Juan Manuel Álvarez

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Juan Manuel Álvarez (born 1978) is a Californian suspected of causing the January 26, 2005, Glendale train crash, a collision between a passenger train and a car in Glendale, California (a suburb of Los Angeles). He parked his car on the tracks and waited for an oncoming train. The derailed train also hit a Union Pacific Railroad freight train parked on a siding and the northbound commuter train on the third track. The collision left 11 people dead and nearly 200 injured.

When the news broke out nationally, it was said that Alvarez was a fugitive. Alvarez is in custody, where he faces eleven charges of homicide.

Alvarez was allegedly suicidal long before the incident occurred. According to some reports, he had attempted suicide previously.

Police initially believed that Alvarez decided to kill himself that day, but that he changed his mind immediately before the train hit his vehicle, jumping out of the car and observing as the collision took place. He was charged with 11 counts of murder with "special circumstances". Police say following investigations indicate Alvarez may have intended to cause the crash without committing suicide. Authorities have filed additional charges against him for murder with intent.^[1]

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for his alleged crime under a seldom-used law making train wrecking, causing a person's death, a capital offense. This law was created to prosecute Old West train robbers who were known to blow up the tracks to rob a train.^[2]

Alvarez is from Compton, California.