CARROLLTON, Texas — Authorities have arrested a suspect linked to the 2013 killing of a Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District maintenance supervisor.
Carrollton police said Gerardo Alvarez, 45, was captured in Mexico in October 2020 and was brought back to Texas on March 9. According to police, Alvarez fought extradition which had originally delayed his return to Carrollton until this week.
Alvarez is accused of killing CFBISD Groundskeeping Supervisor Todd Fenton on Oct. 2, 2013. Alvarez was also a school district employee at the time and Fenton was his supervisor, according to detectives.
A school bus dispatcher discovered Fenton’s body in a maintenance barn office at the school district's service center in Carrollton. Police said Fenton had been shot several times in the back.
Investigators were able to identify Alvarez as the suspect after he was caught on surveillance video during the time of the shooting. Police said he never showed up to work the next day and had already crossed the border into Mexico.
The U.S. Marshals and Carrollton police worked alongside Mexican authorities for seven years to find Alvarez and take him into custody. Carrollton Police Chief Derick Miller said Alvarez's arrest will finally allow some peace for Fenton's family.
"It may have been justice delayed, but it was not denied," Miller said
Alvarez has been transferred into a Dallas County Jail. He remains in custody in lieu of a $5 million bail, according to jail records.
