The children of a man murdered 30 years ago are worried their father’s killer could “snap” and kill a third person if he’s released on parole.
“The idea of having him being released is terrifying,” one of those children, Jessica Suarez, wrote in a letter to the Massachusetts Parole Board. “He said it himself, ‘I snapped. I snapped.’ If someone can snap like that once, what’s to say it won’t happen again?”
Rickey Alford, of Clinton, beat Julio Suarez, 56, repeatedly with a baseball bat on Feb. 15, 1995. Alford pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
On July 30, 1999, Alford also pleaded guilty to an unrelated manslaughter charge in Louisiana. He received a 15-year sentence, concurrent with his life sentence in Massachusetts.
Alford, now 60, first went in front of the parole board in 2010 but was denied. He has had four other hearings before his hearing on June 16.
He was most recently denied parole in 2023, with authorities finding that his “demeanor at hearing did not suggest ready for release to [the] community.”
“I don’t know how to explain it. It was just like a switch went off and everything just went dark inside me,” Alford recalled of his 1994 crime in Louisiana when he killed a man and dumped the body into a bayou.
He said that was the first time he had been violent.
Alford grew up in foster care and only attended school through the fourth grade. He said that during this time, he dealt with difficulties by running away, not fighting.
Over time, however, his “light” began to fade.
“I felt like nobody cared. That I was a monster. Nobody cared about me … Nobody’s listening to me, Nobody’s trying to help me,” he said.
In a way, his second murder was himself, “the innocent Ricky Alford,” he said, “by becoming the monster that I was.”
“The innocent Alford ran away. He didn’t like violence. He didn’t like being beat up. He didn’t like being hurt. I allowed the dark side to come out of me, the demon to come out of me,” he said. “And I murdered that innocence I had in me. And ever since, I’ve been trying my hardest through these programs to regain that light inside me.”
Six months after his attack in Louisiana, he attacked Julio Suarez.
One of the co-defendants, Jose Enrique Rivera, told investigators Alford said before the fatal attack that he wanted to kill Suarez over a dispute regarding a theft, according to the board’s decision.
“Both of the co-defendants said that Alford lured Mr. Suarez into his apartment by claiming he had a phone call,” the decision reads. “Once inside the apartment, Alford severely beat Mr. Suarez with a baseball bat.”
Alford dragged the lifeless man to the tub and left him there while he cleaned up the blood. The next morning, Rivera helped Alford wrap up the body, put Suarez into a van and left the body in Andover.
Suarez’s body was found on Feb. 16, 1995, in a parking lot in Andover by employees of a nearby company who were taking a walk. Authorities discovered Suarez had been beaten and died from multiple strikes to the head.
But Alford claims it wasn’t over a theft dispute — and it wasn’t planned.
Suarez, Alford claimed, called him gay. And Alford, who was homophobic, went into a rage.
Now, however, he said he’d be able to control his anger and ask to sit down for a cup of coffee to get to know them.
He said he’s worked on this through therapy and programs offered while incarcerated.
“I can’t hurt nobody no more. I don’t have it in me to show any more anger or pain like that to another human being after what I did to this family, the shame that I’ve heard against my children and everything,” he said. “I just can’t find myself to do violence ever again.”
The parole board noticed a change in his demeanor during the June hearing. Alford credits being calmer to finally being able to ask for help.
The board also noted that Alford has not had any fights in prison.
Julio Suarez’s family doesn’t believe Alford’s story.
“He got away with the first one, the first murder. So, he could do the same with my father and dispose of him like he was a piece of trash and get away with it,” one of his children said.
Sonia Suarez, the oldest child, claims her father told her Alford was laundering money and to not come looking for him if something happened.
“He wanted to protect me, my life, to spare me,” she said through tears. “My dad died to spare my life. To spare his children’s lives.”
Jessica Suarez also emphasized that his story and work in prison doesn’t line up with official stories.
‘This isn’t just about one bad decision,“ she wrote. ”It was a violent, intentional act that took my father’s life and left a permanent hole in our family.”
Sonia Suarez begged the parole board not to release him.
“Please help us help everybody else. Please help us stay safe. Don’t allow this man to come out,” she said. “Please. I am begging you. I don’t know what else to do.”
Julio Suarez’s son, also named Julio Suarez, pointed out that Alford previously said that if the family wanted him to stay in prison, he would.
“But I guess he doesn’t stay true to what he says,” Julio Suarez said.
Worcester County Assistant District Attorney Anne Kennedy said there are “eerie similarities” between the two murders, despite Alford claiming they were in fits of rage.
“If anybody goes and tries to do something that will impact his life, he is going to resort to violence,” she said.
She also urged the board to deny his parole, something the board is still considering.
“Mr. Alford is a cold-blooded killer,” she said.
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