Murder charges filed in deadly California commuter rail crash

GLENDALE, Calif. - Prosecutors filed potential death-penalty multiple murder charges against the man who allegedly caused two commuter trains to collide when he drove a vehicle onto rail tracks in a suicide attempt.

The criminal case moved forward against Juan Manuel Alvarez as police and forensics experts worked Thursday to gather evidence from a crime scene the length of several football fields and coroner's investigators searched the tangled wreckage for any remaining body parts or tissue.

Alvarez, 25, was charged with 10 counts of murder in a complaint that was to be amended following the discovery of an 11th body in the mangled Metrolink trains that smashed together early Wednesday.

Prosecutors also alleged a special circumstance of murder by train derailment. A special circumstance makes capital punishment a possibility, but prosecutors did not immediately decide whether to seek the death penalty.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said Thursday prosecutors were evaluating Alvarez's mental state in regard to the special-circumstance allegation, but he asserted that it was no defense to the charges.

"His despondency doesn't move me," Cooley said. "The mere fact that he was a little upset or despondent doesn't mean he has a defense for anything. It may actually work to support our case."

Alvarez's state of mind, while not providing a motive, could show intent to commit a crime, Cooley said. He noted that a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity has a very high standard of proof.

Alvarez, who authorities say had slashed his wrists and stabbed himself at some point during his suicide attempt, remained hospitalized Thursday, forcing postponement of his arraignment to Friday.

Officials initially described Alvarez's wounds as superficial, but district attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison said "they were apparently more serious than that, according to his doctor."

Alvarez's family retained criminal defense attorney Eric A. Chase, but he planned no comment until after the arraignment, said Dann Novak, senior administrator of Chase Law Group. Chase was a Bronx public defender who handled hundreds of cases there before moving to Los Angeles and founding his firm, according to his biography.

Alvarez, who had been ordered by a court to stay away from his family after his wife alleged he abused drugs and threatened them, allegedly triggered the deadly train crashes in a suicide attempt about 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Authorities say he drove a sport utility vehicle onto tracks used by Southern California's regional Metrolink commuter rail system in suburban Glendale just north of downtown Los Angeles.

He then changed his mind and left the car, which was struck by train heading to Los Angeles, police said.

That train derailed, struck a parked freight train and jackknifed, striking and derailing another Metrolink heading in the opposite direction, igniting one rail car on fire. In addition to the deaths, more than 180 people were injured.

A 911 tape revealed the drama moments afterward as an employee at a nearby Costco store reported the disaster to a dispatcher and at the same time directed other employees to fight the fire.

"There's a Metrolink that runs adjacent to the - oh, they need fire extinguishers! Quick! Quick!" she yelled to other workers.

"What's going on?" asked the dispatcher. "What's going on, ma'am?"

"The Metrolink derailed right on the side of the building!" she said.

Sixty of the injured were treated at the scene and the rest were taken to hospitals. An incomplete tally from 12 hospitals Thursday showed seven people remained in critical condition, two were in serious condition, 23 were in fair condition, one was in good and more than 80 had been released.

All but one of the dead were officially identified by the coroner's office, but co-workers in the Los Angeles office of PayPoint and fellow church members said that person had been tentatively identified by family as Don Wiley of Simi Valley, an information technology specialist.

Court documents show that Alvarez's estranged wife, Carmelita Alvarez, obtained a restraining order against him in December, requiring him to keep away from her, their 3-year-old son and other family members.

"He is using drugs and has been in and out of rehab twice," she said in the documents. "He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members." Carmelita Alvarez, who went into seclusion after the crash, also told the court her husband's drug use was triggering hallucinations.

Authorities still had missing-persons reports late Wednesday, but all were accounted for by Thursday morning and firefighters ended recovery efforts.

Glendale police began a crime-scene investigation, collecting forensic evidence for the prosecution, using laser measuring devices to create a digital map of the wreckage. Sgt. Tom Lorenz said the process would take several hours before railroad companies could begin moving heavy wreckage.

Two large cargo containers were brought in to store evidence. Lorenz said evidence as large as a rail car may be preserved for the investigation and trial.

The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched investigators after the wreck, but after determining it was caused by a criminal act, most left and the remainder were lending support to police, Lorenz said.

Each Metrolink train had a locomotive and three double-deck passenger cars. Also involved in the wreck was a parked freight locomotive that was struck and toppled onto its side.

Environmental protection and wildlife officials were also on the scene because diesel fuel spilled from the freight engine and flowed down a storm drain into the adjacent Los Angeles River before being contained, said Glendale fire Capt. Bill Lynch.

On the other side of the tracks it was a return to business as usual at a big Costco store where workers on the pre-dawn shift Wednesday were among the first to rush to help injured people out of the wreckage, bringing out fire extinguishers to attack flames that erupted in one car.

"It's a lot better. It was a disaster here yesterday," said Raim Quiros, 29, a Costco tire shop employee who spent the previous day supplying firefighters with pizza, salads and hot dogs.

Separately, a suicidal man who parked his sport utility vehicle on railroad tracks in Orange County was arrested early Thursday, said Irvine police Cmdr. Dave Freedland, declining to say if it was a copycat situation. The man drove off when police spotted him and, after a chase, a dispatcher talked him out of suicide during a cell phone call.