By Katherine Longjohn
RIVERSIDE, CA – Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarado was sentenced to 25 years to life, indeterminate, in state prison for the brutal strangulation of his wife in Feb. of 2019 by Judge Bernard Schwartz Friday in Riverside County Superior Court.
Alvarado and his wife had been married for 25 years and share three kids together, but after an alleged act of infidelity committed by his wife, Alvarado decided to take her life by way of strangulation.
Judge Schwartz classifies strangulation as “one of those kinds of ways in which you take someone’s life that is personal.”
Differentiating strangulation from other forms of murder such as the use of a gun or a knife, Judge Schwartz said, “in essence you are almost watching the life disappear from the person’s eyes as you do so.” 
Following the murder, Alvarado attempted to lead the victim’s family into believing she was still alive by texting her family members from her phone and through feeding them a false narrative of her being kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico.
Essentially, through his deceit, Alvarado caused the victim’s family “to hold out hope… and that only prolonged their agony and their pain.”
Alvarado also attempted to evade law enforcement by disposing of the victim’s body in Mexico. He specifically enlisted the help of persons to both purchase a sleeping bag used to wrap the body and to aid in the carrying and discarding of the body.
While the court does have discretion in deciding whether to impose probation in this case, Judge Schwartz found that the factors of this murder that support the denial of probation far outweigh any factors that might support imposing probation.
Instead, given the violent and personal nature of the crime as well as the extreme lengths Alvarado went to prevent the true nature of the crime coming to light, Judge Schwartz sentenced him to 25 years to life indeterminate in state prison.
