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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Welding shop widow: The Zetas killed my husband |
| 2010-05-13 |
| EDINBURG TX — A welding shop owners dealings in stolen Mexican oil were what eventually led to his murder, not an alleged affair between his wife and his foreman, a defense lawyer said. Attorney Michael Garza told a jury Tuesday that his client, Mirna Matiana Garcia, initially lied to police about details of her husbands 2008 slaying not to cover up her own alleged involvement but for fear that a powerful Mexican drug cartel would come after her and her three grown daughters. But prosecutors balked at that story Tuesday, alleging that the 43-year-old woman made up the tale of a Zeta attack to hide a crime she planned with her lover — one she had tried to commit several times before. Edinburg police found the body of 47-year-old Antonio Manuel Garcia on Nov. 21, 2008, lying in a pool of blood at his office at the Cactus Iron Works, a family business located near the intersection of U.S. 281 and Monte Cristo Road. He had been shot three times, including once to the back of his head, with a revolver he kept in his desk, investigators said. And while his wife initially denied she had been at the office at the time of the shooting, she felt certain the Zetas were behind the attack, said Monica Barron-Augur, an Hidalgo County assistant district attorney. “She said her husband was involved in some crude oil business,' she said. “It appeared to be shady, and she believed the Zetas were involved.' It was only after nearly a month of continued questioning that Mirna Garcia allegedly confessed to trying for months to have her husband killed, according to court documents. Although she had asked others before him, Jose Manuel Gomez — the welding business foreman and the man with whom police say she was having an affair — allegedly agreed to do it for free. Prosecutors are expected to present a video recording of a conversation between Mirna Garcia and Gomez made shortly after her arrest in which he tells her that he “did it' for her and she tries to convince him that there is no need for both of them to take the rap for the crime. But ever since that alleged confession, Mirna Garcia has alternately denied saying anything to police and claimed she lied because she was afraid of her husbands business contacts. State investigators said Tuesday that they had linked Antonio Garcia to an ongoing federal probe of oil stolen from Mexicos state-run petroleum monopoly but maintained that they did not believe this illicit side venture had anything to do with his death. For years, criminals south of the border have siphoned off thousands of gallons of natural gas condensate — a petroleum precursor — from pipelines managed by Petróleos Mexicanos. In 2008 alone, the company — better known as Pemex — found 400 illegal connections in rural states like Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Nuevo León. In the past nine months, five Texas oil executives have been indicted in federal court on charges of purchasing the stolen product. Antonio Garcia, however, would be the first U.S. citizen outside the oil industry to be publicly linked to the theft. He allegedly purchased several hundred gallons of the purloined petrol, held it in tanks behind his Edinburg welding shop and sold it to companies north of the border. His primary vendors, Attorney Garza alleged Tuesday, were the Zetas, who Mirna Garcia maintains employed Gomez to kill her husband. Gomez has entered a plea of not guilty and has consistently denied any involvement in Antonio Garcias murder. He awaits trial later this year. Testimony in Mirna Garcias case is set to begin this morning. If convicted, she could face up to life in prison. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #2 FYI Amerika, "ZETA" SPACE ALIENS 'TAINT MADONNA FANS! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-13 00:12 |
| #1 Uh, uh, "ZETAS" > THE EARTH-VISITING SPACE ALIENS ON C2CAM [Art Bell, George Noory] WHOM FORECAST THE COMING OF "PLANET X"??? Gut nuthin. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-13 00:10 |