The Hamilton Avenue Murders

 

I debated on how to title this one. Generally I will have a victim or a perpetrator in the title. I am unsure if that makes it easier to find on the Internet or not but that is not necessarily why I do the titles as I do. I decided to use this title because this is the title used on a Wikipedia page so I know it can still be found that way. For those who may be wondering already as I am sure there are “Hamilton Avenues” all over, this crime took place in Indianapolis.

I dug a bit deeper in this case and purposely went out of my way to find an appeal record because I have to say in my initial research I was a bit confused first at how police were so fast in determining who was involved and secondly, in just what evidence investigators and prosecutors had to obtain convictions considering I kept seeing that there was no physical evidence connecting the perpetrators to the crime.

Not long after 10:00 pm on June 1, 2006 Indianapolis police received several 911 calls about shots being fired on Hamilton Avenue on the east side of town. When they arrived at the home they found seven bodies, three generations of one family inside. There were four adults and three children inside. Each had been shot multiple times in the head and torso. The adults were found in the front room, the dining room and the kitchen. They were forty-six year old Emma Valdez, her fifty-six year old boyfriend Alberto Covarrubias, twenty-nine year old Magno Albarran and twenty-two year old Flora Albarran. Magno and Flora were Emma's children. In a bedroom, face down on the bed were the bodies of eleven year old Alberto Covarrubus, eight year old David Covarrubus and five year old Luis Albarran. The two older boys were Emma and Alberto's children, Luis was Flora's son.

It appears that throughout the evening Emma, Alberto, their two sons and Luis were in the home. Just around 10:00 both Flora and Magno got to the home. It seems that Magno lived there also but Flora, who had come with her friend, Reina Banegas, had simply come to pick her son up. It seems that Flora commented that it was odd that there were no lights on in the house when they pulled up. Magno parked in the garage and moved some trash cans while Flora had headed towards the door. As soon as she entered she screamed and yelled to Reina not to come inside. It appears that Magno heard Flora and while he was carrying a fast food bag he also apparently pulled a firearm from his waist. Almost as soon as Magno entered the home first there was the sound of a single gunshot followed by “a large number of rapid gunshots.” Then there was a very short pause and then there was another moment with the rapid gunshots. Neighbors, and Reina, would tell authorities that just after this second round of gunfire they had seen two men exit the front of the home, go around the side of the house to the back and took off in a truck that had been parked in the alley.

Inside the home investigators found it in disarray. There was furniture turned over; there were drawers pulled out and thrown around. Aside from the bodies they found over twenty cartridge casings. The casings were 7.62 X 39 mm and it told the investigators that some sort of military style rifle had been used. This explained the witnesses hearing a “spray” of bullets twice during the crime. They also knew a handgun had been used. Magno Albarran had apparently been shot once with the handgun which also explained the sound of one bullet and then the first “spray” heard by those around.

By the morning investigators knew who they were looking for.... James Stewart and Desmond Turner. But, how did they know this? Well, it seems that is because Desmond Turner had been in and out of the neighborhood talking to people just hours before the murders. He was talking about to “hit a lick” which in street terms meant he was going to commit a robbery. In fact, more than one person would testify later that Turner had been even more specific and mentioned the home “with the Mexicans” indicating the home the murders had occurred. Just a short time after talking to more than one person about his plan, as well as many others seeing him driving a particular truck, many saw that same truck come back into the area and park in the alley behind Emma Valdez's home. Those same witnesses claimed they watched two men wearing masks come from the back of the home to the front porch and knock on the door. At least one of those witnesses identified one of those men as being Desmond Turner and a man named James Stewart who had been with him earlier in the evening.

The following morning a woman by the name of Michelle Clifton was awakened by a knock on her door. When she opened it, it was a friend of hers telling her that Desmond Turner was all over the television and wanted for the murders on Hamilton Avenue. Turner was actually in her house at that moment, asleep on the foot of her bed and her truck, one that Turner had borrowed the day before was sitting outside her home. Later that day James Stewart was pulled over in a traffic stop and he was taken into custody “without incident.”

There were huge manhunts out looking for Desmond Turner. It appears that his friends and family were pressured to turn him in, or at least not harbor him. Clifton would later say that on that first morning she, her friend and Turner, “at Turner's direction,” drove first to Kentucky. She would say that Turner attempted to convince them to drive him to Alabama but after he fell asleep they turned around and headed back to Indianapolis. By June 3^rd, just two days after the murders an agreement was made for police to meet Turner at a local Hardee's restaurant to surrender. One of the investigators was quoted as saying, “He didn't turn himself in out of remorse. He turned himself in because he had no place to go.” The investigator pointed out that he felt so much pressure had been put on friends and family that no one was willing to help him.

