- 2 days ago
A Plan to Kill - Season 2 - Episode 02: Killer Competition
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00:05There had been a 911 call, shots fired.
00:09You hear a scream on the audio, and then there's a pause, which was just not normal.
00:15It definitely appeared there was some element of an ambush.
00:19Is it a robbery gone bad?
00:22Witnesses saw a vehicle fleeing the area of the crime scene.
00:25She took the initiative to contact our unit, which specializes in stalking, months prior to the murder.
00:32We learned that he was following over 470 social media accounts that were associated to the high school.
00:38We found weapons, computer searches, and he was photographing the actual classrooms.
00:44This was all part of his larger plan.
00:46The San Diego Police Department ended up surrounding the school so that we can ensure the students were safe.
00:52We were scared. I didn't leave the house that day.
00:56He was watching, waiting, and it was clear that this murder was premeditated.
01:27Sandy, you going 911?
01:29I was driving away, and I saw the men are fighting.
01:34Sandy, you going 911?
01:35I heard, like, gunshots outside. I heard somebody wailing.
01:39How many shots did you hear?
01:42I found it possibly, like, five.
01:45I heard a car driving away, and there's a guy that's laying out here.
01:52That morning, I was on my way into work, actually, when the call came out.
01:57There had been 911 calls of shots fired, and that there was a person down in the 4500 block of
02:03Kansas Street.
02:04When patrol officers arrived, they found an unidentified victim, fatally shot.
02:09He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
02:12When we arrived, the streets were already cordoned off with police tape, and officers were at each end of the
02:21street.
02:25It was a sunny February day, beautiful San Diego morning, but right on the sidewalk, you see a man lying
02:32in a large pool of blood.
02:35Patrol officers told us that they saw an apartment door open adjacent to the crime scene,
02:42and so officers made entry into the apartment unit to make sure that there were no other injured people.
02:48When they did that, they found a wallet with a driver's license.
02:53And there were several photos around that apartment that appeared to be the same person that was deceased on the
02:59sidewalk.
03:00So based on the photos and the driver's license, we identified the victim as 36-year-old Hispanic male Mario
03:08Fierro.
03:10Now we need to quickly learn why and how this murder occurred.
03:15The decedent was laying almost directly behind a Mini Cooper.
03:20That Mini Cooper had the trunk lid open, and I could see a set of golf clubs in the back
03:26of the trunk.
03:28I did contemplate in that moment that the victim was possibly accosted by a robber who was trying to steal
03:36something from him and approached him as he was loading up his golf bag into the trunk of the Mini
03:41Cooper.
03:43This happened in North Park.
03:44North Park is generally a safe community.
03:47There were shell casings on the street.
03:50It definitely appeared, based on how the scene was initially, that there was some element of an ambush.
03:58It was a surprise attack.
04:01There was impact spatter all around the head that was visible from several feet away.
04:05I could tell that this was up close and personal.
04:13So as I was processing the crime scene, the detectives on my team began to canvas the neighborhood and try
04:19and locate other witnesses that may have seen or heard things.
04:22It's a very densely populated area, so when the gunshots were fired at that early hour, this drew a lot
04:29of attention from the neighbors.
04:31There were people looking out their windows.
04:34We identified one primary witness that actually happened to be driving down the street as the commotion was actually occurring.
04:44And she notices that two people are involved in a fight.
04:48She says that one of the individuals is actually holding what appears to her as a white thermometer, and the
04:56individual is holding it to the other person's forehead.
05:00Now, this is during the time of COVID, so to her, she believed it was a COVID thermometer.
05:06She continues to drive, and then she sees that our now suspect is taking off in a vehicle that appeared
05:13to her to be a hatchback and driving northbound on Kansas Street.
05:17I remember actually asking her several times as she was sure about what she had observed, and she was adamant
05:25that it was a white object.
05:28And as an investigator, that's a key piece of information, because as the investigation evolves, that's one piece that we're
05:37either going to have to explain or we're going to have to figure out the discrepancy.
05:43At this point, detectives, they are also looking for any type of cameras, anything to help the investigation.
