Family's perseverance leads to murder charge against man originally cleared in Arlene Alvarez shooting

HOUSTON – When the man first accused of shooting 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez to death on Valentine’s Day two years ago was exonerated, District Attorney Kim Ogg said without new evidence, she didn’t expect to bring any new charges or put the case before another grand jury.

The Alvarez family went to work, fighting for justice for their daughter and pursuing their own experts and evidence.

“It took a village,” said Arlene’s aunt, April Aguirre. “I want to tell the whole community that not every case is going to take a traditional path.”

• SEE ALSO: Family of Arlene Alvarez says they will continue to fight for justice despite grand jury declining to indict man accused of fatally shooting 9-year-old

The family brought what they’d gathered to a special prosecutor, and this time, a grand jury agreed with them, indicting the same man they’d let go before.

Tony Earls, Jr. was indicted on murder charges this week, accused of shooting into the truck Alvarez was in with her family.

Earls was at the Chase Bank at the intersection of Winkler and Woodridge when he was robbed at gunpoint at 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 14. After the robbery, Earls fired his handgun at the robber, who was running away from him.

At the same time, the Alvarez family were driving past the bank in their pickup when Earls is said to have fired several shots into the truck, hitting Arlene in the head.

• RELATED: Special prosecutor appointed in murder case of 9-year-old Arlene Alvarez two years after her death in SE Houston

There are no laws surrounding how many times a case can go before a grand jury, but KPRC 2 Legal Analyst Brian Wice says it rarely happens more than once.

“It’s not very often, particularly in a high-profile case, that there’s additional evidence that’s of such character, that it’s likely to bring about a different result, as in this case, a true bill,” Wice said.

The special prosecutor who handled the case the second time around, Warren Diepraam, would not go into detail about what the new evidence was. By law, grand jury proceedings are not made public. He did give credit to work by a firearms expert with the FBI who looked at the evidence.

District Attorney Kim Ogg credited the Alvarez family for their willingness to fight for a second look into the case.

“They pursued justice for Arlene, not just because they loved her, but because people cannot live with injustice,” Ogg said.

Arlene’s mother, Wendy Alvarez, held back tears, saying the charges bring some comfort.

“We had a big loss, and we’re here for the love of Arlene,” Alvarez said. “Hopefully, we inspire for other families to never give up on their loved ones. It’s horrible, and it’s a big nightmare what we go through, but thanks to my family and my kids and my husband, we’re living, day by day.”

• RELATED: Family of Arlene Alvarez says they’ve fallen victim to multiple thefts, burglaries since death of 9-year-old

Aguirre has been a force in the investigation and pushing for more to be done. She has a message for people who’ve had sympathy for Earls.

“He made a conscious choice to shoot into that vehicle that night and he took a life. There’s no other outcome when you shoot into a vehicle other than property damage, injury or death. Those are the three things that are going to happen... what he did that night was shoot a little girl.”

Police are now looking for 33-year-old Tony Earls.