Both men were charged with a multitude of charges including seven counts of murder, seven counts of felony murder, seven counts of criminal confinement, robbery and burglary. James Stewart was also charged with carrying a handgun without a license and the unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon. The seven counts of felony murder would later be dropped, or in essence merged with the other seven counts of murder. Initially the prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against Desmond Turner as they believed he was the “mastermind and main triggerman.” They agreed to drop the death penalty, and later admitted they probably would not have gotten it, when Turner opted out of a jury trial and instead agreed to a bench trial which means that only a judge heard the evidence and decided his fate.

The men were given separate trials and seemingly both proclaimed their innocence. I say “seemingly” because there does seem that at some point James Stewart made some admissions to investigators. I found a notation in which said “Stewart told police that he asked Desmond to spare the kids.” This statement alone indicates that he made some sort of confession that he was in the home at the time of the murders.

As I said, the two men were given separate trials. Turner's trial was first in late 2009 while Stewart's trial, by jury, was shortly after. That being said, I am going to tell you about the evidence as if there was one trial since most of the information and evidence pertained to both of them. I mentioned earlier in the beginning I was confused as to how or why the focus was almost immediately on these two men and then how convictions were obtained when I repeatedly saw that there was no DNA or forensic evidence connecting them to the crime. In the very end Turner's attorney continued to be adamant that he was innocent and until I read the appeal, which laid out the story and the evidence, I actually wondered if they could have been correct. There is a saying by investigators that there are no coincidences when it comes to murder. I cannot say that I fully agree with that until there are several coincidences that cannot be explained any other way and connect with each other.

Desmond Turner had grown up in the neighborhood in which the murders occurred. It does appear that at some point he had moved away and also he had spent some time in jail. In 1998 he was convicted of possession of cocaine or a narcotic drug and resisting law enforcement. He was convicted again in 2002 for criminal recklessness, pointing a firearm and carrying a handgun without a license. He had just been released about six months before the murder. James Stewart had several previous convictions for dealing narcotics and resisting law enforcement. These convictions had led him to be considered a “serious felon” which is why he got the extra charges relating to possessing a gun. Despite no longer living in the neighborhood Turner still knew many people in the area and apparently hung out there often.

A man by the name of Harroll Couch was a family friend of Turners. He would tell investigators that not long before the murders Turner had seen an air pellet gun that he own and was obsessed with it believing it to be a high powered rifle. Couch claimed that Turner called him several times asking if he knew how and where to get a high powered rifle.

Investigators also spoke to two other men. One was a juvenile named Brandon Griffith and the other was a man named Aaron Swartz. Both Griffith and Swartz lived in area of the murders. In fact, Swartz lived just a few doors down. Across the street from Swartz's house was an abandoned home where juvenile's tended to gather often. Just a few hours before the murders occurred Desmond Turner had been driving around in the neighborhood talking with people. He was driving Michelle Clifton's burgundy truck. At some point he stopped at Swartz's home and was also speaking to Brandon Griffith. Griffith stated that Turner asked him if he had duct tape saying he was going to “hit a lick” at “the Mexican's down the street” and pointed towards the home that would be the crime scene shortly. Swartz and Griffith would also say that a man they later identified as James Stewart was in the truck with Turner also. Aside from Griffith and Swartz, many people claimed to have seen Turner, Stewart and the burgundy truck throughout the evening. After leaving Aaron Swartz's house the two men had driven away but a short time later several people saw that same truck park in the alley behind Emma Valdez's home. They also saw two men, wearing masks, getting out of the truck and headed to the home. At least one person positively identified the men as Turner and then then unnamed man that had been with him just a short time earlier. They claimed that Turner was carrying a gun that looked similar to an AK-47 and the other, later identified as Stewart, had a handgun. They watched as the men knocked on the door of the home and then forced their way inside when it was opened.

The two men were inside the home for a while apparently ransacking the home. It would later be learned that someone had told Turner that there was a safe in the home with cocaine and nearly $40,000. In the meantime both Flora and her brother, Magno arrived at the home. Prosecutors deducted that when Magno came into the home with his own handgun he had it pointed at Desmond Turner. James Stewart, who had been upstairs at the home going through things and placing things in a pillowcase, came downstairs right about the same time. Stewart would claim that he took his own gun and shot Magno Albarran and almost immediately Desmond Turner opened fire, first on all of the adults in the home and then he went to a back bedroom and opened fire again on the children.