05:51Approximately six homes away from where the actual shooting took place, we located one surveillance camera that captured the suspect
06:00vehicle as it fled the scene.
06:01As we reviewed the surveillance footage, we observed a dark blue Volkswagen, like Jetta-style car was a hatchback.
06:11And we saw that vehicle fleeing the area of the crime scene immediately after hearing gunshots.
06:27We continued reviewing the surveillance footage from earlier in the morning, and that same vehicle arrived at about six o
06:33'clock in the morning prior to the crime occurring.
06:36So we identified that car as a strong possible suspect vehicle.
06:44But while I'm on scene, an individual flagged me down.
06:50He said, hey, what's all the police activity about here?
06:53He identified himself as a Homeland Security investigator.
06:56He showed me his badge, and then he proceeded to ask me the identity of the decedent.
07:02And then he began to tell me that he was cousins with a female named Amy Gambara, and that Amy
07:12had called him.
07:13She said that her fiancé, Mario, had not shown up to work, and asked him to go by Mario's house
07:20to see if he was okay.
07:26He says, my cousin, Amy, she works at Cathedral High School, and her fiancé, Mario, was working there as a
07:32teacher and a coach.
07:35And Amy, she's been a victim of stalking from a guy named Jesse Alvarez.
07:40And I believe that Jesse may have something to do with the murder of Mario Fierro.
07:46We didn't know if this information was actually credible, so there was still a lot of investigating to do.
07:52But it provided us with a lead.
07:55Now we had a name, Jesse Alvarez, who had a connection to the victim, and who also had a possible
08:01motive.
08:02So we needed to locate Amy Gambara and make sure that she was not in any danger.
08:09Amy had tried to get a restraining order.
08:11She was scared, and she felt helpless.
08:15He tells us she has this histrionic disorder where she thinks relationships are closer than they are.
08:20I told her plenty of times I did not want to date her.
08:23She expressed romantic interest to me, but I elicit now.
08:27He maintains that.
08:29I don't know Mario, and I never dated Amy.
08:41We had a gunshot victim identified as Mario Fierro.
08:44While investigators and crime scene detectives were beginning to process the scene,
08:48we learned that Mario's fiancé, Amy Gambara, was the victim of stalking from a guy named Jesse Alvarez.
08:58I left the crime scene to drive up to Cathedral Catholic High School because Amy's a teacher there,
09:05and we all felt she was in immediate danger in that moment.
09:09As I was driving up to the high school, I placed a phone call to a district attorney, Ramona McCarthy,
09:15and gave her a briefing.
09:21It's very common to have a deputy district attorney pre-assigned to the case.
09:27We can review warrants, and it's just best practice for everybody to work hand-in-hand from the onset.
09:32As he was giving me information about the homicide, he was letting me know that the victim may have been
09:40the suspect's ex-girlfriend's fiancé.
09:44That immediately triggered me because working in the stalking unit,
09:48I had been working with a stalking victim for months prior who was engaged.
09:55And so I asked the detective, is her name Amy Gambara that you're going to speak to?
10:00And he said, yes.
10:04I was devastated when I realized that it was her fiancé, Mario Fierro.
10:13Unbeknownst to me, Ramona knew Amy, and she knew Mario was Amy's fiancé.
10:20But before she met Mario, Amy used to date Jesse Alvarez.
10:25But she started picking up on red flags that Jesse was exhibiting.
10:31Controlling behavior, manipulating behavior.
10:35So she broke up with him.
10:37So now I'm getting more information about the background and learning that Amy had attempted to get a restraining order
10:44against Jesse Alvarez.
10:45But that day on February 1st, we did not know where he was.
10:50And Amy is vulnerable at the school.
10:53And so the San Diego Police Department ended up surrounding the school and patrolling the school
10:58so that we can ensure the students at Cathedral Catholic were safe and that Amy was safe.
11:09When I arrived at the school, Amy was seated in the principal's office, and I told her that Mario had
11:17died.
11:20And Amy began screaming and wailing.
