69- Dr. Eric

[00:00:05] At the intersection of true crime and real estate, you'll find Crime Estate. I'm Heather. And my name is Elena. As real estate agents and true crime junkies, we view crimes through a different lens. So walk through the door of some of the most notorious true crimes with us and discover how sometimes the scene of the crime has its own story to tell. Well, hey, y'all. Thanks for joining us on another episode of Crime Estate. I'm Heather,

[00:00:31] and I'm joined as always by my fabulous co-host Elena and of course our friend, producer, and commentator Melanie. Hey, ladies. Happy Friday. Yay, Friday. You look beautiful. Cheers. I love that. Thank you. Well, we've got like fake spring here right now. It's what? It's the first week of February and it's been 80 degrees. So nice. Yeah. I like it. And we came in with matching lipstick today. How did we? I know. It's so weird. And it's like not a usual color for either one of us. I know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

[00:00:58] If you want to know what you're talking about, if you guys want to see what we're talking about, they can, you guys can go check us out on our new YouTube channel. Yeah. At Crime Estate. I know. It's really original. Yeah. You really knocked yourself out on that one. I mean, I thought long and hard. So yeah, I think we've been trying to get this video stuff working for what? All year. Since the beginning of the year. Basically, yeah. Yeah. And it seems like every week we have trouble. So we'll see what the snafu throws us this week. But for right now, all the cameras are working.

[00:01:28] So we'll see. We'll see. Don't jinx us. Yeah. Knock on wood. Okay. Today, though, we are traveling very far away from Texas. We're going to be talking about a story in Alaska. And I started thinking, did I ask you to come up with a story about Alaska recently? Definitely. Maybe. I feel like I challenged you and then I came up with a story. You challenged me to come up with a story about something that was covered in the National Enquirer. Oh, yeah. I'm still waiting on that one.

[00:01:56] Yeah. You definitely did that one. No, I think we were talking about just different states that we loosely try and find stories that represent different states, different types of homes, different types of, unfortunately, victims, different types of crimes. So we're always aiming for a variety to keep you on the toes. But I think that's when we were talking about Alaska. Yeah. Before we dive into this episode, though, I do want to caution. Today's episode contains

[00:02:26] some mentions of a suicide attempt or a potential suicide attempt. So if that's something that's a hard topic for you, I would say, say goodbye to this episode. Come back and join us again later. Protect your mental health at all costs. Thank you for that. Yeah, of course. Okay. So today we're traveling all the way to the southernmost city of Alaska, the town of Ketchikan. Because Mel has traveled everywhere. Have either of you been to Alaska? I feel like you know the answer to that.

[00:02:53] Yeah. No, you haven't. But it's in the United States. I know, but can you only get there by ship? No, you can fly. Okay. Do we need to edit that question out? Well, no, but friends, is it like part of the experience getting to Alaska on a cruise? Because I feel like a lot of people, when they go, a cruise is a big part of getting there. I think there are lots of parts of Alaska you can only see by ship or like see well by ship. Right.

[00:03:22] But yes, guess what? There are airplanes. Well, I know there's airplanes. They say Air Alaska. I know that, but I thought- Alaska Airlines. Oh, whatever. I thought, well, maybe that's like a big part of going to Alaska is this cruise that I would never get on. But maybe, yeah. No, I've not been, but maybe I would go. You know, I actually have not been to Alaska. My parents went a couple of years ago and they had a great time. And yes, they did take a cruise from Vancouver because it is very popular to take

[00:03:50] the cruise. And honestly, I would like to. I have nothing against it. I think it looks really fun. It's just not, I feel like that's something I could do maybe when I'm a little bit older, if I had grandchildren or like do it with extended family members. But yeah, no, I would love to go to Alaska. Growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was Northern Exposure. I sort of want to go back and start that over.

[00:04:16] Oh, it's on something like either Netflix or something because we have watched a few of them. You know, and funny enough, there's a lot of similarities with this storyline. Oh, really? Okay. That I did not know. Yeah. Well, if you recall, it is a story about a New York doctor who had gotten some sort of grant to go to medical school. And part of it was that he needed to go to this small town and be the only

[00:04:43] doctor in town, you know, kind of in exchange for his, you know, medical school tuition. And so he was, it was like a fish out of water kind of story in a small town with lots of randomness and a lot of random characters. So I don't understand. Maybe a little bit of analogy to this. So interestingly enough, ladies, it is an Alaskan cruise that introduced Dr. Eric Garcia to the beauty

[00:05:09] of Alaska. Originally from Puerto Rico, Dr. Garcia loved to travel and he discovered a love for Alaska during one of his trips. So several years later, when a medical recruiter called him, sort of like Mel said, looking for a doctor in this small town, he jumped on the opportunity and he moved from our own great state of Texas to the wilds of Alaska, where he would end up being one of only two surgeons in the town of about 8,000 people.

