Man accused in Des Moines triple homicide returned to U.S. twice after deportation, ICE says

A man accused of killing a mother and her two children was in the U.S. illegally and had twice previously been deported, federal authorities say.

Marvin Oswaldo Esquivel-Lopez, 31, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder for Tuesday night's triple homicide at 1003 Day St., just north of downtown Des Moines.

His victims have been identified as a small family he was living with: Rossibeth Flores-Rodriguez, 29; Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores, 11; and Ever Jose Mejia-Flores, 5. Officers, responding to a 911 call, found the three bodies at the home Tuesday night, according to police.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday that the accused's name is actually Marvin Oswaldo Escobar-Orellana and he returned to the U.S. after being deported to Guatemala.

"Escobar-Orellana, aka, Marvin O. Esquivel-Lopez, was previously (deported) from the United States in 2010 and again in 2011," ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer said. "He has a prior federal conviction for illegal entry into the United States in 2010. He is not currently in ICE custody.”

Court records show his 2011 deportation stemmed from illegal entry to the U.S. near Laredo, Texas. He was sentenced to 15 days "confinement" and ordered not to return to the country illegally.  

An undocumented immigrant who re-enters the country without authorization after having been previously deported can be charged with a felony, which — depending on the person’s record — is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, if convicted.

Des Moines police have said that the man known as Marvin Esquivel-Lopez is not believed to have had a romantic relationship with Flores-Rodriguez.  Sgt. Paul Parizek, a Des Moines police spokesman, said Esquivel-Lopez's wife and children lived at the address, too, but were not home during the shooting. Court records show he married a woman unrelated to the shooting in 2008, but she eventually filed for divorce. 

"We may never know what the motive was," Parizek said Wednesday afternoon. "All we know is there was some sort of dispute between this man and the victim and he ended up, allegedly, shooting three people because of it. 

"It's just sad."

Iowa court records show a handful of traffic tickets for Esquivel-Lopez. He had appeared in court Monday, a day before the shootings, and agreed to pay more than $1,400 in fines and fees related to a May traffic incident in which he was cited for failure to maintain control and driving without a license or proof of insurance.

It was the suspect himself who called police about 11 p.m. Tuesday, police say. The caller said three people had been killed at 1003 Day St. in the Laurel Village complex, just north of Interstate Highway 235.

That general location, between Des Moines Area Community College on the east and Cheatom Park on the west, was the site of another homicide in March. Darryn Boles Brooks was found dead March 8 in a nearby parking lot. A 19-year-old man Larontez Javon Buchanan has been charged with first-degree murder in Brooks' death.

Parizek said police had responded to one call to the 1003 Day St. address in the past year, but that was related to a traffic incident. He did not know how long either family had been there, but said there was plenty of space, and Flores-Rodriguez and her children appeared to live in the basement of the home. 

Grecia Daniela Alvarado-Flores had just finished fifth grade, according to Des Moines Public Schools spokesman Phil Roeder. The 11-year-old was moving from Moulton Elementary School to Harding Middle School. Her younger brother, Ever, was going to be a kindergarten student at Moulton, Roeder said. 

Moulton's principal released a statement about the the children's deaths and said grief counselors would be available for students:

"It goes without saying how horrible this tragedy is and we are all devastated by this news. Please keep Daniela’s extended family in your heart and prayers plus all the people here at Moulton that got to know and love Daniela," Eddie McCulley wrote.

Register staff members Dani Gehr, Lucas Grundmeier and Ian Richardson contributed to this story.