Driver Convicted of All Charges in Fatal 2016 Collision

A Suffolk Superior Court jury Wednesday, May 30, convicted a drunk driver of killing 25-year-old Marco Salguero-Cruz in Chelsea and speeding away from the scene after a night of drinking at a Chelsea bar.

Jurors convicted Jose Daniel Arevalo, 35, of motor vehicle homicide while under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. He will be sentenced Thursday morning.

“Two years ago, the defendant made a choice that cost Marco Salguero-Cruz his life,” DA Dan Conley said. “Suffolk prosecutors, Chelsea detectives, and State troopers worked for untold hours on this case, first to identify the suspect, then to apprehend him, and finally to hold him accountable.  He fled the scene. He fled the country. But he could not flee from justice in a Suffolk County courtroom.”

Assistant District Attorney Michael V. Glennon proved at trial that Salguero-Cruz was struck by a silver Toyota Camry that left the scene on the night of June 4, 2016, in the area of Washington Street in Chelsea.  He died of his injuries at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Chelsea Police detectives and State troopers assigned to Conley’s office recovered images from cameras in the area that captured the vehicle’s path of travel as it exited the parking lot of a Washington Street bar at a high rate of speed, and later as it fled from the area of the crash.  Images captured prior to the crash depict the vehicle with two functioning headlights; footage captured immediately after the crash shows the vehicle with only one headlight working.

With the assistance of Conley’s Forensic Multimedia Lab and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Digital Evidence Lab, previously-deleted footage from a private security camera was recovered and enhanced.

Conley’s office, Chelsea Police, and State Police released images depicting the driver to the media and the public, and a person familiar with Arevalo contacted investigators after recognizing him.  Investigators were also able to independently identify Arevalo through witness statements, social media, and Registry of Motor Vehicles records, prosecutors said.

Additional footage depicted Arevalo inside the Washington Street bar consuming four beers and six shots in approximately 2.5 hours leading up to the fatal crash, prosecutors said.

Arevalo allegedly fled to El Salvador two days after the crash but later returned to the United States and was taken into custody in Texas by Texas Rangers acting on a Massachusetts warrant obtained by Chelsea and State police.

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