[00:05:37] Wow. That's very cool. And if you don't know where, catch a can. Catch a can. Like, sort of like catch me if you can. Catch a can. Okay. Was like me. I looked it up and as you mentioned, it is at the very southeast portion of the state near Canada along the waterfront. Like, so when you think of that big, I don't know, mitt hand of Alaska, it's actually not on that.

[00:06:02] It's on like the skinny little part that is Huxley, the coast of Canada, the very, very south. Still really, really far away from us, but it is kind of the most southernmost city. And I had only heard of it before when my parents had been going on Alaska cruise. And I think this is like the first stop. So if you're taking a cruise from Vancouver or Seattle north, this is like typically the first

[00:06:27] stop along the way because as you're going northbound. But it looked really kind of very picturesque. Very much so. Yeah. And Dr. Garcia's friends and family said he loved living there. It provided him with this opportunity to make like a really good impact. But also he sort of got to be like a big fish in a small pond, you know. And his generosity and kind-hearted personality quickly

[00:06:53] allowed him to become a beloved resident of the town, not just serving the town, but also all of those in its community as well. And so all seemed to be good for about eight years. He sounds delightful. He really does. And like every picture you see of him, he's just smiling and the smiles coming from his eyes. Remember during COVID when we were like, smile with your eyes. He definitely did smile with his eyes.

[00:07:17] I read one kind of description of things he had done that there were a lot of Spanish-speaking residents, which I thought was interesting that, you know, but I guess migrants who have come over from work, you know, some people from Mexico, and they loved him because one, he could speak Spanish to them, which is probably pretty unusual in Alaska. And there was times that he would pay for their medication if they could not pay for it. So he really did seem like just an all-around good guy.

[00:07:46] He was. And of course, because it's crime estate, we have to talk about the house that Dr. Garcia bought in Ketchikan at 717 Summit Terrace. Now, ladies, this property was built in 1995 and was a spacious both on the interior and the exterior. It had over 3,200 square feet inside and sat on a little more than half acre that back to like this really heavily treed area. And it had views of the water from

[00:08:16] an inlet off the Gulf of Alaska. And so for full disclosure, like there is an amazing 2020 episode on the story. They, if you want to dig in deeper after we finish our podcast, definitely go back and watch that. But they were showing his house and it had all these views of water. So I had to like go to Google Maps and pull out. I was like, well, what body of water is that? You know, I'm not familiar with the coast in Alaska.

[00:08:43] And for those of you who are not watching us via YouTube right now, I'm actually showing up on the screen a picture of the house. And I mean, at least in this nice weather here, looks beautiful with lots of tall trees around it, like, you know, 360 degree views. And honestly, Heather, I don't know if you saw, but in the picture you found, there's like a little cruise ship in the far, in the inlet. Yeah, you're absolutely right. You're long about cruises. There's a lot of cruises in Alaska. So it wasn't such a stupid comment after all, was it?

[00:09:13] Okay, it wasn't a stupid comment. It was just the way he said, the only way there is by what I asked. I will say though, that might be the only way I go because I don't do small planes. Oh, that's right. And I do feel like you have to take little puddle jumpers and like helicopters or... Like to Anchorage, you could go big, but you're right, probably small planes after that. But I also had read that one of the previous inhabitants of the home, owner of the home, was the commander of the local, the Coast Guard. Oh, really? That's a fun fact. I know.

[00:09:42] You know what I want to say right now, don't you? I know, I know. I do. When I was looking at previous people who lived at this house and that made sense because this is actually a very nice house in a town of 8,000 people. So, you know, it's usually people who probably have a little bit more collateral that were probably able to afford this house. Yeah. I mean, it's a really charming home. It's two stories and it sort of has like this light blue-green siding, a peaked roof, and a red front door. And I have a fun fact for

[00:10:12] y'all. Did you know that in early American history, a red front door indicated that travelers were welcome to spend the night? And red doors also indicated homes involved in the Underground Railroad potentially where fleeing slaves knew they could be safe. So it's no surprise that like a lot of colonial style homes we see in the Northeast, which would have been built around that time period, often have a red front door. That's a good one. I like that one fact. Yeah. I love that. Did you know it before? No.

