Nevada handyman convicted of 2015 killing of 81-year-old California man – East Bay Instances
Anthony Thomas Garcia, 62, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the April 11, 2015 killing of Abelardo Lopez Estacion. (Courtesy Orange County District Attorney’s Office)
A Nevada handyman was convicted Tuesday for the killing of an 81-year-old man who was strangled to death in the bedroom of a Newport Beach home six years ago.
An Orange County Superior Court jury found 62-year-old Anthony Thomas Garcia guilty of first-degree murder for the April 11, 2015 killing of Abelardo Lopez Estacion.
However, the jury concluded that the killing was not for financial reasons. Such a finding would have resulted in murder in special circumstances, which would likely have resulted in a life sentence with no possibility of parole.
The conviction comes less than a year after another jury failed to reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial and a second trial. The second trial was postponed several times mid-testimony after Garcia was placed under temporary quarantine due to exposure to other prison inmates who tested positive for COVID-19.
The murder came amid an ugly dispute over the estate of Dortha Lamb, Estacion’s dying wife. Garcia was Lamb’s granddaughter’s former boyfriend, and two of Garcia’s daughters were Lamb’s great-granddaughters.
At the start of Garcia’s latest trial, Assistant District Attorney Seton Hunt told the jury the case was about “family, greed, hatred and deceit.”
Lamb — a self-made woman who owned valuable properties in Newport Beach, San Clemente, and Costa Mesa — had been with Estacion for more than 20 years but only married him shortly before his death. At the time of Estacion’s assassination, Lamb was dying of terminal cancer and suffering from dementia.
According to testimony given at the trial, Garcia and some of Lamb’s relatives believed Estacion was abusing Lamb and taking advantage of her health problems to withdraw money from her accounts. According to witnesses, Garcia had told others that he wanted to kill Estacion.
A legal battle ensued, during which Lamb’s family took her out of their Newport Beach home and attempted to evict Estacion and ban him from contact with Lamb. A judge delayed deciding whether to grant an injunction against Estacion.
Hours later, someone entered the Newport Beach home, disconnected power, and choked, beat, and strangled Estacion.
Prosecutors allege that Garcia drove from Carson City to Newport Beach to kill Estacion and then immediately drove back. They say he left his cellphone with his adult daughter, Samantha Garcia, to make it appear like he was still in Nevada.
Samantha Garcia initially told investigators that she was in possession of her father’s cellphone the night Estacion was killed, and conducted a fake text conversation between the two. But in both trials, the daughter denied those claims, saying investigators pressured her to lie and said she didn’t have her father’s cellphone that night.
During the trial, Garcia’s attorney, Alisha Montoro, described Garcia as a non-violent, devoted family man who lived a simple life. Defense attorneys denied that Garcia believed his daughters were entitled to Lamb’s money and told the jury that Garcia was not even in California on the night of the murder.
Garcia is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on April 28. He faces up to 25 years to life imprisonment.
