Tuesday’s testimony focused on two things in the quadruple murder trial of Anthony Garcia; who was killed first at the Dundee crime scene, and did neighbors see Garcia there?
Garcia is charged with the murders of Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman in 2008, and Dr. Roger and Mary Brumback in 2013 allegedly because he was fired from the Creighton Pathology Department in 2001.
Prosecutors show the jury graphic photos of the knives lodged in the necks of the two victims both taken from the butcher block in the kitchen of the Hunter's home. OPD Detective Derek Mois testifies he believes Thomas Hunter was killed first, which would go along with the prosecution’s revenge theory.
But the defense claims it was actually Shirlee Sherman was the target and once Thomas saw what happened he ran out of the house, which is why there were leaves on his socks found at the scene in crime photos. He was found dead in the dining room, but the defense says Hunter’s body could’ve been staged.
Crime Lab Techs documented about 50 pieces of DNA, fingerprint, and footprint evidence.
A photo shows a kitchen knife on top of a stack of magazines, and the defense questioned why only the top magazine was tested when their appears to be blood on others.
Tuesday afternoon, neighbors in that Dundee neighborhood recalled March 13, 2008 and seeing a man driving a silver Honda CRV.
“I at first described him as being of Middle Eastern descent, olive skin, dark hair,” neighbor Dana Boyle described.
Boyle was then questioned by the defense about why she told police either victim could’ve been the target.
“I think at the time we were pretty distraught and we were trying to come up with any idea why. This was our beloved neighborhood and it was a child that we all loved,” Boyle explained.
Each witness who lived in the Dundee neighborhood said they were doing something different around 3-4pm that day, but described that silver CRV driving slowly through the neighborhood or parked on 53rd Street, and an ethnic man in a dark suit with a messenger bag.
The defense concluded by asking if any of them identified Garcia as the man they saw, but none of them could confirm it was him.
Testimony continues Wednesday morning.
