Man Arraigned in Connection with 1990 Lowell Murder

WOBURN - Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lowell Police Superintendent Kelly Richardson have announced that Jose Armanda Betances, 58, was arraigned yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court on the charges of first-degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license in connection with the 1990 fatal shooting of Andrew Alexander, 17, in Lowell. 

Clerk Magistrate Michael Sullivan ordered Jose Betances to be held without bail on the charge of murder and set bail at $10,000 cash on the charge of carrying a firearm without a license. The next date on this case is March 2, at 2:00 p.m., in Lowell Superior Court. 

On May 12, 1990, at approximately 10:15 p.m., Andrew Alexander, 17, was in front of a residence on Salem Street in Lowell when Jose Betances allegedly drove up in his car and stopped at that location. Jose Betances was picking up his girlfriend, who had previously dated Alexander. After Betances picked up his girlfriend, he began driving away when Alexander allegedly threw a rock, hitting the roof of Betances’s car. Mr. Betances continued operating the vehicle and returned after a short period, parking across the street from where Alexander was standing. Alexander challenged the defendant to fight before throwing a second rock at the car, breaking the rear driver side window. Betances is alleged to have pulled out a handgun and fired one shot at Andrew Alexander, striking him between the eyes. Betances then fled from the scene, ordering his girlfriend out of the car. Alexander was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital, in Lowell, where he was pronounced dead.

An arrest warrant was issued by Lowell District Court on May 13, 1990. Police subsequently learned that Mr. Betances had allegedly fled the country. A federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District Court in Massachusetts on August 16, 1990, for Betances on a charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, which holds maximum imprisonment of five years.

Investigators located Betances, in the Dominican Republic in January 2017. Through coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice-Office of International Affairs and the FBI, an extradition package, including an application for a provisional arrest warrant, was prepared and presented to Dominican authorities by the State Department. On July 8, 2019, the FBI was notified that the Dominican Republic Supreme Court issued a warrant for Betances’s arrest. On November 12, 2019, with the assistance of the FBI’s Legal Attaché office in Santo Domingo, Betances was arrested outside his residence and held in custody pending extradition back to Massachusetts.

A special agent from the FBI Boston Division’s Violent Crimes Task Force, along with an officer from the Lowell Police Department escorted Betances from the Dominican Republic to Massachusetts on Friday, January 31, 2020. 

The prosecutor assigned to this case is Clarence Brown and the Victim Witness Advocate is Renee Leone. These charges are allegations and the defendant is innocent until proven guilty.