On a summer morning in New Brunswick, New Jersey, 38-year-old Desiree Alvarado, a mother of four and a medical receptionist, was tragically shot in a case of mistaken identity. The incident occurred on July 14, 2017, at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Seventh Street, between Livingston and Joyce Kilmer avenues. She was sitting in a parked car when she was struck by a bullet in the neck.
Emergency services transported Alvarado to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she fought for her life for four days. Despite medical efforts, she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead on July 18, 2017. An autopsy later confirmed that the cause of death was complications from the gunshot wound, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Her mother recounted the harrowing memory of seeing her daughter clutching her neck as she walked up her driveway after being shot.
The investigation, led by the New Brunswick Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, quickly identified a suspect. Christian Cortes, a 25-year-old from the neighboring town of North Brunswick, was arrested in connection with the shooting. Initially facing other charges, the counts against him were upgraded to first-degree murder following Alvarado's death.
It was later revealed that Cortes had been the victim of a robbery earlier that day while attempting to purchase marijuana. Believing he had been set up, Cortes sought retaliation against the man he held responsible. He fired into the man's parked car, tragically unaware that Alvarado was inside. The vehicle's tinted windows obscured his view, leading to the fatal error. In April 2019, Christian Cortes pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter. As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to 16 years in a New Jersey state prison, with the requirement to serve 85 percent of his term before becoming eligible for parole.
