GUILTY IN - Alma Del Real, 22, South Bend, 12 April 2015

[kimi_SFC]

There is a SB local Fox28 news and video story, 21 May, on Cruz's neighbors reacting to Alberto Cruz being suspect. I can't seem to link it. Google his name, "neighbors" and hers (sadly). Maybe someone can provide link. Thx.

Found it...

Neighbors describe suspect in Alma Del Real case - Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN News, Weather, Sports

Direct link to video

http://www.fox28.com/story/29128859...rt=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=11523420

MuchMore@Link
http://www.fox28.com/story/29128859/2015/05/21/neighbors-describe-suspect-in-alma-del-real-case






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[kimi_SFC]

Alma Del Real's suspected killer was with her and other friends the morning she disappeared | Local - WSBT.com
SOUTH BEND -
He was one of the first people police talked to about Alma Del Real's disappearance and according to investigators, might have been the last to see her alive. Alberto Cruz - known by friends and family as Berto - is now accused in Del Real's murder.

[...]

But people who knew Del Real still can't believe the twist in this case that developed nearly six weeks after the 22-year-old's disappearance.

"It's kind of struck me hard that somebody that we associate with, dance with, drink with could do something like this," said Eli Cantu.

Cantu told WSBT 22 he was at Studio Rumba - a South Bend night club with Del Real and others in the early morning hours of April 12.

"I didn't know [Alberto Cruz] too well, just through Facebook," Cantu said. "But he apparently was a very close friend of hers."

Witnesses have reportedly told police they saw Cruz leaving Studio Rumba with Del Real around 3 a.m. that Sunday in his red pick up truck. But when police first talked to Cruz, he told them he dropped Del Real off at her house around 3:30.

[...]

"Just unreal to believe that you live next to a guy like that," said Joshua Whitt, who lives next door to the home Cruz shares with his parents.

Whitt and his brother, who lives with him, said they were shocked to learn about Cruz's arrest.

[...]

And while hundreds of people searched for Del Real, "I was sleeping next door to him," Justin said.

[...]

Cruz had not been formally charged in the case by 6 p.m. Thursday but the Prosecutor has 24 hours from the time of a suspect's arrest to either file charges or request more time from a judge.

One big piece of the puzzle investigators are not talking about is motive. No information has been released about why Cruz would kill Del Real. There's also no indication of how long her body was in the Marshall County field and if she was killed there or somewhere else.
Embedded video & More@Link
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/alma...-friends-the-morning-she-disappeared/33155632


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[luckyseven]

Formal murder charge filed.

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/...red-the-body-of-Alma-Del-Real--304504951.html

 

[steelman]

Alma Del Real's suspected killer was with her and other friends the morning she disappeared | Local - WSBT.com
SOUTH BEND -


One big piece of the puzzle investigators are not talking about is motive. No information has been released about why Cruz would kill Del Real. There's also no indication of how long her body was in the Marshall County field and if she was killed there or somewhere else.
Embedded video & More@Link
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/alma...-friends-the-morning-she-disappeared/33155632


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His motive ? He thought they should be more than friends, and she disagreed. Cruz didn't take kindly to that.

I'm sure his defense attorney will come up with something much more colorful so they can blame the victim.

 

[kimi_SFC]

Formal murder charge filed.

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/...red-the-body-of-Alma-Del-Real--304504951.html

"He was never off the radar," Gobel said. "There were several people who were on the radar but he was never off the radar. It was just a matter of finding that key piece of evidence we needed to lock him in. With investigations it's a game of chess. Not a game of checkers. There's strategy to it. It was a matter of playing the right piece at the right time with him in order for us to ensure the preliminary charges of murder."
[...]
"Many sleepless nights laying there thinking 'what did I miss? What am I not seeing?" Gobel said. "Playing interviews over and over. My husband, who is also an officer, literally we were both rewatching interviews. I fell asleep watching them at night for this case trying to figure out what am I not seeing? When you sit across from Alma's grandmother, who practically raised her, and she's crying, you feel about this big because you don't have the answers for her. You just want to rip your heart out of your chest at some point."

The continual road blocks in the case were extremely frustrating to Gobel.

"For me it's been very, very emotional," Gobel said. "It's been a roller coaster. I felt like I would get so close to something and I felt like I was getting ready to break through that wall and ended up being another dead end. And it was dead end after dead end after dead end."

Wednesday night, when the body was found, reality set in for Gobel who has worked upwards of 15 hour shifts some days on this case.

