Jose Javier Aleman-Rodriguez is behind bars for the cold case murder of Roberto Castro-Coronado, whose body was found inside his home in Tucson, Arizona.
In November 2012, law enforcement officers with the Tucson Police Department were dispatched to Castro-Coronado’s home to conduct a welfare check.
When they arrived on the scene, they entered the house and found blood; then they found Castro-Coronado dead.
The 49-year-old’s body was located in the living room area, underneath a blanket, according to the Pima County Attorney’s Office.
Authorities said Castro-Coronado had “more than 30 lacerations to his head and neck.”
It appeared that several objects in the home were used as murder weapons, including a “broken liquor bottle, folded-up frying pan, broken kitchen knife, and a hammer” that was covered in blood.
Nearly seven years later, in December 2018, police officials arrested Aleman-Rodriguez after his DNA was found on several of the murder weapons and other items in the home.
An investigation revealed that Aleman-Rodriguez cut himself during the attack and began bleeding in the kitchen, bedroom, and living room area.
Aleman-Rodriguez was booked into the Pinal County Jail and charged in connection with the fatal beating and stabbing of Castro-Coronado.
He was 37 years old at the time of his arrest.
During an interview with detectives, Aleman-Rodriguez stated that he was a backpacker from Mexico and that he traveled through the desert with a group of others to deliver marijuana to Castro-Coronado in Arizona.
Aleman-Rodriguez said he had delivered marijuana to him before.
After the delivery, Aleman-Rodriguez stated that Castro-Coronado allowed him and the others to “rest at his house.”
He said it was then that they were attacked by men called the “bajadores” or the “drug rip-off crew,” and they all ran.
He added that he would have never “harmed” Castro-Coronado.
In November 2019, he was convicted of first-degree murder.
The following year, Aleman-Rodriguez was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.