DEC 17, 2022
Thirty-two-year-old Eric Alvarado was last seen on his home security cameras in the early morning hours of November 20, 2018, in Atlanta, Texas. According to Atlanta police, he left his home to run to the store. Eric had his two pit bulls with him at the time. He never returned.
Eric’s father, Lorenzo Alvarado, told Dateline that Eric’s wife, Samantha, called the police to report her husband missing about 45 minutes later.
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Captain Restelle and Detective Sergeant Jeb Newkirk, also of the Atlanta Police Department, told Dateline earlier this month that there are currently no suspects in Eric’s disappearance. “We've interviewed everyone that's been called in or we’ve received a tip on, or received information about,” Captain Restelle said. “And nothing that we can move forward with or substantiate has been developed out of any of that.”
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Matt Alvarado told Dateline that as soon as he heard about his brother’s disappearance, he rounded up a few of his cousins in Indianapolis and headed down to East Texas to help search for Eric. Matt said they arrived in the early morning hours of November 21, 2018. The first thing Matt said he wanted to see was his brother’s phone. According to Matt, Samantha told him that she had tried to unlock Eric’s phone too many times, which caused it to reset itself. Captain Restelle told Dateline that while he wasn’t involved in the case at the time, he believes that the Texas Rangers received Eric’s cell phone. Eric’s family said they haven’t heard if any data was recovered.
Matt said he and his cousins went to the area where the Jeep had been found to search for evidence on their own a couple of days later and found Eric’s two pit bulls dead nearby. “They looked like they’d been run over and all that,” Matt said, adding that they also “looked like they'd been shot -- cut up.” Neither Capt. Restelle nor Det. Sgt. Newkirk personally went to the scene, but Capt. Restelle said he was told by officers who no longer work at the APD that it looked as if the dogs had been run over by vehicles. When Dateline asked if any DNA has been recovered during the investigation, Det. Newkirk replied, “As far as any kind of DNA evidence that we've recovered at any point during the investigation, no.”
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Detective Sergeant Newkirk told Dateline that while there haven’t been any solid leads in the case, someone in Eric’s family submitted a DNA sample through the National Center for Missing and Exploited People. “That way a familial DNA specimen would be on file or on record,” he said. “That way if DNA did come up somewhere, it could possibly lead to a familial match and the possible ability to identify Eric.”
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