11:24She fell to the ground, and she immediately started saying, Jesse did it, Jesse did it.
11:33We interviewed her at length, and she described in great detail the plans that her and Mario had to have
11:40children.
11:40They were excited about their wedding, and all of that had just come crashing down.
11:46So she appeared appropriately impacted, and I felt comfortable that she wasn't involved in this.
11:53Amy told investigators after she ended her relationship with Jesse Alvarez two years prior, she slowly started to try to
12:03distance herself.
12:04But common in these type of domestic violence relationships, he would not let her go.
12:11She lays out a detailed record of years of stalking since she broke up with Jesse in 2019.
12:19Jesse had been following Amy in San Bernardino, where they both lived at the time.
12:25He was showing up to random places that he should not know that she is there, and calling her nonstop.
12:31But Amy was trying to put her old life behind her and move on.
12:40Amy really started a new chapter in her life.
12:42So she moved to San Diego.
12:44She got a job as a teacher at Cathedral Catholic High School.
12:49And it was there that she fell in love with a fellow teacher, Mario Fierro.
12:55I asked Amy, tell me about Mario.
12:58What's his background?
12:59What does he do?
13:01She told me he's an alumni at Cathedral Catholic.
13:04He played on the football team.
13:07He's locally rooted.
13:08She talked to me about his parents, his siblings, very strong family man.
13:14He was very liked, very loved.
13:21I just was shocked.
13:23I just didn't, I couldn't believe it.
13:26I remember it like it was yesterday.
13:29Honestly, I just figured there was some sort of mistake.
13:34I had just talked to Mario the night before, planning where we were going to meet up that weekend.
13:40I was in disbelief.
13:43I've known Mario since grade school.
13:45We were just really good friends.
13:48He always had the biggest smile and always was like so alive.
13:53He had a very unique personality.
13:55When Mario was in the room, you definitely knew Mario was in the room.
13:58Mario was always obsessed with sports, and he always knew that he wanted to be in sports somehow.
14:05At some point when he decided he wanted to be a teacher and wanted to be a coach, the only
14:10place he wanted to go was Kid Thierro.
14:14I remember when Mario first talked about Amy, because he first told us that he had met this teacher that
14:22was new in town, and that she seemed really nice and very cool.
14:27And they began dating in February of 2020.
14:31They were both just so happy.
14:33And then in December of 2020, Mario proposed to Amy.
14:39He was so excited to have a future with her, to get married, to have kids, and to grow old
14:46together.
14:49I remember seeing someone post something that they had heard that Mario had passed, and I feel like I blacked
14:58out.
14:59I didn't want to believe it, but at that point, you started talking to other friends.
15:07It started to become real, and then you started realizing what had happened.
15:12Why did this happen?
15:14Who was this person that would have killed him?
15:17How is that possible to want to kill somebody that is such a great human?
15:28I'm a defense attorney, and Mario and Amy came to have dinner, and he had mentioned to me that Amy
15:37might have some questions about a restraining order to prevent her ex from coming close to her or contacting her.
15:45Amy had a lot of concerns that her ex-boyfriend was stalking her.
15:49She was scared, and she felt helpless.
15:52She was very hesitant to talk about her past, to even give out her phone number, to have people post
16:00pictures of her on social media.
16:03Amy was very, very frustrated with the system, so I wanted to make Amy feel better and potentially help her.
16:14It set enough red flags for one of her friends, a defense attorney, to take the initiative to contact our
16:21unit, which specializes in stalking.
16:23So we ended up reaching out to Amy, and she said she's been in fear of Jesse, her ex-boyfriend.
16:31He calls her all the time.
16:32Hi, Amy. It's Jesse. If you could please call or message me back at some point. Really appreciate it.
16:38He shows up to places that she's at.
16:41She did try to get a restraining order, but that restraining order had previously been denied, because under the California
16:48law, stalking requires a threat.
16:51And he never threatened Amy, not directly.
16:55So at the time, we could not criminally charge him with stalking, but certainly we picked up a lot of
17:01red flags that she was the target of his obsession.
17:09Now, we need to make sure Amy is safe.