"That emotion really hit me hard," Gobel said. "I had to step away to a room and have my moment but as far as the family, it's nothing compared to what they're going through. I just left their house now and everyone is just in tears and they want answers to why and they're never going to know why. In some sense, we want to say we brought her home and there is closure but I really don't think you ever get closure because it was a senseless act that didn't have to happen especially to someone who meant so much to so many people."
-----
Amazing job to the multi-agency task force that has and continues to work to bring #JusticeForAlmaDRG

A simple "thank you" will never be enough.

:rose:


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[kimi_SFC]

His motive ? He thought they should be more than friends, and she disagreed. Cruz didn't take kindly to that.

I'm sure his defense attorney will come up with something much more colorful so they can blame the victim.

:sigh:
Unfortunately, this has become SOP for defense attorneys these days. It makes me :sick: to even imagine what this will do to Alma's legacy, not to mention the pain it will cause her loved ones :furious:

After the high-profile cases that have been covered in the media over the past several years, one can only hope that the jurors on this case will be prepared for a smear campaign.
There's no way Alma did anything to deserve losing her life! :no:

:candle:



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[Inthedetails]

"He was never off the radar," Gobel said. "There were several people who were on the radar but he was never off the radar. It was just a matter of finding that key piece of evidence we needed to lock him in. With investigations it's a game of chess. Not a game of checkers. There's strategy to it. It was a matter of playing the right piece at the right time with him in order for us to ensure the preliminary charges of murder."
[...]
"Many sleepless nights laying there thinking 'what did I miss? What am I not seeing?" Gobel said. "Playing interviews over and over. My husband, who is also an officer, literally we were both rewatching interviews. I fell asleep watching them at night for this case trying to figure out what am I not seeing? When you sit across from Alma's grandmother, who practically raised her, and she's crying, you feel about this big because you don't have the answers for her. You just want to rip your heart out of your chest at some point."

The continual road blocks in the case were extremely frustrating to Gobel.

"For me it's been very, very emotional," Gobel said. "It's been a roller coaster. I felt like I would get so close to something and I felt like I was getting ready to break through that wall and ended up being another dead end. And it was dead end after dead end after dead end."

Wednesday night, when the body was found, reality set in for Gobel who has worked upwards of 15 hour shifts some days on this case.

"That emotion really hit me hard," Gobel said. "I had to step away to a room and have my moment but as far as the family, it's nothing compared to what they're going through. I just left their house now and everyone is just in tears and they want answers to why and they're never going to know why. In some sense, we want to say we brought her home and there is closure but I really don't think you ever get closure because it was a senseless act that didn't have to happen especially to someone who meant so much to so many people."
-----
Amazing job to the multi-agency task force that has and continues to work to bring #JusticeForAlmaDRG

A simple "thank you" will never be enough.

:rose:


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Thank you so much for posting this. It made me tear up! I really admire this dedication.

 

[colette]

Ok here we go good video and article from court docs:

LE confronted Cruz with his cell phone records that he was in Marshall Co at 06:45 AM, three hours after he "took her home". At first he said a drug cartel Kidnapped Alma, then he said a gang kidnapped her. Then finally he told LE he could take them to her body. After they found the body he admitted he went inside her home that night. The 2 argued, he pushed her down then thought she was dead. While she was on the ground he strangled her. He had spent the month with Alma before her murder and had been practically ignoring his own girlfriend. Cruz said Alma was "too pretty for me". No bond, he has a video arraignment on Tuesday.


http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cour...rguing-with-strangling-alma-del-real/33172736

 

[colette]

"They were just friends," Del Real's friend Krys Elisabet Calderon told NewsCenter16. "To me he was the guy that was 'friend-zoned.'"

In an affidavit, Jennifer Gobel, the lead Investigator on the case, detailed exactly what transpired during the investigation. Affidavit at link:


http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/...l-Real-case-affidavit-released-304745851.html

 

[kimi_SFC]

Alma Del Real's family is reacting as new court documents - Fox 28: South Bend, Elkhart IN
[...]
During the weeks long search for Del Real, perhaps no one was more devoted to finding her than her aunt Susana Lagunas. "I love her and I always will," she says. Lagunas spoke to us outside the Metro Homicide offices where she met with detectives to talk about what they believe happened to her niece. "No 22-year-old needs to go through that," she says. "There is no need for that. She was taken from us."
[...]
Direct link to embedded video
http://www.fox28.com/story/29139182...rt=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=11527590
http://www.fox28.com/story/29139182...cuments-lay-out-the-case-against-alberto-cruz
:tears:
:rose:
:floating:

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[kimi_SFC]

Body of Alma Del Real found in Marshall County - ABC57 News

(County Prosecutor) Cotter said, "We are not just going to arbitrarily arrest people and try to put addition(al) names to a case that it isn't necessary but if we get the facts and there is somebody else, we're coming."

