When a grand jury declined to indict a Texas man in the murder of a 9-year-old girl on Valentine's Day 2022, her family vowed to continue to pursue justice.
Nearly two years later, the man initially accused in Arlene Alvarez's slaying has been charged in her death.
Tony Earls, 33, was indicted by a Harris County grand jury on a murder charge Tuesday and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, Houston police said.
Gwen Alvarez, the girl's mother, said the indictment is the "first step of receiving justice for my daughter."
"Hopefully we inspire other families to never give up on their loved ones. It's horrible and it's a big nightmare what we go through. ... We're living day by day," a tearful Gwen Alvarez said during a news conference, the Associated Press reported.
After the grand jury cleared Earls in July 2022, District Attorney Kim Ogg said that without new evidence she would be unlikely to seek charges against him.
But Arlene's family never gave up. They pursued their own experts and worked to find new evidence.
"It took a village," Arlene's aunt, April Aguirre, told Click2Houston. "I want to tell the whole community that not every case is going to take a traditional path."
"He made a conscious choice to shoot into that vehicle that night and he took a life. There's no other outcome when you shoot into a vehicle other than property damage, injury or death. Those are the three things that are going to happen. ... What he did that night was shoot a little girl," she told the outlet.
The family, the report said, compiled the evidence they had found and presented it to special prosecutor Warren Diepraam, who was named to re-examine the case.
Earls was with his wife at an ATM drive-thru on Feb. 14, 2022, when an unidentified man robbed them of $20 at gunpoint.
As the robber fled on foot, Earls fired at him.
He also opened fire on a pickup truck that Earls believed the man had gotten into.
Arlene, riding in the backseat with her family in the truck, was struck in the head and died.
Earls was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and serious bodily injury. The jury could have indicted him for manslaughter and murder as well but did not. He was released.
Diepraam said his investigation, assisted by the Houston police and attorneys for Arlene's family, found that Earls had a clear view of the pickup truck and that there was no reason to believe it had any connection to the robber.
"The conclusion that I reached was that if you're going to discharge a weapon into a car ... you better make sure that you're 100% correct because there are no second chances to bring back an innocent life," Diepraam said, the AP reported.
Ogg praised the family's efforts.
"They could have been bitter. They could have done nothing. Instead, they directed all their energy toward achieving justice for Arlene. And that's our goal. ... They will get their day in court," she said.
The robber remains on the loose.