17:12So we had our investigators who specialize in threat assessment put her into a confidential location.
17:21Numerous detectives were still trying to locate Jesse Alvarez, but we didn't know where he was.
17:26And at this point, we were concerned that he may harm someone else.
17:30Stalkers target not only the object of their obsession, but they hurt them by hurting the people that they love.
17:40Jesse had not been found at that time.
17:42We were scared. I didn't leave the house that day.
17:45There was just a consensus between all of us. Hey, lock your doors. Watch out.
17:51Jesse, to me, just seemed like a shark that was circling and circling and waiting for the perfect moment to
17:58strike.
18:13At this point, we're thinking to ourselves, like, you know, Jesse Alvarez was the likely perpetrator that killed Mario.
18:28So several investigators are conducting background checks on Jesse Alvarez, looking for anything that could help us locate him.
18:37When I was interviewing Amy, I asked her, you know, what connections does Jesse have to San Diego County?
18:45Because she told me that she believed he lived in San Bernardino, in Rancho Cucamonga.
18:49So she told me that his brother, Ryan, lived in San Diego.
18:54That's the only link that she was aware of that Jesse would have to San Diego.
19:01As detectives start to look for Jesse, they start pinging his phone.
19:05They located his phone at an address on Fermi Avenue.
19:10The location was about 10 minutes away from the crime scene.
19:15Sergeant Leahy drives by the 9200 block of Fermi and sees a Volkswagen Golf parked at a residence there,
19:22which we believe may have been used in the crime based on surveillance video.
19:27We quickly run the registration of the vehicle through our computer systems,
19:32and it comes back to a Ryan Alvarez, Jesse Alvarez's brother.
19:39As this is happening, investigators observe family members arriving to the location and going into the house.
19:46Our fear at that point is that the suspect could be inside and he could be getting rid of evidence.
19:52So a decision is made at that point to secure the house and obtain a search warrant.
20:01We had a number of uniformed officers surround the residence.
20:05The occupants inside were directed to exit.
20:08The last person to exit the home was Jesse, and we had already predetermined that as each family member came
20:17out of the house,
20:18they were going to be assigned to a detective before any other discussions amongst themselves occur.
20:25All the family members were shocked.
20:28However, Jesse wasn't curious as to why he was placed in handcuffs.
20:34He's not asking why any of this is happening.
20:37It was rather strange.
20:39But probable cause existed at this point to arrest him.
20:43So Jesse was transported down to police headquarters.
20:48Jesse's mom, dad, and brother Ryan were all interviewed outside of Ryan's house in the detective's vehicles.
20:57All three of them indicated to us that Jesse, unannounced, left the house early in the morning,
21:03which was inconsistent from his regular routine,
21:06and that he borrowed Ryan's car without permission.
21:11Jesse had been living there with his brother Ryan for several weeks,
21:14and he told his family that he had gone hiking in the morning,
21:17but he was not wearing hiking clothes, and he did not come back looking like he had exercised.
21:22But the family said they did not believe the story that he told about where he went that morning.
21:29At that point, we know we need to get into the house because we have not located the murder weapon.
21:34So we serve the search warrant, and in the garage, investigators find two firearms.
21:41One of the firearms is a rifle, and it is concealed in a guitar gun case.
21:46The other was a handgun.
21:49Both the handgun and the rifle were painted white.
21:53The fact that the weapons were painted white was incredibly important to the investigation
21:58because there was a witness that had described the suspect using a white item
22:04and placing it to the victim's head.
22:08We also locate several pieces of clothing and items related to Cathedral Catholic High School.
22:17Our suspect, Jesse Alvarez, had no connection to the school.
22:21My thoughts were Jesse was obtaining all these items in order to go to the school,
22:28and essentially camouflage himself.
22:32Jesse not only had the white Glock firearm we believe was used in the murder,
22:37but he had a rifle with extended magazines and a guitar case.
22:41He easily could have walked onto that campus with his guitar case with that rifle in it.
22:46This guitar case was not for a guitar.
22:49It was specifically a gun case made to look like a guitar case.
