Anthony Garcia

I know it has been several days since I posted but in that time I have researched more than a dozen cases to put together. I had a bit of a busy week. I can multi-task when I am researching a case but when it comes time to put the case together I like to first be in a quiet room but secondly do it all at once. Having too many things on my mind at one time will often cause to confusion when I am writing so I try to avoid that. With that being said I home to publish all, if not most of these in the next few days.

As a true crime “addict” I always attempt to obviously find cases that interests me. What that interest may be can change sometimes from hour to hour. Today I may be interested in cases that took several years to solve, but tomorrow I may be interested in cases like neighbor disputes. Ok, to be fair, for whatever reason neighbor disputes almost always interests me. Other types of cases that interest me are local ones of course in which I may drive by a crime scene years later and know what happened there. In fact, I live right around the corner from one that I have blogged here and not far from several others. But, even state cases, or those who involved citizens from my state of Indiana are also interesting to me. This case falls into a lot of categories. First, the initial crime took place in 2008 but it would be a second crime in 2013 that would finally bring Anthony Garcia to the attention of authorities. Garcia would be tried and convicted in October of 2016 but after several delays just had his sentencing hearing in June of 2018 and everyone is waiting for the results that have said could take a few months to announce. One of the most interesting things is that both crimes, the one in 2008 and one in 2013, are said to have been committed as a result of revenge from a 2001 job firing. There seems to be little doubt from anyone that Anthony Garcia was properly convicted and was the perpetrator of these crimes but over the last few years the argument has been whether Anthony Garcia is mentally ill, possibly too mentally ill to impose the death penalty.

Anthony Garcia was raised in California. He was the oldest of two boys of parents who had immigrated to the United States and had been fairly successful in careers. As most parents do, they wanted only the best for their children and wanted to see them succeed. Today defense attorney's will say that it was the pushing of his parents that sent Anthony Garcia off to medical school in Utah to become a doctor. Not only have they argued that Anthony Garcia did not want to become a doctor they have literally stated he was “too dumb” to be a doctor and yet he was passed through and obtained a degree. They have also argued that on top of these pressures and “despite his mental deficits” that over time Garcia became an alcoholic when he realized he “would never measure up.” Now, in my opinion this is simply a defense tactic being used in an attempt to lessen his Garcia's culpability, but even still it should be mentioned for the strategy as well as the fact that there may be shards of truth throughout.

After law school Anthony Garcia headed off to New York to do residency work. In 1999 he was fired from that job, but few people were made aware. It seems that Garcia has had a way of making things seem less serious than they are. Garcia claims he was “simply” fired because he had “yelled at a radiology technician.” In essence that was true except it appears that this was just the last straw of several “incidents of un-professionalism” and the incident was not as simplified as Garcia made it sound. Garcia headed home to California but apparently even his family was not aware that he had been fired. In 2000 Garcia headed to Omaha Nebraska where he was hired to work at the Creighton University Medical Center in the pathology department. Just as it had been in New York there was several incidences during his time there in which he had been disciplined and warned. This time he called another resident and informed them that their vacation had not been approved. Whether or not this was true or not is unclear but regardless Garcia was not in the position to give that information. So, just as had happened in New York in 1999, in 2001 Garcia was fired from Creighton University. By all accounts he left quietly and without a scene. It appears that none of the superiors thought twice about it.

Over the next seven years Anthony Garcia's life seemed to spiral downward. He went from one job to another spanning all over the country really from Louisiana to Illinois and eventually settling for a while in Indiana. In some cases he was fired because he had lied on his application, often leaving out Creighton and in some other cases he would not be officially hired allegedly because of a report sent by those in charge at Creighton. While in Shreveport he was working as a psychiatry resident but was fired because he did not have a medical license to practice there. In 2010 he got a temporary medical license in Indiana and settled in Terre Haute. It was set to expire in January of 2013. From May to July of 2010 he had done what was called “contract work” out of the federal person located there. But, he had applied twice for a medical license in the state. Both times he was informed that it would be denied and instead of having that on his record he was allowed to withdraw his application. However, according to authorities Garcia had already began enacting his revenge.

