A Lewis woman was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for the murder of her husband last year.
Joyce Marie Garcia, 54, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Monday in the death of her husband, Alfredo Luis Garcia, 57, who had been shot twice in the head on May 1 and left for dead near the Bradfield Bridge.
District Attorney Christian Hatfield of the 22nd Judicial District said the 25-year sentence was selected because of Joyce Garcia’s age and health. He said she likely will spend the rest of her life in prison.
“I think justice was achieved, but nothing is going to bring the victim back,” Hatfield said. “Nobody deserves this.”
During interviews by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, she claimed that she had killed her husband as an act of mercy because of his failing health.
The CBI investigation concluded that she was guilty of first-degree murder, and she was arrested.
Judge William Furse of the 22nd Judicial District also disagreed with Joyce Garcia’s assertion that the death of Alfredo Garcia was a mercy killing, saying that she was a “danger to society.”
“A lot of people were involved in the investigation,” Hatfield said. “We had a very solid case for first-degree murder in the interest of avoiding the uncertainty of trial and some measure of closure for the family.”
The investigation initially began in Montezuma County, then moved to the scene of the crime in Dolores County.
According to the numerous Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office incident reports, Joyce Garcia called 911 about 1 a.m. May 2 to report her husband missing from their home at 20615 U.S. Highway 491 in Lewis. When Sgt. Alexander Kennedy of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the home, he and other officers were met by Joyce Garcia, who was “having problems with hyperventilating” while telling officers about her missing husband.
She said Alfredo Garcia had been in the home when she passed out from consuming alcoholic beverages while they watched movies, but when she woke up, he was gone.
Deputies searched the area around the couple’s home but did not find Alfredo Garcia. During their search, the couple’s son Conor Donohue came home from work, and was visibly distressed by the unfolding events, including the smashed rear window of Joyce Garcia’s car.
Both Joyce Garcia and Donohue told police that they were unsure of what had happened to the window. After deputies searched the vehicle, they determined there was no sign of a struggle.
Donohue told deputies that his father had suffered from West Nile virus five years ago, and as a result had become somewhat disabled. He said that Alfredo Garcia couldn’t walk far on his own, insinuating that he would have had to be taken from the property. He added that Garcia had no close friends or other family who would have picked him up.
After it was determined that Alfredo Garcia was not on the couple’s property, law enforcement pinged his phone, leading them across the county line to the area of Bradfield Bridge about 6 a.m.
After arriving, Sgt. Tomas Parker got out of his patrol to hear “gasping and choking” sounds coming from nearby bushes. After investigating, he found Garcia lying on his back in a pool of blood with a bullet lying nearby.
EMS arrived at 18197 County Road R and Forest Service Road 521 in Dolores County and placed Alfredo Garcia in an ambulance until he was flown to Durango’s Mercy Medical Hospital. He was then flown to Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, where he died a few days later.
Reports showed that Garcia had been shot twice in the head.
While investigating the scene at Bradfield Bridge, Parker found a dead dog that had also been shot. Although Joyce Garcia had repeatedly told officers that they did not own a gun, she later admitted to killing the dog as a “mercy killing,” because it was old and suffering.
Joyce Garcia initially told sheriff’s Detective John Haynes that they put the dog down by “slitting the dog’s throat with a knife,” because she was afraid to admit to having an unregistered gun, according to reports obtained from CBI.
The .357 -caliber handgun used to shoot the dog and Alfredo Garcia was found to be owned by the Garcias.
At the Garcias’ house, when Haynes told Joyce that Alfredo had been found, Garcia asked, “He’s alive?” while telling Haynes that she had no idea how he had gotten to Bradfield Bridge.
When questioned further, Joyce told Haynes, “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t kill my husband, he was my life.”
In a later, voluntary interview with CBI, Joyce was asked if Alfredo had ever asked her for help with suicide. She replied that “if he had asked her to do that, there was a part of her that would want to help him.”
On May 22, Joyce admitted to her son that she had killed Alfredo Garcia, and Donohue told investigators that Alfredo reportedly asked her to kill him because of his health condition.
“His dad had been asking her to shoot him and put him out of his misery. She said she got tired of him asking and she ‘went and did it,’” according to the report from CBI.
Donohue told investigators that “he never heard his dad ask his mom to shoot him … it never seemed like his dad wanted to leave this world.”
Joyce attempted to flee after Donohue called police before coming back to her home and attempting suicide before being arrested.