22:53Based on what we were finding, I'm asking myself if his ultimate plan was to go to that high school
22:58and either commit mass shooting or target Amy there.
23:14Mario's murder just shook our community.
23:17Students were devastated.
23:20His colleagues, friends, and family were devastated.
23:23When we returned back to the crime scene to do additional investigation,
23:29his students were already in front of his home.
23:32Flowers out, candles lit.
23:35The football players brought their jerseys, flowers, candles,
23:40all to show their respect for their coach.
23:43He was so beloved, not only from his players, but also his students.
23:47It really stunned me just seeing that outpouring of love from the community.
23:58So based on the information that we have so far,
24:02we had located items that were indicative that Jesse Alvarez was trying to camouflage himself
24:07and go to Cathedral High School, and now we have a rifle that is located within a guitar case.
24:13So my first thought was,
24:15was this suspect planning to conduct a mass shooting at a school?
24:22So I called Ramona before the interview with Jesse,
24:25and I asked her, I said,
24:27hey, can you ask Amy to tell me what the hooks are into Jesse?
24:34You know, what are things that I can talk to him about to ingratiate myself?
24:39Amy said Jesse obtained a master's in diplomacy,
24:42and he was one of those guys that thought he was smarter than everybody else.
24:49I won't beat around the bush.
24:50Did you date a girl named Amy?
24:53We were friends.
24:54Okay.
24:55But we did not date.
24:56She expressed romantic interest to me,
24:58but I always said no.
25:00I just want to keep that as friends.
25:01And then he starts to say,
25:03well, she may have believed we dated,
25:05that she has this histrionic disorder
25:07where she thinks relationships are closer than they are.
25:10He was very comfortable lying to these two homicide detectives
25:13sitting right in front of him.
25:15I will tell you that from what we learned today,
25:18there's a different interpretation of yours and Amy's relationship.
25:21She claims there was a lot of stalking behavior,
25:24you trying to contact her,
25:26you jealous about the new fiance.
25:29I had no idea that she was even on a relationship.
25:32We could see the wheels returning in his head
25:34that his story was not flying with us.
25:37Let's switch gears a little bit
25:38and talk about this house at 9211.
25:42You recently moved there.
25:44Who do you live with there?
25:46My brother, Ryan.
25:48Okay, do your parents live there as well?
25:50No, sir.
25:52They're visiting this weekend.
25:54Your mom was interviewed by another homicide detective.
25:56She says, you know what?
25:57My son left at 6.30 this morning.
25:58He left in my other son's car without his permission.
26:01No, I was in my car, so that's weird.
26:05We told them, hey, your dad says the same thing.
26:07Hey, your brother says the same thing.
26:09Everybody agrees you left this morning,
26:11took your brother's car,
26:13did not have permission,
26:14and we found the white weapons in the garage.
26:18And a witness interviewed at the scene
26:20reported seeing one male
26:22holding a white object to another male's head.
26:25I've never seen anybody with a white gun.
26:27What kind of gun is this white gun?
26:30It's a Glock 19.
26:31Why do you want to make your gun white?
26:33It's a stupid question, but now I need to know.
26:36I mean, honestly, just because I like Star Wars
26:39and it makes me think of Stormtroopers.
26:41Oh, yeah.
26:42This homicide was perpetrated by a white firearm,
26:46and Jesse's firearm was painted white.
26:51At that point, you could see
26:53that Jesse was starting to become uncomfortable.
26:56I don't know why it went this way today,
26:58but it's Captain Obvious in this room what happened today.
27:02Somehow this got out of hand, right?
27:04So just tell me just how it would happen,
27:08if you would.
27:11Jesse realizes that in a matter of hours,
27:16we had accumulated quite a bit of evidence.
27:19He then recognizes that he's being caught in lies,
27:23and now he's going to have to provide an explanation to us.
27:26I guess I'm just, you know, a little confused and scared of just, like, you know.
27:31What's next?
27:32Yeah.
27:33I guess I'm just curious, though, like, you talked about, you know,
27:39like, legal proceedings and Quora and what have you, and I'm just...
