Waddell Buddhist Temple Murders

On August 10, 1991 nine bodies were found inside a Buddhist Temple in Waddell Arizona. The bodies belonged to the Abbott, five monks, a nun, a novice monk and a temple employee. All of the victims were either Thais or of Thai descent.

Soon after four men were arrested from Tucson and would be dubbed the “Tucson Four.” At least one of the men gave a confession to the crime and they were all charged with the murders. However, it was determined that first, the men had been arrested on the “tip from a man with mental health issues” and that any confessions that had been obtained had been false. After three months the men would be released and at least three of the four filed wrongful arrest suits against the county. In March of 1994 they took a $2.8m settlement from Maricopa County.

Reports are a bit unclear but at some point a .22 caliber weapon was found in a vehicle. Some say the vehicle belonged to a man named Allessandro “Alex” Garcia while other reports claim that the car belonged to another friend of his and Johnathan Doody. This gun would be linked to temple shooting and would lead to the arrests of the two men.

Garcia would eventually confess saying that he and Doody, also of Thai heritage, had planned to rob the temple. He claimed that they had put on their ROTC uniforms and boots that they had bought to disguise their footprints. He stated that they took the .22 caliber along with a .20 gauge shotgun. Apparently they obtained about $2,600 in cash and some equipment of some sort. Garcia told investigators that Doody believed that one of the monks recognized him and then Doody proceeded to shoot all of the victims in the head one by one. Garcia then admitted that he shot four of the victims again in the torso with the shotgun. According to the confession the crime was planned and they had decided to make sure that no witnesses were left alive. Both men were charged with armed robbery and nine counts of first degree murder.

At the time of the murders Alex Garcia was sixteen and Johnathan Doody was seventeen. In 2005 the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the federal government or any of the states to execute anyone who was a juvenile when they committed a crime but in 1991 when Garcia and Doody were accused of committing this crime the death penalty was still an option. Garcia would take a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. He would receive a life sentence, presumably times nine. As for Doody he took his case to trial.

It is not clear exactly what other evidence the prosecution aside from Garcia's confession. There seems to be little information in this area but there was an indication that it was possible that Doody had also given a confession at some point. I can only assume that if this confession came from him that he would later retract the confession since he took the case to trial. Doody was convicted in 1994 but in 2008 his conviction was overturned. The reason that was given was that a confession was “improperly obtained.” But again, reports were not clear whether that confession that was mentioned came from Doody or if it was in reference to the one given by Garcia. It appears as if the state appealed this decision but failed as it was either confirmed by the higher court or sent back to the lower court and once again overturned in 2011. A trial that was conducted in 2013 ended in a mistrial. Doody's third trial ended in the middle of January 2014, some twenty years after his first conviction.

Once again Doody was found guilty on all counts. The jury apparently said they came to this conclusion based on Garcia's testimony and “circumstantial evidence” although the latter was never made clear. Doody was sentenced in May of 2014. Some things stated that he received 281 years, something else stated he received 249 years without the possibility of parole and yet another source stated he received 9 consecutive life sentences with the earliest possibility of parole in 175 years. I suppose with that many years it really should not matter the exact number. I will say though the one that stated 249 years without the possibility of parole is the least likely as being correct since in 2012 the United States Supreme Court ruled that someone who committed a murder as a juvenile could not be sentenced to life without parole.

Both Garcia and Doody remain in the Arizona Department of Corrections.