On March 13, 2008 Dr. William Hunter, director for the Department of Pathology at Creighton University Medical Center came home to find his eleven year old son Thomas and his housekeeper, fifty-seven year old Shirlee Sherman, dead in his home. They had both been stabbed to death and each still had a knife lefts stuck in the right side of their neck. Witnesses in the area would say that they saw an “olive skinner” man in a gray or silver SUV driving slowly past the home and then parked about a block away from the home. They stated that the man was dressed in a dark suit and carried a briefcase as he walked up to the Hunter home. Witnesses would claim that the man knocked on the door and was let inside but not long later he would come out of the home, walk to his car and drive away. There seemed to be no leads in the case. Of course investigators asked William Hunter if they had had any issues with anyone at the Medical Center, they even asked about anyone who was fired. William Hunter never even mentioned Anthony Garcia's name. His firing had taken place seven years earlier but in addition to that when he had been fired Garcia had left quietly and without any “fanfare” so to say. The FBI was brought in to do an evaluation and even their experts stated they believed it was likely a random attack by likely someone who was a transient serial killer. The case aired on the television show, America's Most Wanted several times trying to muster up some leads.

For the next five years the Hunter case had absolutely no real leads. Then on May 12, 2013 Dr. Roger Brumback and his wife Mary were murdered in their home. Brumback, like Hunter was one of the leading pathologists at Creighton at the time that Anthony Garcia had worked, and later been fired. Dr. Brumback had recently retired from the Medical Center and he and his wife were planning to move across the country to West Virginia to be closer to their grown child and grandchildren. A piano mover had gone to the home for a scheduled appointment. Things seemed off and the police were called. They would find Dr. Brumback's body in the entryway of the home. He had been shot three times and stabbed six times in the neck. Mary, his wife, was found near the front room of the home. She had been stabbed more than twenty times in the neck.

Authorities on the scene believed that the neck injuries were similar to the murders that had occurred in 2008. They also soon came to believe that the murders were related to Creighton University Medical Center. On the same day that the Brumbacks were murdered another faculty member's home had been broken into. Thankfully that doctor and his wife had been out to dinner with friends when they were alerted that their burglar alarm had been triggered. A print had been left on the door frame. The result of that print would take a bit, but it did not stop investigators from believing that these two crimes were somehow related to the Medical Center and if they were to believe that then it was also possible that the unsolved murders of Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman were also related.

Investigators were able to track Anthony Garcia down. He was now living in Terre Haute Indiana and they had him under surveillance for a while. In the early morning hours of July 15, 2013 his home was raided and a search warrant was issued. Although, due to the surveillance they knew Garcia was not home. He was in Southern Illinois driving when he was pulled over by authorities and arrested. It was said that at the time of his arrest he appeared to be intoxicated and had a .45 caliber handgun on him. Now, I cannot say for sure what evidence was found that led them to Garcia, aside from his firing. Nor can I say what evidence was found for sure prior to or during the search of his home or the continuing investigation. I can only say what evidence was used at his later trial. Three days after his arrest in Illinois, Garcia was officially charged with four counts of first degree murder, among other charges. He was then extradited back to Nebraska.

It would take until October of 2016 to get Anthony Garcia to trial. It always seems to take a while once charges are filed but this case took longer for several reasons it seems. For one, the question of Anthony Garcia's mental state, not just at the time of the murders, but at the time leading up to the trial came into play. The justice system mandates that anyone taken to trial must have the ability to understand the charges and the crime as well as be able to assist their attorney. Now of course just because someone says they do not understand or an attorney says their client is unable to assist is in own defense does not unilaterally make it true. But, in the name of justice it has to be checked, which takes time as they bring in specialists to evaluate the defendant. Some times a defendant is found incompetent to stand trial at some point but that does not mean that finding will always remain as they can later be found competent, so it can take some time.

By the time prosecutors got the case in front of a jury they were able to show them quite a bit of evidence. First they dealt with the Brumback's and 2013, although it was all one trial. Credit Card and cellphone records showed that Anthony Garcia was in Omaha at the time in which the Brumbacks were killed. One receipt showed him at a nearby restaurant within two hours of the murder. The print that had been found at the scene of the break in at the other home had come back as a match to Garcia. But, Internet searches showed that three days before the break in on that house and the murders at the Brumback's home Garcia had done a search on the first home.

Prosecutors alleged that the motive behind the murders was the firing that had occurred back in 2001. For one reason or another that firing seemed to haunt him. In some cases he lost jobs because he had purposely failed to place Creighton as a previous employee and when it was discovered he was fired for falsifying an application. In other cases he simply did not get a license or a job because of the bad reference from Creighton. Prosecutors also discovered that on March 8, 2013, just four days before the murder Garcia had bough a Smith & Wesson SD 9 mm handgun at a Gander Mountain in Terre Haute. At the home of the Brumback's a 9 mm pistol clip was found and a firearms expert testified it came from a Smith & Wesson model SD 9 mm handgun. It appears that the actual gun that Garcia bought was never found and I heard nothing about what he may have alleged had happened to that gun.