27:42And then he slowly started to lay it out what happened.
27:47Jesse admitted that he drove down there.
27:49His intentions were to speak with Mario
27:53because he believed he was mistreating Amy.
27:57Like, you're telling me they were engaged.
27:58I did not know that.
28:01But, yeah, I did care about her, her well-being.
28:04She had a lot of really toxic relationships when I first met her,
28:07and at times I'd seen her, like, you know,
28:10just very drunk and drugged or, you know, being abused and what have you.
28:15And I just thought, well, you know, it's a Monday morning.
28:19I could probably catch him on his way to work.
28:23Jesse admits that he approaches Mario at the back of the car,
28:27and Jesse says that he fears for his safety
28:30and that Mario starts grabbing onto him.
28:36He was actually grabbing me and, yeah, holding onto me and, like, you know,
28:43like, clenching me really hard and stuff,
28:46and I pushed him away,
28:49and then I did draw, you know,
28:54and I just shot, like, he didn't stop.
28:58Like, he just continued to lunge at me.
28:59I shot again, like, again, like, this was all very fast.
29:03That's why I kind of just kept firing kind of aimlessly
29:07because I really was afraid for my safety,
29:10and he just wouldn't stop.
29:13It made no sense.
29:14He admitted he shot Mario six times,
29:17but he never described any actual threat that Mario presented.
29:21He said that Mario got angry,
29:24said he was going to kick his ass,
29:25something to that effect,
29:26and then he empties, you know,
29:28numerous rounds into the head and face.
29:30That's not self-defense.
29:33There's nothing that we take more serious
29:35than the loss of a human being.
29:37Oh, absolutely.
29:37With that being said,
29:40tonight you are under arrest for murder.
29:43Jesse's booked into jail,
29:44and we charged him with one count of first-degree murder.
29:50In our analysis,
29:51it was obvious to us that this was a first-degree murder.
29:54Having Jesse in custody
29:56was only the first piece of solving this case.
29:58We knew that Jesse was going to go to trial for this murder
30:01and that his defense would be self-defense.
30:04But the motive all pointed to the stalking activity,
30:07and I believe that this was a callous plan to kill
30:10without any remorse.
30:12So we needed to prove that Jesse premeditated
30:15the murder of Mario Fierro.
30:27So at this point, we had a confession from Jesse,
30:30but it was based on a claim that it was self-defense.
30:33So we needed to collect as much evidence as possible
30:36to build a case against him for the murder of Mario Fierro.
30:40We met as an investigative team
30:43with District Attorney Ramona McCarthy,
30:45and we identified what are the things we need to do
30:48to establish that it was premeditated.
30:51I did a Google warrant,
30:52so any of his devices that are linked via Gmail
30:56will automatically back up,
30:58so you'll get replicated digital evidence on those.
31:01So this thing was just beginning.
31:02That Google return really gave us insight
31:06into a mind of a stalker.
31:10For months, he would go online,
31:12and he started adding as many friends
31:15and family of Amy's as he could.
31:18He would send them private messages.
31:20Hey, Amy and I, you know, we've lost contact.
31:23Do you have her updated phone number?
31:26He was truly obsessively stalking Amy.
31:29We learned that Jesse was following
31:31over 470 social media accounts
31:34that were associated to the high school.
31:35And what we also came to learn
31:37is that he learned of the engagement
31:39through a public Facebook posting
31:41that Cathedral Catholic High School had generated
31:44announcing and celebrating
31:46the engagement between Amy and Mario.
31:50The love of his life, Amy,
31:52his ex-girlfriend,
31:53is now engaged to Mario Fierro.
31:55And from that point,
31:57we believe he shifted his focus
32:00to stalking Mario.
32:02Within hours of that posting coming out,
32:05Jesse began conducting numerous Google searches
32:08and going to paid websites
32:09to try to identify who Mario Fierro was,
32:13where he lived, what cars he drove.
32:15He starts looking up
32:16how to shoot and kill somebody.
