METHUEN — Knives, a butcher block, two computers and a latent fingerprint were among 16 items investigators seized from a Haverhill Street man's apartment after he was found stabbed to death in February.
Police were also looking for — but did not find — playing cards and dominos William Escobar, 41, used when entertaining guests in his third-floor apartment at 175 Haverhill St., according to court papers released this week.
Reputed gang member Christian Almonte, 25, of North Andover, was recently indicted on charges of Escobar's murder and will be arraigned July 18 in Salem Superior Court. Almonte had been previously convicted and served three years in jail for the stabbing of a Lawrence youth.
Investigators have not commented on a motive for Escobar's killing.
Escobar, a Salem, N.H., warehouse and delivery worker and parishioner at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lawrence, was found dead at 10:40 p.m. on Feb. 24.
Escobar's roommate, Alberto Gil, 29, arrived home that night "and noticed that his room was a mess and tossed around," according to a search warrant affadavit written by Trooper Robert Labarge Jr.
Gil then went into Escobar's room and found him "laying on the floor bleeding." Gil ran downstairs, where a friend, Jeffrey Hernandez, 26, of Lowell, was waiting for him outside in the car. Gil told Hernandez what he found upstairs and Hernandez dialed 911, Labarge wrote in the affadavit.
Minutes later, paramedics pronounced Escobar dead at the scene.
At 3 the next morning, after obtaining a search warrant, investigators seized the following items from Escobar's apartment: multiple swabbings, a toothpick, gum, a latent fingerprint, several pieces of clothing, fabric, a bed spread, several papers, knives and a butcher block, two computers, several pictures, an identification card, two phones and several computer disks.
Gil also told police that Escobar "had friends over the apartment on numerous occasions. He said that these friends would often play cards and dominos at the apartment," Labarge wrote in the affadavit.
However, neither cards nor dominos appeared on the search warrant inventory list.
Family and friends have described Escobar as a lovable man, who regularly attended noon Mass on Sundays. He also visited the Dominican Republic several times per year, often distributing rosary beads. He regularly cooked Spanish meals of rice, beans and pork, and would share them with others in his building.
Escobar was a 14-year warehouse and delivery employee of Worldcom Exchange, a Salem, N.H., computer firm.
Almonte, also known as "King Joker," is being held on $100,000 cash bail in connection with a carjacking and robbery in Lawrence that occurred just hours before Escobar was killed.
In that incident, a 41-year-old Lawrence man was seriously hurt, suffering a head injury, which required surgery, and broken teeth. Almonte and an accomplice were accused of pointing a gun at the victim's head, robbing and threatening to kill him as he walked out of Crown Chicken on Broadway in Lawrence.
Almonte, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, and the other man forced the victim into his car, yelling "Kill him," over and over, according to court papers. The victim was beaten as he tried to fight back. He escaped from his car and ran to a nearby house for help.
Staff reporter Jill Harmacinski can be reached at 978-946-2209 or by e-mail at JHarmacinski@eagletribune.com.
