Indio homicide victim identified as 32-year-old woman

A woman who was fatally beaten last weekend in Indio was identified today as a 32-year-old resident of the city.

Madeleine Gutierrez was killed about 5:30 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of a condominium complex in the 47-300 block of Monroe Street.

Edward Alvarez, 40, of Indio was arrested at the scene and subsequently charged with murder. Alvarez, who is being held at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta in lieu of $1 million bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at the Banning Justice Center.

According to Indio Police Department spokesman Ben Guitron, officers were sent to the Summer Breeze complex on a report of an assault.

Gutierrez was discovered on the grounds and was pronounced dead a short time later, and Alvarez was questioned and arrested.

The suspect and victim "were acquainted'' according to Guitron, who did not specify the nature of their relationship, or provide a possible motive for the slaying, which was the sixth homicide in Indio this year.

Alvarez was convicted in 2017 of assault causing great bodily injury, a felony. In 2015, he was sentenced to probation following his guilty plea for
false imprisonment and spousal abuse, both misdemeanors, court records show.

He additionally has an unresolved misdemeanor case pending from June involving trespassing and drug-related allegations.