A $50,000 reward is being offered for information about the death of a 73-year-old man in Willimantic nearly seven years ago.
A $50,000 reward is being offered for information about the death of a 73-year-old man in Willimantic nearly seven years ago.
William Alvarado was found dead at an apartment complex at 621 Valley St., public housing complex, on Sept. 7, 2016.
Police initially considered his death suspicious and state police later said it was a homicide.
The Associated Press reported that Alvarado died of a stab wound to the neck.
“Nearly seven years ago, Mr. Alvarado’s life tragically ended and since then, he has not been forgotten,” Willimantic Police Chief Paul Hussey said in a statement. “We believe there is someone out there who can help bring justice for the Alvarado family. Every bit of information helps so we are appealing to the public to reach out to us and provide information we need to help us identify and arrest those responsible for this heinous crime. We are grateful to State’s Attorney Mahoney for her work on this case and to Governor Lamont for approving the reward.”
Gov. Ned Lamont has approved the $50,000 reward that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Alvarado's death.
“You may not understand the significance of the information that you have, but you may be an important piece of the puzzle or you may be the first domino in a series of dominos that leads to an arrest and successful prosecution,” said Anne Mahoney, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Windham.
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Alvarado's family described him as gentle, quiet, sweet, friendly and overly trusting.
“He was just very friendly and accepting, overly trusting, so he could have just put himself in a situation that was unfortunate,” said Melissa Alvarado Lee, William's niece. “You try to live and then it gets brought back up and something like this comes up and you’re hopeful but unbelievably sad at the same time."
Investigators are asking anyone with information to come forward. Authorities remind people that every bit of information helps.
“I want to thank Mr. Alvarado’s family members for being here today and especially thank Governor Lamont for having approved this reward,” Mahoney said in a statement. “Mr. Alvarado’s family remains hopeful that someone will come forward with additional information that will lead to an arrest in this case. We are asking for the public’s help finding that information. Even if you have information that you don’t think is particularly useful, please share it with us.”
It is believed by authorities that Alvarado knew his killer.
“It’s devastating, and we want closure to this unsolved case,” said family member Carmen Everett.
The investigation is active and ongoing.
Anyone with information should contact the Willimantic Police Department at (860) 465-3135 or call the Cold Case Unit at 1-866-623-8058.
Emails should be sent to cold.case@ct.gov, and direct messages should be sent through the Connecticut DCJ Cold Case Unit Facebook page.
Letters also can be sent to the Willimantic Police Department, 22 Meadow Street, Willimantic, CT 06226 or the Cold Case Unit at P.O. Box 962, Rocky Hill, CT 06067.
