Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that 47-year-old Bronx resident, Luis Alturet-Rivera, was sentenced on July 22, to 25 years to life in State prison following his June conviction for the 2017 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Diana Casado.
“We hope the family of Diana Casado has some sense of closure today,” DA Rocah said. “This sentence reflects the years of extraordinary investigative work by those dedicated to seeking justice for the tragic and violent end to Diana’s life.”
In a statement made to the court, the victim’s mother said: “A person like Luis should not be allowed out in the streets for what he did to my daughter… When he killed her, he killed me.”
According to the Westchester District Attorney’s office, on January 22, 2017, at around 3 a.m., Alturet-Rivera shot Casado, a 27-year-old Yonkers resident, in the head while she was sitting in her parked car on Palisades Avenue in Yonkers. Hours later, the victim’s mother found Casado still alive in her car and called the police.
The victim was transported to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where she died. As detailed during the trial, surveillance video captured the defendant leaving the crime scene and disposing the victim’s purse into a dumpster. Contents of that purse — the victim’s wallet,
credit cards and license — were later discovered by a good Samaritan who contacted police.
Following an investigation by the Yonkers Police Department’s cold case unit, Alturet-Rivera was arrested in Washington state on February 5, 2019, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
After a 3-week trial in June 2022, a jury convicted Alturet-Rivera of murder in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, both felonies.
The case was heard before Judge Robert Neary in Westchester County Court, and was prosecuted by trials and investigations division co-chief, Christine O’Connor, and counsel to the trials & investigations division, John O’Rourke.
The Bronx District Attorney’s office urges anyone suffering at the hands of an abuser to immediately contact the Bronx D.A.’s crime victim assistance unit at (718) 590-2115. The Bronx Family Justice Center can be reached on (718) 508 1220. For more help & resources, visit https://on.nyc.gov/2BqhBe8. or call 1-800-621-4673 (HOPE).