HOUSTON – The family of Arlene Alvarez faced the man accused of killing the 9-year-old on Valentine’s Day two years ago. In court Monday, they also listened to his attorney talk about the emotional exhaustion and PTSD she says Tony Earls suffers.
“They’re mourning their two years, they’re saying that their life has changed. My life changed more. They have each other. I don’t have my daughter,” Wendy Alvarez said after Monday’s hearing where a judge lowered bond for Earls from $100,000 to $75,000 on the murder charge and from $40,000 to $15,000 on the aggravated assault charge.
His family can’t afford to post bail, his attorney says because Earls can’t work when he’s in jail.
“This has been a very exhausting, emotionally, situation for him. He has suffered from PTSD from everything that happened,” his attorney Ana Paula Funes-Baker said Monday. “This has not been easy for him. I mean, I understand this has been traumatic for everybody involved. As I’ve stated time and time again, it is a tragedy. Nobody intended for that little girl to die. He has daughters. He feels for that. He is heartbroken about what happened. He never intended for that to happen. I mean it’s taken a toll on him for the past two years and his family.”
The murder of Arlene Alvarez and the arrest, then release, then re-arrest of Tony Earls has been a roller coaster case.
What Happened
On Valentine’s Day in 2022, Tony Earls was at the Chase Bank at the intersection of Winkler and Woodridge in SE Houston when a gunman robbed him around 9:30 p.m.
Earls had a handgun and opened fire at the robber, he said, who was running away from him.
At the same time, the Alvarez family were driving past the bank in their pickup. One of those bullets hit Arlene in the head.
Five months later, a Grand Jury cleared Earls, deciding not to indict him.
Then the Alvarez family, led by Arlene’s Aunt April Aguirre, went on a mission doing their own investigating and brought new evidence back to District Attorney Kim Ogg who brought in Special Prosecutor Warren Diepraam to reintroduce the case to a second Grand Jury.
Last month, that panel indicted Earls on murder and aggravated assault charges.
Earls was arrested a second time and has been in jail since.
Fast Forward to June 3, 2024
“And for those individuals who think Tony Earls is a victim, he shot intentionally into our vehicle and continuously re-aimed his weapon until he ran out of bullets. This was not a bullet that was intended for a robbery suspect and accidentally hit our vehicle. He intentionally, purposely aimed at our vehicle. and shot Arlene. Execution style. A bullet to the head. and because of that, we’re not going anywhere,” Aguirre said.
Arlene’s mother, Wendy said seeing Earls in court was difficult and necessary.
“It’s been very emotional. I didn’t want to be here, but I had to be here,” Alvarez said. “I feel like today, they had to see my presence.” Holding back tears, she said, “We’re here on the love of my daughter. I miss my daughter.”
Arlene’s mother and Aunt made it clear they’ll show up, each step of this case, no matter how difficult it becomes, emotionally.
“As a family, it’s very difficult to see the individual that killed your 9-year-old and be able to keep it together. These days are not easy. But we’re gonna be here because she already went through the worst thing any child could go through. Her life was taken in an instant,” Aguirre said.
Earls has always maintained he did not intentionally mean to harm Arlene.