Juan Manuel Alvarez's troubles had been building long before he drove his Jeep Cherokee onto the train tracks in an aborted suicide attempt that derailed two commuter trains and killed 11 people, according to family members, acquaintances and court records.
Alvarez, a pony-tailed sometime construction worker, had been separated from his wife for several months amid allegations that he had threatened her and her family.
Carmelita Alvarez alleged that drug use had addled his mind, according to court papers she filed in support of a restraining order. She described him as a jealous man possessed by paranoid fantasies that she was cheating.
Family members and acquaintances said he used drugs heavily.
Alvarez, 25, described as a devotee of ancient Mexican rituals, was in custody late Wednesday, booked on suspicion of murder.
Authorities disclosed little about his background, and even some of those close to Alvarez said they were mystified about what led him to a railroad crossing near Glendale early Wednesday.
Alvarez had never been convicted of a serious crime, but was arrested several times on suspicion of burglary and drug possession beginning in 1994, authorities said. A cocaine possession charge against him, dating from a 1999 arrest in Carson, was later dismissed, court documents show.
And while he had threatened his wife, he had never assaulted her nor their children, according to a questionnaire Carmelita Alvarez filled out last fall to get the restraining order.
"He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members," she wrote. "He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy a gun and threatened to use it. He has caused damage to family property.... He has primarily threatened my brother, saying that he would shoot and stab him."
The order was granted Dec. 14, court papers indicated. Its terms included a suspension of Alvarez's right to visit his two children: a stepdaughter, 6, and a 3-year-old son.
He and Carmelita met in Los Angeles about six years ago, said Carmelita's brother Ruben Ochoa, 26.
At that time, Alvarez was not working much, said Sergio Lopez, who manages an apartment complex in Bell where the couple had lived for several months.
But he played traditional drums used in ancient Mexican Indian ceremonies.
Lopez said Alvarez was in a group that performed such ceremonies in Aztec costume -- headdresses, loincloths and sandals with bells.
