Family members describe William Alvarado as "overly trusting." They say that might have cost him his life.
The family spoke at a news conference in Willimantic, where police announced a $50 thousand state reward in the cold case homicide. Alvarado, 73, was found stabbed to death at his Valley Street apartment on Sept. 7, 2016. Police and relatives believe he knew his killer.
"I truly do believe that there was an acquaintance, affiliation, association, whatever it may be," says the victim's niece, Melissa Alvarado Lee, "with some of his friendly gatherings of some sort. I do believe he knows who did this to him."
Lee says her uncle was friendly and extremely trusting, saying, "I think that played the most incredible role. He would have let them in, or given them a key or trusted them in his home. He just kept to himself and I believe maybe befriended the person."
That leaves a lot of potential suspects, because William Alvarado had a lot of friends, according to Michael Sheldon, supervisory inspector of the cold case unit at the Chief State's Attorney's office: "William knew his neighbors well, his friend base was pretty large, and there's a lot of people around the area where he was murdered that knew him very well."
"He was the most loving, humble, kind human being who would not hurt a fly," says Alvarado's sister-in-law, Carmen Everett. "He would take (his) shirt, or all his money, and give it to whoever needed it, without thinking about it twice. And somebody took advantage of that situation, unfortunately."
Police ask ask anyone with information on the case to call the state police cold case hotline at (866) 623-8058,