Callum Jones
A San Diego man who Googled ‘how to kill your ex’s fiancé’ has been found guilty of murder.
Jesse Alvarez, 33, was on trial for the murder of Mario Fierro, 37, and was found guilty by a jury on Monday.
Alvarez has been subsequently convicted of first-degree murder with a special-circumstances allegation of lying in wait to kill Fierro.
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The San Diego Union-Tribune reports Alvarez faces being behind bars for the rest of his life and without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Alvarez searched up on the internet ‘how to kill your ex’s fiancé’ and 'in California can you shoot someone trying to rob you?'.
He subsequently gunned down Fierro outside his apartment in 2021, shooting him six times.
Alvarez apparently became furious when he learned through a Facebook post that Fierro was engaged to his ex-girlfriend, Amy Gembara.
Fox 10 reports the pair dated on and off between 2015 and 2019.
The court heard that Alvarez camped outside Fierro’s North Park home for over an hour before an altercation with the pair.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that on top of the internet searching, Alvarez had taken shooting lessons after learning of the engagement.
Fierro and Gembara became familiar with each other as they were both teachers at Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego.
Alvarez had even tried to secure a job at the school serving food as he became obsessed with the ex.
Gembara previously tried to obtain a restraining order against Alvarez after he tried to contact and track her down.
But she was denied the request after he promised to leave her alone. Alvarez tried to make contact again just two days later.
As he took to the stand while on trial on 7 March, Alvarez testified that he had undiagnosed autism which fuelled his obsession.
He also said it prevented him from understanding that Gembara was done with him, as well as claiming the questionable internet searches were just 'bad fantasies'.
The defense insisted Alvarez did not intend to murder Fierro when he went to his home, and that the victim punched him first so he fired as a form of self-defense.
However, the jury did not see it that way after siding with the prosecutors point of view.
"His intent is crystal clear,” Deputy District Attorney Ramona McCarthy told the court, as per the Union-Tribune.