[00:10:41] Okay, good. I love that too. So the house, like we said that Dr. Garcia bought, was large. It had three bedrooms, over 3,200 square feet. And that does seem like a lot of house for a single man. But it's actually what Dr. Garcia needed as he was an avid collector of expensive liquors, of gold and silver, of high-end watches, and many other things. Saul, now who's Dr. Garcia's brother, said that their father also collected gold and silver

[00:11:09] coins when they were young. And so it was just sort of like a tradition that he kept. Nice. His realtor, Bobby Jackson. Bobby Jackson. Bobby Jackson. Gotta always love when we can do a sharp call out to the realtor. Who is featured prominently on the 2020 episode. I should have reached out to him. Maybe I'll send him this episode after. Oh, I love it. Yeah. Because I really love him. He helped him move his valuables from his rental to the house on

[00:11:38] Summit Terrace when he purchased it. And he said that he had so much gold and silver in the back of his car that it like weighted down his car and it like drove low. Oh my gosh. Can you imagine? That's nuts. Like he helped. Like he didn't like set up movers. Dang. Have you ever done that? Um, I've never carded gold and silver. Have what about helping a client move? Have you done that? Well, yeah, sure. Of course you have. Oh, you're asking me? Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes.

[00:12:05] I have no doubt that you'd be like, I will be there on Saturday morning. Yes. And every time I'm like, don't please refer me, but don't tell anyone I helped you with this. Like every time. I know. But I just know you, you're always like, yep, I'll do it. I'll do it. Oh, yes. I mean, we are not advertising either of your services directly through this podcast. But let me make no mistake that, well, Heather, you are go above and beyond. But Aleda, like I've

[00:12:35] heard some of the stories of things that you've done to like help clean up people's homes. I mean, you, you. Gotta get it done, right? You gotta get it done. Elbow grease. A lot of elbow grease. Is that Annette Bening quote? Oh, yeah. You know, when she's holding the open house and what is that? American Beauty? American Beauty, yeah. She's like, I will sell this house today. Yes, yeah. But also I do want to point out that if it were just me having to do it, I'd be like, uh-uh, but I take Aaron with me. Your husband is like the best. I mean, he's got so many roles in your life.

[00:13:05] Like, you know, he's got a day-to-day job, but then he's, yeah. Wow. We're getting a little background noise here. It's my dog, like, scratching his ear and his foot is hitting the floor, but it does sort of sound like the house is shaking. Yeah, it's okay. I thought someone was knocking on the front door. Okay, wow. All right. So we're going back to Bob. Oh, wait, I do have a story. What? I have not helped a client move. Okay.

[00:13:32] I will stage a house. I will cart stuff in. I will cart my furnishings and decor back. Right. I don't like to move. Yeah. I don't really want to help you move. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm getting old. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. Okay. Eyeballs are rolling right there. Okay. Because if you're old, that means I'm old. He's old. But anyway, I did show up. This has been years ago. We're supposed to close on this house at like two o'clock. I have the cellars. I go over at like nine o'clock. It had been contentious. I think

[00:14:02] they were getting a divorce, like all the things. I go over that morning. I don't even know why I went over. Maybe because I had a feeling something was going to go wrong. And I show up and the house is still full of stuff. And, you know, it wasn't their fault. They were in the middle of like, their mind space was not in a packing space. Right. But I called my girlfriend who had like a massive SUV and I was like, I need you to come here right now. Yeah. And so. Was it Casey? It was. I figured so. You know it was. Casey's the best.

[00:14:32] Shocking. You always call Casey an emergency. And sure enough, we like loaded and loaded and loaded and we had to push by a couple hours, but we got it done. Wow. Yeah. Were they so grateful? I hope so. I mean, I've sold them several more houses over the years. Not together. Not together. Okay, good. No. And maybe never again if we listen to this podcast. I don't know. Try to be vague, right?

[00:14:57] Okay. Let me go back to see where we were in the story. So we're talking about Bobby. We love Bobby the realtor. And I think they sort of ended up becoming very good friends. Nice. I love when that happens. And I want to put a pin in that friendship and I want you guys to remember that. Okay. Because I think it comes into play later in the story. Got it. And with that being said, I think it's a good time to pause and just thank today's show sponsor, Baller Mom Kitchen.