32:18He looks up self-defense,
32:20how busy the San Diego police are,
32:22do they track your cell phone,
32:24which explains why he didn't bring his phone
32:25to the crime scene.
32:27And he looks up,
32:28does a shot to the head kill.
32:30Jesse was enraged to the point
32:33that he could not stop himself.
32:36Towards the end of 2020,
32:39while researching how he was going to murder Mario,
32:42he was posting social media posts
32:45claiming to be a student
32:47at Cathedral Catholic High School.
32:48He would go on campus
32:50talking to other students and other faculty,
32:53claiming that he was an alumni at the school,
32:56trying to now get a job to be a teacher.
33:00We had no idea he was on campus
33:03in the weeks prior to Mario's murder,
33:06taking hundreds of photographs of the campus,
33:10essentially a blueprint of the campus,
33:12and also specifically focusing inside Amy's classroom.
33:17And Amy was completely vulnerable.
33:20When I heard about that after the fact,
33:22that was terrifying, frankly.
33:23It was on another level.
33:25I just couldn't fathom
33:28someone going to that length
33:30with his activities at the school.
33:32Just shocking, honestly.
33:36The first time he applied to get a job
33:38at Cathedral Catholic High School,
33:40he got an interview.
33:42We could figure out through Jesse's computer information,
33:47Google information, tracking his cell phone,
33:49that four days after he had that interview,
33:52he purchased a rifle and a 9mm Glock.
33:56On his phone, there were pictures of Jesse
33:59that he has of himself training in the desert to shoot,
34:02and he was going to a gun training center
34:04located in northern San Diego
34:06to practice for weeks on end
34:08to obtain certificates for firearms usage.
34:12For weeks, he was constantly at the range,
34:15firing his gun and learning to shoot.
34:18And the last thing he researched
34:21the night before he murdered Mario
34:23was how to shoot a gun without flinching.
34:27It gave us a pretty clear understanding
34:30that this murder was not sudden,
34:33that it was planned, that it was premeditated,
34:37and that he spent a lot of time thinking
34:39and researching what he was going to do.
34:42The other thing we noted that during his searches,
34:44he knew when Cathedral High School
34:46was going back to school.
34:47The first day after COVID.
34:49So he waited out there knowing that
34:51Mario was going to leave to go teach at school
34:54and would be coming out to his car.
34:57As I was reviewing the evidence,
34:59it became crystal clear to me
35:01that his plan was to murder Mario.
35:03Because he was the person he believed
35:06was responsible for taking away his prior girlfriend.
35:14The plan started in 2019.
35:18Jesse started stalking Amy after she broke up with him
35:22and he became fixated on her.
35:25For months, Jesse was stalking Amy,
35:27calling her nonstop, following her,
35:30showing up to random places.
35:31He's not taking no for an answer.
35:35When he sees Amy and Mario's engagement announcement
35:38on social media,
35:40Jesse's jealousy consumed him.
35:42So the next day, on December 22nd,
35:47Jesse starts to conduct computer searches
35:50of Amy and Mario Fierro.
35:54One of the searches that Jesse conducted
35:56was how to kill your ex's fiancé.
36:00Based on what we located at the residence,
36:03we believe Jesse was planning to go to the high school
36:06to target Amy there.
36:07He went online and started applying for faculty positions
36:11at Cathedral Catholic High School,
36:13where Amy was a teacher.
36:16Then, Jesse began tracking down Mario's address
36:19and mapping the area.
36:20In January, he purchased two firearms,
36:23a 9mm Glock, and a rifle.
36:25Next, Jesse took shooting lessons at a pistol range.
36:30Then he began stalking Mario,
36:32closely watching his daily routines.
36:35And the planning continued as he researched
36:37how not to leave evidence behind.
36:39Jesse knew the first day back to school
36:41after the COVID lockdown
36:43would be the perfect opportunity to enact his plan.
36:47That morning, Jesse woke up early,
36:49and to prevent his own car from being linked to the crime,
36:52he borrowed his brother's car and drove it to North Park.
36:55Jesse waited in his car,
36:58right in front of Mario's complex,
37:00for almost an hour.
