabbing of a 38-year-old woman at her family's auto shop.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office announced Oct. 11 that a jury convicted Jorge Trevino Cardenas of the murder of Domitila Alvarez, a mother of five. A judge sentenced Cardenas to life in prison, and the defendant must serve at least 30 years before parole eligibility.

According to prosecutors, on April 24, 2009, Alvarez went to her family's auto shop near Alief to work. Shortly after, relatives discovered Alvarez deceased in the shop's office with multiple stab wounds. The district attorney's office said Cardenas "brutally stabbed" Alvarez "many times" with a long knife amid a dispute. Investigators purportedly found blood on the victim's clothes and bloodstains on the door near the office, as well as on security bars and on a parked vehicle.

Prosecutors said, "There was no apparent motive for the murder, and the trail ran cold after police chased down every lead they had." Investigators reexamined evidence in 2021 and identified Cardenas as a suspect after finding his DNA on Alvarez's clothes and other items at the scene. He wasn't charged until January 2023.

Due to the pattern of the DNA at the crime scene, authorities reportedly believe Cardenas cut himself during an altercation with the victim, causing his blood and DNA to mix with Alvarez's blood.

According to the district attorney's office, Cardenas had been arrested in 2014 for sexual assault of a child in a separate case in which he was convicted. Investigators obtained a sample of his DNA and kept it on file.

A witness who knew Cardenas in 2009 and lived and worked near the auto shop reportedly testified that he kept a long, fixed-blade knife with a serrated edge in his possession, which medical experts claimed was the type of weapon used to kill Alvarez.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Condon said, "DNA does not lie, it does not forget — it waits. It waits for the technology and the right circumstance to be revealed. There was a literal blood trail from the victim’s body to Jorge Cardenas."

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg added, "This was a horrific crime when it happened, and no one in law enforcement ever stopped looking for the killer. Even after the case went cold, investigators kept working on it and when charges were filed, prosecutors were able to get justice for the victim and her family."