A murder scene tattooed on the chest of a reported gang member has finally led police to a conviction years in the making.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Anthony Garcia was arrested and released on a minor offense in2008 but before his release was photographed without his shirt with a crime scene depicted in ink across his chest.
Garcia’s chest appeared to show Christmas lights lining the roof of a liquor store, a gunned down body, the direction the body fell, a street lamp and street sign all under the banner RIVERA KILLS, a reference to the gang Rivera-13.
The scene was believed to the be that of the 2004 liquor store slaying of 23-year-old John Juarez that had stumped homicide investigator Kevin Lloyd for years.
Now seven years later, Lloyd’s discovery of the tattoo and a confession given to sheriff’s detectives disguised as gang members not only solved the case but led to a conviction.
The L.A. Times reports that Garcia, now 25, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle.
He is facing 65 years to life.
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