Just exactly what evidence that the prosecutors had to conclusively link Garcia to the Hunter and Sherman crime is not completely clear. It was said that prosecutors could prove that he was in the Omaha area during the crime but I did not find anything about what that evidence entailed. Nor, am I aware if any of the witnesses from 2008, who claimed to see the man going to the Hunter home testified or were able to identify him some six years later.

In December of 2013, while awaiting trial Garcia filed a wrongful arrest lawsuit. He asked for twenty million in damages. It was dismissed on February 25, 2014. Two days later a psychiatric evaluation was ordering. At this hearing Garcia complained that he did not trust his lawyers and this apparently prompted the evaluation. In May of 2014 a state psychiatrist testified that Garcia was mentally competent to stand trial. As the case drug slowly through the courts the defense put an expert on the stand at a hearing in May of 2015. The expert, Brent Turvey said “a knife wound to the neck is so common it is not even funny.” Turvey apparently accused the investigators of picking a suspect and “cherry-picking” the evidence to fit him. At this hearing the defense was arguing to have two separate trials, one for the 2008 crime and one for the 2013 crimes. They were alleging that the evidence of one did not mean he committed the other. The prosecution argued that both crimes were related to the same motive and while the defense may have argued the neck wounds to be common, they argued they were uniquely made and distributed.

Then in April of 2016 on the eve of the trial the judge removed one of Garcia's attorney's. Alison Motta was an attorney from Chicago that had been retained for Garcia. Motta, nor it seems anyone else on the team that she was helping, at least those from Chicago, had a license to practice law in Nebraska. This happens often but the “guest” attorney has to have at least one local attorney on the team in order to legally represent the client in that state. So, why did the judge remove her? Motta had not only implicated someone else in the 2008 murders but she claimed that DNA proved not only that this person had committed the murders, but that Garcia was innocent of the crime. On the surface it may not have sounded like that big of deal. However, not only did she seemingly name the person, this theory was easily debunked after a DNA expert testified. But, the damage was done. She had tainted the possible jury field and it caused what was then the third delay in the trial. In addition to that after Mott's comments the two local attorney's on the case withdrew. This left Garcia's Chicago team without the legal right to try the case until someone with a license to practice in Nebraska was brought on board. In January of 2018 Alison Motta was issued a “public reprimand” by the high court for “inflammatory comments” that were made. To what extent that meant is unclear.

It also appears that one of the local lawyers that would later withdraw after the Alison Motta issues was Jeremy Jorgenson, who in February of 2018 was indefinitely suspended (a minimum of two years) from practicing law by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The court said he “failed to provide competent and diligent representation to a client” when he had failed to appear for oral arguments at an appeal hearing, he then in turn “blew” the deadline to explain his reasons. This was not related to Garcia, but it does show the quality of some of the attorney's that worked on the case.

At any rate, as I stated the trial finally took place in October of 2016. The jury ultimately found Garcia guilty on four counts of first degree murder, four counts of use of a deadly weapon and one count of attempted burglary. The prosecution had asked for the death penalty. Once the convictions had been established there was to be a sentencing hearing in which a three judge panel would decide on his sentence. This hearing, after several delays, finally took place in June of 2018. During this time Garcia had totally isolated himself and his defense argued mental illness was involved once again. Apparently Garcia had cut all communication off not just to his family and the outside world but also to his attorneys which they argued hindered them from doing their jobs adequately. One of his attorney's argued in March of 2018 that he felt much of this was brought on by the fact that Garcia had been held in solitary confinement for twenty-three hours a day for three and a half years. The prosecutors have indicated that he is playing “the mentally ill game.” At his sentencing hearing he was wheeled into the court room in a wheelchair, his shoulders were hunched, his eyes were “scrunched” and he was non-communicative. While arguing that he was apparently currently mentally ill the defense had to also show or attempt to show that he had been mentally ill at the time of the murders, both in 2008 and in 2013. This is when they argued that he was “too dumb” to be a doctor and that it was his parents' “intense drive” that made him one “despite his mental deficits.” And of course if they could not prove that they then pushed that he became an alcoholic (something that in the past may have worked more in their favor) because he discovered he would “never measure up.” The courts have said that they will make an announcement on their decision in a month or two.