3 face murder, robbery charges after Colorado River drowning death

Domingo Alva-Gonzalez thought he was going to Lake Mohave to party with his ex-girlfriend and two friends Sept. 30.

But the trio he went with had other plans, according to Las Vegas police, and a swimmer found 27-year-old Alva-Gonzalez’s body floating in the Colorado River near Searchlight the following morning.

A day after the body was found, police say two men and a woman showed up with Alva-Gonzalez’ Chevrolet pickup at his home and swiped all of his belongings.

The trio — Joselin Martinez-Aguilar , 20, Esdras Lanza-Martinez , 18, and Bryan Melendez, 19 — face murder, robbery and burglary charges in connection with Alva-Gonzalez’s drowning death, according to police.

The three had talked about killing Alva-Gonzalez two days before his death, police said, because he would not leave Martinez-Aguilar alone, Lanza-Martinez told detectives, according to a police report released Tuesday.

Martinez-Aguilar told police she and Alva-Gonzalez had dated but recently broke up.

So on Sept. 30, the three met Alva-Gonzalez near his house and drank some beer. At some point, Lanza-Martinez convinced Alva-Gonzalez to “go to the river one last time.”

So the four piled into Alva-Gonzalez’s Chevrolet pickup and headed to Cottonwood Cove at Lake Mohave, where they continued to drink.

At some point, Alva-Gonzalez began to fight with the other two men.

Lanza-Martinez, Melendez and Martinez-Aguilar each told police a slightly different story about what happened next, but Alva-Gonzalez, whom they said was drunk, ended up passed out on the ground.

The three laughed, Martinez-Aguilar told police, because at first they thought Alva-Gonzalez was dead. But then he came to and stood back up.

Lanza-Martinez then asked Martinez-Aguilar if he should kill Alva-Gonzalez.

“If you want to kill him kill him,” was her answer, Martinez-Aguilar told police.

Martinez-Aguilar told police she watched Lanza-Martinez drag Alva-Gonzalez into the water and call Melendez to help when he started to fight back. She told police she stood on the shore and watched the two hold her ex-boyfriend under the water.

She also said “she knew on the way to the lake the victim was going to be killed because Lanza-Martinez wanted the truck,” the report said.

Two days later, police said, one of the three used Alva-Gonzalez’ phone to text his roommate that he had moved back in with his girlfriend, Martinez-Aguilar, and that her two “cousins” would be coming to get his stuff.

Using Alva-Gonzalez’ own truck, the trio showed up at Alva-Gonzalez’ home and took all of his belongings with them, according to the report. The three dumped almost all of it but kept his 32-inch, flat screen TV, truck and wallet.

On Monday, officers located Alva-Gonzalez’s stolen truck at Lanza-Martinez’s home at 5027 Sun Valley Dr., near Nellis Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.

Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead.