Slaying suspect charged in murder of roommate

Valente Alvarez-Guerrero jumped in his SUV and fled to California early Thursday, apparently not knowing whether the roommate he is accused of fatally stabbing was alive or dead, according to charging documents filed Friday in King County Superior Court.

Alvarez-Guerrero, who was arrested in a tiny California town 175 miles north of Los Angeles, was charged Friday with second-degree murder in the slaying of his longtime friend Arturo Guillen Ramirez, 36, charging documents say. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in the Fresno County Jail, awaiting an extradition hearing sometime next week, said Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

Federal officials in San Francisco have placed an immigration hold on Alvarez-Guerrero, 40, said Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Seattle. As is routine, Dankers could not comment on Alvarez-Guerrero's immigration status, but said that generally a hold is issued when "ICE believes that a person is removable from the country.

"Once the criminal case has run its course, he'll come into ICE custody," Dankers said.

Alvarez-Guerrero, who had been sleeping on Ramirez's couch for the past two months, was arrested late Wednesday on suspicion of domestic-violence assault following a fight over female visitors to the third-floor apartment the two men shared in the 7400 block of Rainier Avenue South, according to a police report.

But instead of being booked into the King County Jail, Alvarez-Guerrero was released from the Police Department's South Precinct just after 1 a.m. Thursday, the report says. He was scheduled to have surgery on his left hand later that day, and officers let him go because they figured jail officials wouldn't allow him to be booked because of his pre-existing injury, the report says.

That decision — by two officers and a sergeant — has prompted an internal investigation by the department's Office of Professional Accountability, Assistant Police Chief Nick Metz said Thursday. All three were pulled off patrol duty and placed on administrative reassignment.

Under state law, anyone arrested on suspicion of domestic-violence assault is to be booked into jail, Metz said, explaining that fights between roommates — even those not romantically involved — are considered domestic violence.

The officers' names have not been released, but Metz said all three are department veterans.

A law-enforcement source, who asked to remain anonymous, identified the sergeant as Roger Rusness. A Seattle police spokeswoman declined to confirm the name.

Two hours after his arrest, Alvarez-Guerrero returned to the apartment building and asked a woman if she'd seen "the other bigger Hispanic male" — an apparent reference to Ramirez, charging documents say. The woman said "no" and watched Alvarez-Guerrero climb the stairs to the third floor.

She then heard a loud thump and saw Alvarez-Guerrero run from the building with something concealed in his hand and drive away, the documents say.

Ramirez's body was found about 7:30 a.m. in the hallway outside his apartment. A preliminary exam by death investigators showed that Ramirez had been stabbed in the chest and possibly the back, and had significant injuries to his head and face, the documents say.

Detectives said Alvarez-Guerrero phoned Ramirez's sister in California at 5 a.m. Thursday, told her he'd shot her brother and asked if she knew whether Ramirez was still alive, the documents say. She tried to phone her brother, but he didn't answer.

A statewide bulletin was issued and members of the U.S. Marshals Service in Seattle contacted their counterparts in Fresno after learning Alvarez-Guerrero was possibly heading to Los Angeles, said David Hiebert, the commander of the Marshals' Central Valley Joint Fugitive Task Force, based in Fresno, Calif.

Law-enforcement officials positioned themselves along Interstate 5, hoping to "get an eyeball on this guy," Hiebert said Friday. They had no idea if Alvarez-Guerrero already had passed through but hoped to stop him from making it to L.A. because the city "is a pretty big place to hide," he said.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, officers spotted a vehicle matching the description sent by Seattle police. Unmarked units followed the SUV for 21 miles before pulling it over in Kettleman City, a town of 1,700 people in the San Joaquin Valley, Hiebert said.

Seattle Times staff reporter Steve Miletich and news researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com