In the early morning hours of a Saturday in Englewood, New Jersey, a 911 call shattered the quiet of a residential neighborhood. The call, originating from within a house on Mevan Avenue, reported a shooting. It was 5:55 a.m. on September 30, 2023, when police were dispatched to the scene. Inside the home, they discovered the body of 35-year-old Jason Hidalgo of the Bronx, New York. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit and the Englewood Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation. Authorities initially described the shooting as an isolated incident, though further details about the circumstances were not immediately released.
The investigation into the death of the male victim was extensive, involving detectives from both the county prosecutor's office and the local police department.
For months, the case unfolded as investigators worked to identify a suspect. Their efforts eventually pointed to Joshua Alvarado, a 29-year-old from New York, NY. The investigation revealed that in the days following the shooting, Alvarado had fled the United States. A determined manhunt led by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and the Englewood Police Department, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service and the Colombian National Police, tracked him to Medellin, Colombia.
On Saturday, February 17, 2024, Joshua Alvarado was arrested in Colombia. He was charged with a string of offenses, including first-degree murder, felony murder, armed burglary, aggravated assault, theft, and several weapons offenses. Alvarado is currently in custody in Colombia, awaiting extradition back to New Jersey to face the charges related to the death of Jason Hidalgo.
