Lawrence woman killed at home
Son also attacked; suspect arrested
LAWRENCE -- The friends and family of a single mother beaten to death in her home yesterday asked why a man who seemed to be her friend now stands accused of killing her.
Levi Omar Alcantara, 30, was arrested Saturday in the murder of Maria Sastre, 34, after she was found bleeding in her Washington Street house.
Her 14-year-old son, whom Alcantara struck in the forehead after the boy found him beating Sastre, was taken to a local hospital with injuries that police said did not appear to be life-threatening. Sastre's family ''can't believe that he did it because he was a friend," said Rosa Rivera, 43, who identified herself as a friend of Sastre. ''They want to know why."
Alcantara, who lives in Methuen, came to Sastre's home for cookouts in the summer and it did not appear he had ever given Sastre or her three children any trouble, Rivera said.
Police said they were trying to figure out Alcantara's alleged motive, but one of Sastre's relatives, a cousin, said he believed he knew why he might have gone after Sastre.
''I guess he was obsessed with her," said a man who identified himself only as Edwin, 32.
Sastre, whose name police originally spelled Sastres, loved to dance but had stopped going to clubs years ago to take care of her children, said Iliana Rivera, 33, Rosa Rivera's sister.
''She was always providing for her kids," Iliana Rivera said. ''Her kids were first on her list."
The Rivera sisters, who also live in Lawrence, came yesterday afternoon to Sastre's house, a light yellow, two-story home that had been decorated with artificial flowers on the lawn and posters of Casper the Friendly Ghost in the windows. The sisters hugged Sastre's relatives who wept outside the house, which appeared to be unoccupied and had been locked.
''She was a beautiful person," Edwin said. ''She had a big heart. . . . She helped out anyone she could."
Police said they responded to several 911 calls about a beating at 7:07 a.m.
When they arrived at the house, they found Sastre's son bleeding from his forehead.
Police said the boy was upstairs at the single-family home when he heard his mother scream. He rushed downstairs and found Alcantara beating her with an object, police said. Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero said investigators believe Alcantara used a hammer.
Police said Alcantara began beating the boy, but the teenager managed to escape and run to the house of a neighbor to call police.
''Her son's a hero," Edwin said of the teenager.
Sastre was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m.
Alcantara was found later that morning at a local gas station, wearing boxer shorts and a T-shirt.
Alcantara had called police and said someone else had come into the house, Romero said. But police arrested him after Sastre's son identified him as the attacker, he said.
Alcantara was charged with murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery with intent to murder.
He is expected to be arraigned today in Lawrence District Court.
Sastre's murder was the city's first in nearly 20 months.
The last homicide was in August 2004, when Rafael Castro, 36, was shot in his apartment by intruders.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 