The murder of 54-year-old DJ Alberto Martino by his girlfriend’s brother, Roberto Alvarez, and her cousin, Miguel Alvarez, is featured in the latest episode of Homicide City on Investigation Discovery.
Shortly before 11:30 pm on September 6, 1989, a minister who was on his way to work found Martino dead in a vacant lot behind the Benjamin Fox Pavilion on Old York Road in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Martino was next to his vehicle with the hood up and the door open with the keys in the ignition.
An investigation revealed that when Martino ended his shift around 11:00 pm at the Pagan’s Lounge, he ran into car trouble. When he got out of his vehicle and attempted to work on his stalled car, he was attacked by Roberto and Miguel.
They brutally beat him before shooting him once in the back, killing him.
Just three days before the murder, Martino’s girlfriend, Lydia Mendez, said she received an anonymous blood-stained letter, threatening her to break up with Martino. Investigators believe Miguel was responsible for the letters because he purportedly wanted to form a relationship with Mendez, his own cousin. When she refused to be with him, Martino ended up dead.
Miguel’s co-worker, Daniel Torres, testified that he saw him cutting out words from a magazine and pasting them onto a white sheet of paper. Torres added that Miguel then made copies of the letter.
When Roberto and Miguel were brought to justice, they told police that they did not murder Martino. However, they were tried and convicted of first-degree murder.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelHomicide City — Killer Moves, airs at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.