Domitila Alvarez murdered: Jorge Trevino Cardenas gets life in prison for 2009 cold-case murder in fatal stabbing of mother of five

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A Houston man received a life sentence for a 2009 murder for fatally stabbing a mother of five, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said.

Jorge Trevino Cardenas, 52, was already behind bars after being convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 2014.

In January 2023, Cardenas was charged with murdering Domitila Alvarez. After a four-day trial, a jury found him guilty on October 10 and the judge sentenced him to life in prison.

“It was a heinous crime when it happened, and no one in law enforcement ever stopped looking for the killer,” Ogg said. “Even after the case was settled, investigators continued to work on it. When charges were filed, prosecutors were able to get justice for the victim and her family.”

On the evening of April 24, 2009, Alvarez, a 38-year-old mother of five, went alone to her family’s car dealership in the Alief area to handle some business.

Family members discovered her body hours later in the store’s office. Alvarez had been the victim of several vicious stabbings during a fight with someone wielding a long knife. Investigators found bloodstains on the door leading to the office, on the security bars outside the entrance and on a parked truck outside, in addition to the blood found on her clothing.

As part of a 2021 case review, the Cold Case Squad of the Houston Police Department’s Homicide Unit re-examined the material and used Cardenas’ DNA to identify him. Tests showed his DNA matched that found on the truck, the safety bars, the door and his clothing.

Police determined that Cardenas had likely injured himself with the knife during the fight because his blood and DNA had mixed with the victim’s blood.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Condon, chief of the prosecutor’s homicide unit, noted that a witness who knew Cardenas in 2009 testified that he lived near the store, worked as a security guard near the store and a long, fixed blade with a serrated edge. The knife that killed Alvarez was the same knife, according to medical experts.

Before Cardenas is eligible for parole, he must serve a minimum of 30 years in prison.