JESSE ALVAREZ WAS SO OBSESSED WITH HIS FORMER PARTNER, HE KILLED HER NEW LOVE
At 7am on 1 February 2021, 37-year-old schoolteacher Mario Fierro was shot six times at close range as he left his home in North Park, San Diego, to go to work at Cathedral Catholic High School. His cold-blooded killer was 33-year-old Jesse Alvarez, who was convicted last month of first-degree murder in what turned out to be a case of twisted revenge.
HARASSMENT
Alvarez’s plot to kill Mario was triggered by a post on the school’s social media feed six weeks earlier, which announced Mario had become engaged to fellow teacher Amy Gembara.
Amy was Alvarez’s ex-girlfriend, and the pair had been together for three-and-a-half years. However, when they split up in 2019, things had turned deeply sinister, with the “jealous, obsessive, and possessive” Alvarez launching a sustained campaign of harassment.
Amy testified at the trial, telling the court how she had been stalked by Alvarez after the relationship ended. She detailed how he repeatedly turned up at her house, forcing her to install security cameras at the property, before having to move. But despite changing her address, Alvarez tracked her down again. He tried to break into her home, as well as sending her malicious letters, and relentlessly calling and messaging her from fake phone numbers and social media accounts. He also regularly followed her, once appearing unannounced when she was on a trip to Disneyland. When a desperate Amy tried to get a restraining order, it was denied by a judge after Alvarez said he would stop.
However, things escalated in December 2020 when Alvarez discovered Amy was engaged. According to the prosecution case, he immediately began putting into motion a plan to get rid of the man he saw as his love rival.
MURDER PLOT
Alvarez spent the next few weeks plotting to kill Mario. The jury heard he began taking shooting lessons, and his internet history would later reveal he had been searching for terms such as, “How to commit the perfect murder”, “How to kill your ex's fiancé”,
“What does woman do with engagement ring if man dies?”, and “How to hire ahit man”. “What does woman do with engagement ring if man dies?”, and “How to hire ahit man”.
Alvarez –who at one point managed to secure ajob in Amy’s school cafeteria, before being escorted out by security when they realised who he was –put his plan into action that morning in February. Leaving his phone at home, he took agun and drove his brother’s car to Mario’s home. Prosecutors told the court, “Mr Fierro had no idea the defendant was the