Direct link to embedded video report:
http://www.abc57.com/clip/11520390/body-of-alma-del-real-found-in-marshall-county
More@Link
http://www.abc57.com/story/29123230/break-in-the-del-real-investigation

#JusticeForAlmaDRG
:floating:
:rose:
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[kimi_SFC]

Direct links to 7 page Court Documents
(A. Cruz affidavit)
via wsbt.com

http://www.wsbt.com/blob/view/-/33173384/data/1/-/wu3oj9z/-/Alberto-Cruz-Affidavit.pdf

Mobile users:
http://m.wsbt.com/blob/view/-/33173384/data/1/-/wu3oj9z/-/Alberto-Cruz-Affidavit.pdf
:furious:






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[AnnaGrace]

I am so tired of these murdering monsters! I hope they throw the book at him! Even though, we all knew how it would probably turn out, it doesn't get any easier. Bless her mother, aunt and all of her family...so senseless for this devastating loss.

 

[colette]

Alberto Cruz, 24, is set to be arraigned via video this afternoon.

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/Man-...an-s-death-set-to-be-arraigned-today/33219268

 

[luckyseven]

Alberto Cruz pleads not guilty in the murder case of Alma Del Real

Alberto Cruz plead not guilty to the charge of murder at his court hearing Tuesday.

The St. Joseph County Prosecutor's Office has charged Alberto Cruz, 24, with one count of murder for the death of Alma Del Real.

 

[Lulu14]

After they found the body he admitted he went inside her home that night. The 2 argued, he pushed her down then thought she was dead. While she was on the ground he strangled her.


http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cour...rguing-with-strangling-alma-del-real/33172736

Oh, yeah, I pushed her down and she might have hit her head. It was an accident, but I decided to make sure it is murder by strangling her afterwards? What the hell?

 

[pappa rob]

He must have a lawyer now, of course I didn't do it.

 

[Meraxes]

Ok here we go good video and article from court docs:

LE confronted Cruz with his cell phone records that he was in Marshall Co at 06:45 AM, three hours after he "took her home". At first he said a drug cartel Kidnapped Alma, then he said a gang kidnapped her. Then finally he told LE he could take them to her body. After they found the body he admitted he went inside her home that night. The 2 argued, he pushed her down then thought she was dead. While she was on the ground he strangled her. He had spent the month with Alma before her murder and had been practically ignoring his own girlfriend. Cruz said Alma was "too pretty for me". No bond, he has a video arraignment on Tuesday.


http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/cour...rguing-with-strangling-alma-del-real/33172736

Catching up - WTF. I seriously have no words - "she was too pretty for me"? I..
I really just can't. I can NOT. That schmuck spent an entire month ignoring his girlfriend and trying to get with Alma, probably because she was personable and friendly with him, and he saw something else. Even when she said no - I love someone else, you are just a friend....

These men who try to take something from us...who call a friendship "the friend zone"...who think it is normal and okay to pressure and take more, to think of women as prizes, less than human...I am enraged right now.

I know this post is incoherent, but ZOMG I am furious....yet again! It will never stop, will it? I truly think it will never be done, this sad, ancient script. Sigh. Now I am just tired and bereft. I keep crying for these sweet angels, and my tears never get a chance to dry.

Rest well, sweet Alma. We will try to do our best to bring justice to you and everyone else up there. XOXO

 

[AnnaGrace]

Now, he pleads not guilty??? By his own admission, he says he pushed her down and thought she was dead, then strangled her? Why would he strangle her if he already thought her dead? What a bunch of bull$#!t!!! He took her life because he couldn't have her IMO.

I hope justice for Alma is swift and harsh!

 

[luckyseven]

Alma del Real funeral services announced
POSTED: 11:49 AM EDT May 29, 2015

Visitation is scheduled for Alma del Real Sunday evening between 5 and 8 p.m. at Alford's Mortuary in South Bend. That's located in the 1200 block of Napier Street.

A Catholic Mass is set for Monday at Our Lady of Hungary Church on Calvert Street starting at 6 p.m.

A celebration of del Real's life will take place Wednesday, June 10th in the Our Lady of Hungary school gym. That begins at 5 p.m.