37:01For Mario to exit his apartment,
37:05Mario opened the trunk of his car,
37:07and that's when Jesse began shooting.
37:10He shoots him numerous times.
37:12Made sure he was dead,
37:14and then he escaped in his brother's car,
37:16and he returned home.
37:21This was a cold-blooded, premeditated murder.
37:23And it was voluminous in terms of evidence.
37:29We just hope the jury tracks with us at the trial.
37:38I went to the trial,
37:40and it was surreal to watch Jesse and his demeanor.
37:46It validated the depth of Jesse's obsession.
37:50In court, Jesse was so persistent
37:53and determined to speak with Amy
37:55that he was trying to pass notes to Amy
37:58or at least get her attention.
37:59Like, he still thought there was a chance
38:01to the point that his attorneys had to calm him down.
38:05Amy was already feeling very let down by the system.
38:10She had tried to get a restraining order,
38:13and it didn't work.
38:15Mario was shot and killed,
38:17and she knew Jesse was never going to give up.
38:22I got the sense that she had lost hope
38:25that anybody would stop Jesse.
38:36The entire trial was the Jesse Alvarez show.
38:40There was a lot of theatrics.
38:42He was using a cane.
38:44He couldn't even lift his head up.
38:47Jesse really thought he could pull one over on the jury.
38:51Oh, my gosh, like, these are some really weird search.
38:53It was very difficult to be in the court.
38:57To me, it's hard to even give that person a name.
39:02My sister and I couldn't look at him,
39:05but we wanted to.
39:06We wanted to see what kind of person would do this.
39:16I have never had a case
39:19with such a wealth of evidence
39:21demonstrating premeditation.
39:23However, the defense was that Jesse acted in self-defense.
39:28But before the trial started,
39:31we received an audio recording
39:33from that surveillance footage of the shots fired
39:36that killed Mario.
39:39That audio was very significant at trial
39:43because you could hear the cadence of those shots.
39:49Those shots sound methodical.
39:53Those shots were done with a purpose.
39:57There's a shot, a long pause,
40:01and then several shots to the head.
40:05When you listen to that audio,
40:07it is so incredibly eerie.
40:10It made it crystal clear
40:12this was not an act of self-defense.
40:14This was a meticulously plotted execution of Mario.
40:21In my 15 years as a homicide investigator,
40:24I have never seen a case
40:25that showed more premeditation,
40:27more planning,
40:28and unwavering commitment
40:30to commit a murder.
40:34Jesse had several opportunities to back out of this,
40:37but he chose to go to Mario's house,
40:39locate him,
40:39and gun him down in his driveway.
40:41This sitting and waiting outside of Mario's house
40:44to then execute him
40:47to me shows
40:49that he's just a cold-blooded killer.
40:52This was the first homicide case I had
40:56working with a stalking victim,
40:59so it personally hit me very hard.
41:03I really wanted to ensure
41:04justice was going to be had
41:06and that Jesse can never do this again.
41:14Verdeck count one,
41:15we the jury in the above entitled cause
41:17find the defendant,
41:18Jesse Milton Alvarez,
41:21guilty of the crime
41:23of murder in the first degree.
41:26Jesse was convicted of first-degree murder
41:29with the special circumstance
41:31of lying in wait,
41:32along with the allegation
41:33of using a firearm
41:34during the commission of that murder.
41:36He was sentenced to life
41:38without the possibility of parole,
41:40plus an additional 25 years to life.
41:46I'm glad justice was served,
41:51but none of this is bringing my friend back.
41:54There was a memorial at Cathedral for Mario
41:57on the football field.
41:58It was a lot of Mario's close friends and family,
42:01the faculty,
42:02and it was an opportunity
42:04for, you know, people to come together
42:06and grieve.
42:08What gets me when I think about losing Mario
42:10was the memories that were going to come,
42:13the future that he had.
42:15He was so into molding the youth
42:18and being a teacher.
42:20He was super excited to be a dad.
42:23He was going to be great
42:24in this next phase of life,
42:25and that was just robbed from him.
42:34You
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