[00:15:27] Yes. Thank you so much for turning us on to this service, Heather. And now our local Dallas listeners can try out this healthy and yummy meal delivery service too. As today's show sponsor, Baller Mom Kitchens is offering our listeners 10% off their first order of $50 or more. You will definitely want to check this out. Absolutely. Love Baller Mom's owner. Love Baller Mom's food. It's such a win-win. So please go ahead to ballermomkitchen.com and place your order today.

[00:15:53] Yeah. All you have to do is use our discount code at checkout, crime estate. That's two words. So ballermomkitchen.com and enter crime estate when you check out. All right. So back to our story. On the week of March 17th, 2017, Dr. Garcia was headed to a medical conference in Vegas. You'd go there, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Great. Now, according to his friend, Don Hicks, it was a trip he looked forward to every year and they would like text back and forth pretty regularly while he was on the trip. I mean,

[00:16:23] we all do this, right? It's like, oh, I'm here. Like, look at this picture. You'll never believe what I saw or who I talked to. And so when it goes a couple days and she hasn't heard from him, she's like, that's sort of weird, right? But unbeknownst to Don and his other friends and colleagues, Dr. Garcia actually never made the flight to the conference. So a few days later, this other friend,

[00:16:51] Jordan Joplin, he actually calls the Ketchikan police from his own home in Washington State. And he says, hey, can you go out and like do a welfare check on my friend? You know, I haven't heard from him, et cetera, et cetera. He goes ahead and tells him like, hey, he was supposed to leave for this work conference, but he hasn't heard from him. So the police go to the house on Summit Terrace. And when they arrive, they don't really see anything unusual. There isn't a car in the driveway and there's like fresh snow around the property. So they're able to tell that like a tire track

[00:17:20] hasn't pulled out. The things you can learn in places with snow that you can't learn here, right? It's like, oh yeah, nobody's left this house in days because there are no tire tracks. There are no... Clever. Yeah. So they're like, this looks exactly like a house should look when somebody's on vacation or on a trip. And so they just report that like nothing, nothing's missed. That's nothing right. Not sure what you want us to do. Like there's no reason for us to explore this further. He was supposed to be gone. So his office knew that he was going to be gone.

[00:17:50] Exactly. So nobody had any reason to suspect that he was missing other than maybe a friend who would have been talking to him in a different manner. Although his colleagues do sort of think it's odd that he isn't texting them either. Apparently he was like very on top of like, hey, I need you to do this. Like, you know, so they were like, yes, they didn't expect him to be in the office, but they also like sort of had a red flag go up that it was weird that he wasn't communicating with them. And after several days of not hearing

[00:18:19] from them, his mom actually calls that friend of the doctor's Don Hicks and ask her to go by the house and just like make sure everything's okay. So she does. She drives by the house. She also doesn't see anything unusual. And then she has this great idea. She's like, well, let me just drive by the airport and see if his truck is there. And sure enough, it is. And so... I have to pause you. This just goes to show you how small Ketchikan is, that you're driving by an airport to see if

[00:18:47] someone's car is there. I mean, like, you know, it's like driving by your house. Oh, is there a car in the driveway? I mean, if we drove DFW to see if somebody's car was there, we would be there for days. I'd drive to Southwest to look for y'all. I'd drive to Love Field. But you wouldn't drive to DFW? I mean, it depends on the time of day. Well, it would take you a while to find our cars. Well, true. And there's probably a lot of our cars there, you know. So I just thought that was a cute statement that they were trying to drive around the airport to see if a truck is there.

[00:19:17] And when she sees it there, she's like, okay, well, let's not be alarmist. I'm putting these words in her mouth, by the way. But this is what I assume she's thinking. Like, there's a thousand reasons why you wouldn't be texting with people while you're in Vegas. Like, maybe you dropped your phone in the Bellagio fountain. Like, you know, you're supposed to be gone. Your truck is where it says it is. Like, once you don't show up after you're supposed to be back, then we'll be really worried. But for now, I'm just going to assume everything's okay and something crazy has happened, right? Maybe you met someone. Exactly.

[00:19:47] So after a full 10 days, though, of not hearing from him when he doesn't return, his friends and family just can't, like, let it go any longer. And so once again, Jordan Joplin calls the Ketchikan police. And he tells them that no one's heard from Dr. Garcia in 10 days. And he asks once again if they can go check on the house. Now, Jordan also tells them, like, hey, I have a set of keys.