After the second round of rapid fire witnesses saw the two men run out the front door, go back around to the alley, get in the burgundy truck and speed off, squealing the tires on the way. Witnesses stated James Stewart was carrying a pillowcase, presumable filled with items from the home. I do want to point out here that there was apparently a report made by the AP (Associate Press), that “witnesses told police they saw as many as three or four men running from the back of the home.” I think it is important to mention this but I also think it is just as important to point out that this apparently was the only thing that mentioned this so I cannot say how true it was. I never even saw this mentioned in the appeal papers.

It is unclear at what point Michelle Clifton's home was searched but when it was investigators found at least two things of interest to them. First was the fact that Desmond Turner's clothing was found in her bathtub soaking. Next to the tub were bottles of peroxide and rubbing alcohol. They also found one unfired bullet casing. It was a 7.62 X 39 mm.... the same type of bullet found at the crime scene.

I also want to point out here that Stewart's girlfriend at the time of the murders claimed that he admitted committing the murders. Now, again, while it is not as if she was a “jailhouse informant” where we see someone turn on someone else generally to get some kind of deal for themselves, it was simply her word that he had confessed. For me, this was just one more stepping stone, added to all of the other “coincidences” of people saying they saw the perpetrators and all of the other evidence that was found. One piece here or there could maybe be dismissed but when you have all of this on top of each other with so many witnesses and evidence found I do not think that you can dismiss it as easily.

Both men were ultimately found guilty of committing the crime. On November 20, 2009 Desmond Turner was sentenced to life without parole, plus eighty-eight years. Stewart's sentence seemed a bit more confusing. On January 6, 2010 he was sentenced to 425 years. The following year the Indiana Court of Appeals confirmed his convictions and sentences except for the conviction for robbery. I did not find the reason for this other than to read that it had “violated double jeopardy.” In the end it was said that this only resulted in a four year sentence reduction but it looks as if it did not affect the 425 years. This is possible if the four years was being served concurrently with the other sentences.

On September 28, 2011 the Indiana Court of Appeals confirmed both the convictions and sentences of both Turner and Stewart. According to the Indiana Department of Corrections website Turner has no release date due to his life sentences but, he is also being held in an “out of state facility.” This is often done in high profile cases and may have been done in this case for his protection due to the fact that children were involved in his crime, which is something that does not go well with other inmates in prison. I found nothing that said where he was being held, or why he was moved for certain. Stewart on the other hand is being held in Indiana and because his sentences were not “life” there is a “earliest possible release date given.” Considering he received 425 years it is certain that he will be dead before the year 2214, when he is eligible for release.

Before I end this I want to note several things. First is that on August 23, 2008 the crime scene home was set ablaze. It was determined to be arson but I am unsure whether the perpetrator was found, or honestly even looked for very hard. The home obviously had a horrible history and it had sat empty since the crime. Stewart's jury had been taken to the home. On July 16, 2010, four years after the murder, the home was demolished by the city.

It was unclear how many children Emma Valdez had aside from the four children who were murdered with her and her “only surviving son.” His name was Mario Albarran. I bring him up because despite the evidence that was found Desmond Turner's defense attorney argued at his bench trial that the murders could have been related to Mario. It does not appear that the attorney directly accused Mario of being involved but mentioned that Mario had a “long-running feud” with another family in the neighborhood. I never determined what this alleged “feud” was about but to be fair I did not dig into it very much. For me this was an attempt by the defense to argue that investigators focused on Desmond Turner from the beginning and never looked back. This is not an uncommon tactic and while I agree there was not forensic evidence considering the assault rifle was never found or apparently DNA in the case connecting Turner, I think the other evidence showed Turner was not the innocent man his attorney was claiming. I saw nothing that stated that Turner himself testified in his bench trial to make any attempt to explain away things such as why people would identify him; why his clothing from the day of the murders was found soaking; where the bullet casing found at Michelle Clifton's came from.... etc.

I found a “slideshow” of pictures in this case that spanned from just after the murders, through the funerals and into the trials and convictions of the perpetrators. It appears that six of the seven victims had a combined funeral and while it was not specific and I could not officially determine, I suspect the seventh victim was five year old Luis Albarran. I saw pictures of Luis' father distraught at the scene within a day or two of the murders. Considering that neither Flora, nor Magno were married and they along with two of the murdered children were Emma's children and Alberto Sr. was the father of the two other children it seems reasonable to believe they all had a joint funeral. When I saw this notation the first time I thought it was possibly simply a mistake but it was made repeatedly and that seemed unusual considering that it was a big deal that seven people had been murdered in that home together.

The Hamilton Avenue Murders was considered to be the worse mass murder in Indianapolis history. That remained true until April of 2021 when a former FedEx employee opened fire at the company. Nine people, including the gunman were dead when it was over. Seven others were injured, four of them by gunshot.