Red Alert Re-Issued For Man Who Murdered Wife, Child In Brockton

BROCKTON, MA — Interpol has re-issued a red alert for a man who murdered his wife and two-year-old son in Brockton in 2011, said Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz in a news release.

Luis Guaman, 50, has been facing an arrest warrant since the bodies of his wife, Maria Avelina Palaguachi-Cela, 25, and her two-year-old son, Brian Cuanga Palaguachi, were found in a dumpster near their home on Warren Avenue in Brockton on Feb. 13, 2011. An autopsy revealed that both victims died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Investigators obtained an arrest warrant on Feb. 18, 2011 to charge Guaman with the murders. However, on Feb. 14, he fled from JFK Airport in New York to Ecuador. Although a copy of the warrant was given to Ecuadorian embassy officials in Boston, the country refused to return Guaman to the United States due to its constitution barring citizen extradition.

In 2012, Guaman was found guilty in an Ecuadorian court and sentenced to 25 years in prison against the requests of the Plymouth County DA. If he had been convicted in Massachusetts, he would have faced life in prison without parole.

"The horrific details of this case sent shockwaves throughout the Brockton community that reached all the way to residents back in Ecuador," said Crus in a statement. "Our commitment to seeing this case through was never about taking on a country'a legal system or politics. It was about getting justice for this little boy and his mother who were senselessly and brutally murdered."

Every five years, the Plymouth County DA's office must re-validate the arrest warrant and have said they remain committed to extraditing Guaman.

"Nearly 10 years have passed since the gruesome murder of this young mother and her son," said Cruz. "Our office has not forgotten them and we will continue to work to see that justice is served for Maria and Brian and their family left behind."