The Time Gas Station Surveillance Cracked Cold Case In Odessa, Texas

Odessa, Texas --  In 2025, on any given day, we are consistently under surveillance from security cameras littered across all the places we visit. Even some streets have street cameras for police to monitor for the safety and protection of others and/or property.

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Murder In Cold Blood

In November 2019, police found the body of Brandon Swinney, shot and killed outside his home.  It was deemed that Mr. Swinney was ambushed as he was arriving home after picking up his son from baseball practice.  After four years, the case went cold due to a lack of evidence and eyewitness accounts.

Technology To The Rescue

The advancement in forensic technology has exploded in recent years, making crimes harder and harder to commit.  During the initial crime investigation of Mr. Swinney, surveillance footage was collected by nearby businesses.  One of those businesses was a gas station where police suspected they had captured the murderer on camera, but had no way to officially identify him.  That changed with the adaptation of advances in forensic network signal technology.  It was not clear HOW the technology came about to identify the murderer, but combined with all the other evidence of the investigation, the Odessa Police identified Roman Aguilar Alvarado Jr. as the murderer.

By the time he was identified, Roman Aguilar Alvarado Jr. was already incarcerated on an unrelated charge and serving a prison term.  Initially, he denied that the man on the surveillance footage was him and even said, "That doesn't even look like me".  However, historical electronic evidence was collected, and it was deemed that he was proven to be at the scene on the day of the murder.

Closure

The solving of this cold case was able to provide the Swinney family closure in a case that was widely publicized in the Permian Basin at the time.  It was later discovered that it was suspected that Roman Aguilar Alvarado Jr murdered Mr. Swinney due to an alleged sexual relationship with a woman that Mr. Alvarado was involved with.