7/2/09
While the family of an apparent suicide victim questions his cause of death, police continue to call it an open and shut case.
Joseph Garcia, 33, of Chimayó, was hanging from a belt attached to the spring mechanism of his girlfriend’s Chimayó trailer when police arrived at the scene the night of May 28, according to State Police officer Eric Lopez. Criminal agents found no signs of foul play at the Santa Fe County Road 93E home, although Garcia’s girlfriend, Melanie Martinez, gave several different accounts of how she discovered the body.
In one account, Martinez, 34, said she had left the house, returned and found Garcia hanging from the door. In another version, she said she came home and found Garcia at her house, then took a nap and found him deceased when she woke up, Lopez said.
State Police Sgt. Mitchell Maestas had previously said Martinez would probably need to be re-interviewed at a later time because she was drunk at the time of the incident. Last week he said he didn’t believe the death was being investigated further.
“Especially when she was that drunk, it was hard to get a straight story out of her,” Maestas said. “But obviously, he did it himself. If they re-interviewed her it wouldn’t make any difference.”
Garcia’s mother, Donna Garcia, and sister, Naomi Montoya, said a Chimayó man came to them with information about the death, saying he had heard Garcia had been hanging from a ceiling fan but Martinez and others moved his body to where it was found by police. Montoya, Donna Garcia and his father, John Garcia, believe it’s possible Garcia was murdered, and are hoping police will look into the death more closely.
Almost a month after Joe Garcia’s death, Lopez hasn’t completed his report and an autopsy report has not been released. Donna Garcia said she met with Lopez and gave him additional information that might relate to her son’s death, and Lopez said he would turn it over to criminal agents. As of June 26, Sgt. Chris Valdez in criminal investigations hadn’t received any of that information.
This information included evidence that Joseph Garcia may have been beaten in the months leading up to this death on multiple occasions.
Donna Garcia said she found an audio tape in the room her son used to live in at her Los Luceros home that sounds like he is being beaten by unknown assailants. In addition, Donna Garcia, her daughter and her husband all claim Joseph Garcia was beaten up on multiple occasions by Martinez’s family members at her bidding.
In late April, Donna Garcia called police after Martinez, who was intoxicated, trespassed on the family’s Los Luceros property. Martinez fled as police were approaching but was later pulled over near the Ohkay Express Mart and charged with driving under the influence, criminal trespass and possession of an open container of alcohol. The case has yet to be adjudicated.
Court documents filed in that case s noted that police received an earlier call the same day that Martinez and Garcia were fighting at Martinez’s house in Chimayó. Only Joseph Garcia was at the home when police arrived, and told them Martinez and two of her cousins beat him up. He refused to give a statement or file charges, saying he didn’t want to get anyone into trouble, the documents state.
About two weeks before that incident, Joseph Garcia was charged with assault and battery on a household member for allegedly attacking a woman, whom he allegedly began striking when she came to pick up her daughter from his house, court documents state. His sister, Angel Anaya, told police she intervened, hitting Joseph Garcia until he stopped hitting the victim. Police noted the victim had a small cut on her forehead, bruising on her cheekbone and cuts on her knee. The charges were pending when he died.
Last September, Martinez was forced to resign from her job as a sixth-grade teacher at Sombrillo Elementary for violating her probationary status. She was on probation because the school year before she allegedly purchased alcohol while chaperoning a Chimayó Elementary field trip, according to Española School District documents.
In October 2007, Martinez was accused of fighting with the mother of a former student in front of her Chimayó Elementary third-grade class. The other woman accused Martinez of having an affair with her husband, and eventually got a restraining order against her, according to a previous SUN report.
Martinez did not return calls for comment.
Meanwhile, the state Office of the Medical Investigator is waiting on toxicology reports before issuing a cause of death for Joseph Garcia.
“I just want (police) to take this a step further and investigate and make sure nobody had a hand in helping my son do it,” Donna Garcia said.