(OmahaPoliceDepartment)
Tonight, convicted serial killer Anthony Garcia will be the focus of NBC’s Dateline. The once-promising medical school graduate is responsible for four murders that occurred between 2008 and 2013.
Read on to learn more about Anthony Garcia.
1. He Has Been Charged With Four Counts of First-Degree Murder
What police found inside the home of a disgraced doctor turned serial killer t.co/BwZvCowcxx
On the afternoon of March 13, 2008, Dr. William Hunter– a residency program director for the Department of Pathology at Creighton University– came home to find his 11-year-old son, Hunter, and the family’s housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, brutally murdered. They had been stabbed in their necks. Authorities searched endlessly for the culprit, but the case went cold for five years until police discovered the bodies of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife Mary in their West Omaha home on May 14, 2013. The victims had been shot, and stabbed in the neck, as well.
Homicide Detective Derek Mois recently tells People, “All of these wounds told us whoever did this was looking for this geographic spot. Someone knows anatomy is what it told us.”
After several months, police arrested their main suspect, Anthony Garcia, who has since been charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
2. Authorities Believe the Murders Were Fueled by Garcia’s Rage After Being Fired From Creighton University in 2001
The Hunter house was eerily still when detectives arrived… #Dateline
Dr. Anthony Garcia was a University of Utah medical student. He went on to work at Creighton University as a Pathology resident.
According to the Omaha World-Herald, Garcia was fired in 2000 for calling a resident while he was taking a medical licensing exam and telling him that his vacation time wasn’t approved. People writes, “The killings were fueled by revenge after Brumback and Hunter fired him from Creighton University in 2001 and later wrote bad references, which had prevented him from getting work as a doctor in other states.”
3. He’s Been in Solitary Confinement for Over Three Years
Dr. Hunter arrived home to a tragic scene… #Dateline
According to a recent article released this week by the Omaha World-Herald, Garcia did not speak when the judge addressed him in court earlier this week. His attorneys have said that he hasn’t spoken to them for months.
After the March 13 hearing, attorney Robert Motta Jr. told the Omaha World-Herald, “The man’s been in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for 3½ years I would challenge any of you to try that for 3½ years and see how you would come out on the other end. ” Many people, including the family members of the victims, believe Garcia’s silence is a ploy. Jeff Sherman, Shirlee Sherman’s son, says, “He knows what he’s doing… He’s playing the system. Delaying the inevitable.”
Garcia has been sent to Lincoln Regional Center, where professionals will evaluate him and determine whether or not he’s competent.
4. He Faces the Possibility of the Death Penalty
This is the look we’ve been waiting for… #Dateline Friday 9/8c #Mankisode
Some time this year, Garcia will either get a life sentence or the death penalty for the 2008 and 2013 killings.
According to KETV Omaha, he is set to appear in front of a three-panel judge on March 30 to determine if he receives the death penalty. He must first be evaluated at Lincoln Regional Center, however, and there is no saying how long the evaluation will take.
5. On the Day He Was Arrested, He Was Initially Booked for a DUI
It happened on March 13, 2008… #Dateline
According to People, Garcia was intoxicated on the day of his arrest when he was pulled over by police. He was booked on a DUI charge. Mois tells the outlet, “When I told him he was under arrest for the murder of four people, his only response was, ‘Oh ok,’… An innocent guy is going to pull a complete tantrum in my mind. This guy was as calm as a cucumber. He had zero reaction. I don’t think he blinked. What we walked away from is this was a guy who knew this day was coming. It was reckoning day.”