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A killer who carried out a brutal gangland slaying was brought to justice after a keen-eyed detective spotted the evidence inked on the guilty man’s skin.
Los Angeles gang member John Juarez was shot dead outside Mr. Ed's Liquor store in Pico Rivera, California on January 23, 2004. But the case remained unsolved for years until a routine check by Detective Sergeant Kevin Lloyd revealed an uncanny similarity between the crime scene – and a huge tattoo on 25-year-old Anthony Garcia’s chest.
Podcaster Mr Ballen described how Det. Sgt. Lloyd was grinding through some dull paperwork at the end of a stressful week when he was suddenly struck by the sight of Garcia’s inking. “Many other detectives had seen this document about Anthony Garcia and they hadn't thought anything of it," Mr Ballen said.
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“But when detective Lloyd looked at this page about Anthony Garcia, a photo of Anthony immediately stood out to the detective.” The stylised scene etched onto the gang member’s chest depicted a “Mr Peanut” character being hosed down with bullets from a helicopter.
Rivera 13 gang member Garcia’s street name was “Chopper,” or helicopter, and the victim was a member of the Pico Nuevo gang – often described by their enemies as “peanuts.” Above the inking was another tattoo that read "Rivera Kills.”
The tattoo was so uncannily accurate with regards to Juarez's death that Lloyd said it was essentially a "crime scene sketch and a confession." Garcia's tattoo artist even captured the exact trajectory of the bullets that killed Juarez, he added.
"Even the peanut guy; he's standing on corner, he gets shot in the head and you can see the shot in the head," Lloyd said. "He lays right there in the liquor store."
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The mugshot had been taken six months before Det. Sgt. Lloyd spotted it, and Garcia, who had been picked up for a motoring offence, had already been released. But after taking the photo to the crime scene outside Mr. Ed’s, and comparing it to the actual location, Det. Sgt. Lloyd had no hesitation in calling for Garcia’s arrest.
An undercover officer, placed in Garcia’s cell in the guise of a fellow-criminal, managed to get the gang-banger to confess to the murder. In May 2011, he was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to 65 years to life in prison.
After Garcia was sentenced, Michelle Sotelo, Juarez’s girlfriend and the mother of his 11-year-old daughter, said she was grateful that Garcia had chosen to get his “stupid” tattoo. “Without that stupid tattoo,” she said, “you wouldn’t have been caught.
“I won’t say I’m sorry,” she added. “I won’t say I forgive you, because I don’t. It will take me a long, long time.”
- Tattoos
- Murder
- Crime
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