By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

OWENTOWN — They appeared to have a normal life — he an EMT with Champion EMS and she a nurse at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. The couple’s families, neighbors and fellow co-workers were shocked Wednesday when he apparently beat his wife to death with a baseball bat and then hanged himself.

Smith County Sheriff deputies were called to the home in the 11500 block of 19th Street in the Owentown community about 10 a.m. by a family member of the couple. “When the family member arrived at the home there was a note on the front door that said ‘Don’t enter. Call police,’” Lt. Craig Shelton said.

Authorities said that inside the neat brick home with a manicured lawn was the crime scene and the couple’s 9-year-old child.

Shelton said it was not clear if the child witnessed the attack, but that the child has been placed with family members.

Smith County Justice of the Peace Mitch Shamburger told the Tyler Paper at the scene that 40-year-old Fernando Vela Alvarado had beat his wife, Maria Delourdes Alvarado, to death with a baseball bat inside the home, then used a wheel barrel to move her body outside to a storage shed where he hanged himself.

He added that the man’s wife had filed for divorce and the papers were to be served this week.
TylerPaper.com