A body recovered along Route 69 in Wolcott Tuesday was identified as Janet Avalo-Alvarez, the 26-year-old Waterbury nightclub owner reported missing more than a week ago, police said Wednesday.
Medical examiners identified the body Wednesday morning and determined she was murdered, her cause of death listed as “neck compression,” police said.
“Sadly the worst nightmares of the family and friends were confirmed,” Waterbury police Lt. David Silverio said. “The deceased was positively identified as Ms. Janet Avalo-Alvarez. The family has been informed and as of this update, as you can well imagine, they are devastated.”
Still at-large is Avalo-Alvarez’s boyfriend and business partner, 32-year-old Alfredo Esmerli Peguero-Gomez, whom authorities said Wednesday afternoon is now a suspect in her death.
Peguero-Gomez’s car was found at Newark International Airport last week, just hours after police first made contact with him, and they are working with the U.S. Marshals service to find him, officials said.
Authorities are investigating whether Peguero-Gomez, a dual citizen of the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, fled the country, Silverio said.
“We found her by tracking him and his vehicle,” he said.
Investigators poured over troves of surveillance footage that led them to a block of woods in Wolcott where the car was seen and her body was found by detectives on Tuesday.
Police have yet to obtain a warrant for Peguero-Gomez’s arrest, but they have briefed Waterbury State’s Attorney Maureen Platt and her staff about the developments in the missing-person-case-turned-homicide investigation.
“To the family and friends of Ms. Avalo-Alvarez, the Waterbury Police Department will continue to investigate all leads into this homicide,” Silverio said. “The investigation will continue until all … responsible are identified, located and held accountable for their actions.”
Silverio said investigators are looking into whether Peguero-Gomez had any help with the crime or evading authorities.
Peguero-Gomez does not have a criminal record. Silverio said friends and families described the couple’s relationship as “up and down.”
“They seemed to argue a lot,” Silverio said, but the department had no history of domestic violence investigations involving the couple. Police did not speculate on the motive Wednesday.
“It is a very long wait, and I think the family is grieving right now … it’s really affecting the community right now,” said Stevey Newnez, a local radio personality with 93.7 FM, who spoke on behalf of the Avalo-Alvarez family. “It’s horrible.”
Newnez and more than a dozen others huddled together outside the nightclub, La Guakara Taina, against a biting November wind, speaking in hushed voices while mourning. They talked about Avalo-Alvarez’s warm smile and bright spirit.
“She was the essence of a Latina. She was very positive and loving. She did not deserve what she went through,” Newnez said.
As Newnez spoke, scores of candles flickered from the front stoop of the club, some reading “RIP Janet” and balloons with the words, “Princess,” swayed from the banister.
“With her beautiful smile, she would fix your day,” said Ney Cosado, who worked as a DJ at the club for years. “You could bring her any problem and she would say ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ … She was there. She would fix it.”
Detectives investigating Avalo-Alvarez’s disappearance found the body about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Wolcott, about five miles from where the woman was last seen more than a week ago.
Detectives discovered the body about 50 feet into the woods off Route 69. Police swarmed the scene, and forensic investigators arrived to examine the body.
Police would not detail what kind of leads or evidence led them to the location. In a press release late Tuesday, Silverio said, “The detectives focused on tracking the whereabouts of Peguero-Gomez and his vehicle from the time of the last known contact anyone had with Ms. Avalo-Alvarez on Nov. 12 at the La Guakara Taina bar in Waterbury.”
The investigative efforts led them to begin searching the woods along Route 69 from Waterbury to Wolcott, Silverio said in the release. Police searched from the ground and from the air with drones.
A friend had called police late on Nov. 13, saying he was concerned that he had not heard from Avalo-Alvarez. He had last seen her at the bar about 8:45 p.m. the night before, and he last heard from her about an hour and a half later when she sent a text, police said. He told police it is unusual for her not to be in touch.
Police went to the Ayer Street apartment Avalo-Alvarez shares with Peguero-Gomez to check on her, and she was not home. They also went to the bar, and she wasn’t there, either. Her Nissan Altima remained in the parking lot behind the club.
At 1 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, after police checked on Avalo-Alvarez, Peguero-Gomez left the apartment, police said. His 2010 Toyota Corolla was recorded traveling south across the George Washington Bridge at 2:39 a.m. that morning.
The next day, the New Jersey Port Authority found his Toyota Corolla in a parking lot at Newark International Airport.
Nicholas Rondinone can be reached at nrondinone@courant.com.
Courant staff writers Christine Dempsey and Zach Murdock contributed to this story.