Tiffany Valdez still vividly recalls hearing what sounded like gunfire before learning her beloved brother had been killed.
In the early hours of June 7, 2018, Emilio Valdez left his mother’s home and entered a Pontiac Grand Prix parked outside a neighbor’s house.
Moments later, police said, he was shot inside the vehicle. Investigators later determined the 20-year-old suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and the back of the head.
The episode stated that Emilio was still alive when he was thrown into Osmun Lake.
Valdez and her family appeared in Investigation Discovery’s true-crime series, “Bodies in the Water,” which examines homicide investigations in which waterways became crime scenes. Each episode explores how investigators used forensic evidence to bring killers to justice.
“I heard the gunshots,” Valdez told Fox News Digital. “I ran outside, and the car I had just watched him get into was speeding away with music playing loudly. When I last spoke to him, it was nighttime. He called me to open the door because he didn’t have his key. He was coming home after hanging out with friends. He was going back out to spend time with friends.
“We had been trying to get ahold of him all night and all morning,” she recalled. “We learned [on social media] that a body had been found in Osmun Lake. We didn’t want to believe it was him. But then my sister and I had to identify his body.”
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Emilio grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, in a large, close-knit family. A star athlete, he was known for his easygoing nature and ability to make friends wherever he went.
“We were always proud of him,” said Valdez. “When he was in middle school, there was a boy in his class who was being bullied because his family didn’t have much money, and he didn’t have nice clothes. Emilio stuck up for him and took the shoes, brand-new Jordans, right off his feet and gave them to the kid. I remember him coming home with no shoes, but he was so excited and grateful to help that kid.
“But that was my brother,” Valdez continued. “He was kind and so giving. He loved meeting new people, and he loved his family. Every day, he woke up with a smile on his face. He was spontaneous and fun. He was a good person.”
Emilio rarely went long without posting to Snapchat. But on the morning he disappeared, the steady stream of updates stopped.
Valdez said that, during the final months of his life, her brother increasingly gravitated toward a new group of friends. The episode described them as a rougher crowd than the longtime friends and teammates he had traditionally surrounded himself with.
Investigators said Emilio was carrying a bag of marijuana and a shoebox when he left home.
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“We knew very little about this new group of friends until after Emilio’s death,” said Valdez. “And in those early days, we had no idea who would want to do this to our precious brother.”
Emilio’s bloody clothes were found by two fishermen near a dock at Osmun Lake. Authorities said the clothing appeared to contain a bullet hole. According to the episode, investigators also found a trail of blood, tire tracks and drag marks nearby. A vehicle appeared to have struck several benches.
Emilio’s body was later recovered from the lake. Evidence suggested he had been dragged toward the water.
“We kept our faith that we would find out who did this, but it was rough,” said Valdez. “It took years to make an arrest. Before then, it was difficult knowing someone had committed this horrific crime and was still walking free. But we kept our faith that we would get answers. We never stopped fighting for Emilio.”
The episode revealed that a Grand Prix containing blood, a spent shell casing and Emilio’s phone were later found submerged a few miles away. It was reported stolen by Guadalupe Maria Davila-Rodriguez. She noted that her son, Angel Jose Alvarez, would borrow her vehicle. Police questioned Alvarez, who had a criminal background. He denied any involvement in Emilio’s disappearance.
Valdez told Fox News Digital she had never heard of Alvarez before investigators identified him as a suspect.
For nearly four years, the case remained unsolved. Then, in 2022, a new team of detectives reopened the investigation. After reviewing Emilio’s Snapchat activity in the hours before his death, investigators found a message reading, “You comiin?!” that had been sent shortly before he left home. Detectives later linked the account to Alvarez.
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Phone records also showed Alvarez contacted his brother and mother after Emilio’s killing. Investigators said Alvarez’s mother later reported the Grand Prix stolen after receiving a call from her son.
After constructing a timeline, investigators concluded that Emilio had been lured to meet Alvarez shortly before his disappearance. Phone records showed Alvarez making calls to his brother and mother after the killing. Detectives believed Alvarez called his brother to pick him up from Osmun Lake, where Emilio’s body was later found, and then contacted his mother, asking her to report the Grand Prix he had been driving as stolen.
Alvarez, his brother and his mother were arrested later that year.
“I broke down in tears from gratitude,” said Valdez. “It was such a relief and a win for the family.”
The episode suggested that, in Emilio’s final years, his popularity, appearance and close friendships with women may have fueled jealousy and resentment among some of his peers.
“I believe [jealousy] was the case wholeheartedly,” said Valdez. “I feel they were jealous of the fact that Emilio was hanging out with all the girls. Emilio grew up with five sisters, so he knew how to treat women. He knew how to respect women.
“He was capable of showing love to his female friends on a platonic level. And when my family and I saw Angel’s interrogation tape, he tried to paint himself the picture of who Emilio actually was.”
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Authorities have never publicly identified jealousy as a motive, and prosecutors did not offer a definitive explanation for why Emilio was targeted.
Prosecutors presented a timeline supported by phone records and vehicle evidence during the trial. A jury ultimately convicted Alvarez of second-degree murder in June 2024. He was sentenced the following month to 36½ to 80 years in prison.
His brother, Juan Diego Hernandez, and mother, who were initially charged as accessories after the fact, later pleaded no contest to reduced charges of lying to a police officer during the homicide investigation. Hernandez received a six-day jail sentence, while Davila-Rodriguez was also convicted on the reduced charge.
The motive behind Emilio’s killing remains unclear.
“Angel never owned up to what he did,” said Valdez. “We still have that open question of why, but we sort of know why. We’re hopeful that one day Angel will own up to what he did and hopefully turn his life around. But, first, he has to admit what he did. For the family, the hardest part is not really living with unanswered questions but dealing with the fact that my brother’s killer won’t just admit it. Just say what you did and be sorry.”
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Today, Valdez and her family hope their pursuit of justice will inspire other grieving families. But Emilio’s story also carries a warning.
“Be careful who you call a friend,” said Valdez.