[00:20:10] I'm happy to fly up and, like, let you into the house. And so that's what he does. And look, this is a small town and word travels fast that the police are going to go and check on the house and enter it, you know, just to make sure the doctor's okay. And so by the time Jordan arrives with his girlfriend and pulls into the driveway on Summit Terrace in Dr. Garcia's red Ford pickup truck, by the way, Don Hicks and realtor Bobby Jackson are both present in the driveway.

[00:20:39] They're driving the doctor's truck? Jordan is. Okay. So not only, so just to highlight the weirdness of this, Jordan lives in, like, Seattle. Right. He flies with his girlfriend to Alaska. And as much as you and I think, oh, that's not that, that's close. No. Seattle and Alaska are still, yeah, there's a country, Canada, in between the two of them. And he has keys to the house, but also keys to the car.

[00:21:09] Yeah. And goes to get the car out of the airport parking lot. Yeah. And we aren't the only ones to think this is weird. Like, the investigators ask him about it. And he's like, well, yeah, I just, like, I got it. I got to the airport. The truck was there. I just got it and drove it here. Now, unfortunately, ladies, and I think this is probably where you think the story is going, when the police enter the house, they find Dr. Garcia deceased on his couch.

[00:21:35] It's clear to them that he has been dead for several days, but there are no apparent signs of foul play. However, they do find a couple of things at the scene that are incredibly odd. First, they find an open package of bacon on the coffee table next to Dr. Garcia. Random. Very.

[00:21:53] In his hand, they find a partially burned charcoal briquette, and it's like he's laying on the couch, and the ash from the briquette has, like, left a stain on his white T-shirt. Beyond that odd set of items, when they entered the house, they noticed that it was freezing, and for good reason. When they reached the living room, his back door to the deck was wide open, and the grill had been pulled right up next to the back door with its lid up as if somebody was about to barbecue.

[00:22:22] Now, a further search of the property showed that all of the smoke detectors had been removed from the ceilings, leaving only the wiring sticking out of the base of the ceiling. You're just like, yeah, you're shaking your head. So, police protocol ensues. Dr. Garcia's body is removed and taken to the medical examiner's office, and after a further search of the property, the police are, like, ready to close up the house, you know, put the crime tape around it, and finish their investigation elsewhere.

[00:22:49] And this is when the doctor's realtor pipes up and wants to make sure that the police set the alarm so that all of Dr. Garcia's valuables are safe when they leave. Go realtors! Always got to set that alarm. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is, like, the first time the police have heard of these valuables. And they turn to Jordan and are like, hey, you're here a lot, apparently. Like, you have a set of keys to the house. Where would these valuables be?

[00:23:18] Like, let's check on them before we lock up. And he's like, I don't know what you're talking about, valuables. But when they press him, he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There is this closet, and I have a key to that, too. Let me open it for you. Now, Don tells investigators that the fact that Jordan has these keys is really odd. She said Dr. Garcia only had one set of keys to his house and that he wouldn't have given Jordan another set. That is weird because he lived in Seattle.

[00:23:47] Why would – it's like a neighbor having a set of your keys. Right. And a set of keys to the car and, like, the valuables. Like, it's not just the house. It's, like, all of your keys. Right. How many people do you think have keys to your house? I think three. Three. Okay. I'm not sure anybody does anymore. Like, we used to – like, a couple of our neighbors and my mother-in-law. So I guess my mother-in-law probably still has a key to the house.

[00:24:15] But because now we have a code. Mm-hmm. The codes help. Yeah. So it's actually kind of – I mostly use the code to get in and out of my house nowadays. What about you? I think, like, four or five. Okay. You know, because my parents come and stay a lot. So they have one. Mm-hmm. And a couple of girlfriends. Mm-hmm. And my housekeeper. And your husband. Well, yeah. Okay. And my son. Less than 10. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. But having only one set is actually sort of weird.

[00:24:44] Like, I would think somebody would have just a house key in case there was an emergency. Right. And it sounds like Don might have been that friend or Bobby. Mm-hmm. And neither of them had a key either. You can always trust a realtor with a key, by the way. Mm-hmm. Like – Very good with keys. Very good with keys. Let me say, you know, if I was to be giving keys to people, it's not to somebody out of state. Mm-hmm. Right. You're doing it for the quick emergency, like, oh, hey. I left out or – Yeah. I left the iron on.

[00:25:13] Can you X, Y, Z? Yeah. All right. So when investigators open this locked closet of valuables, they find that it has been ransacked. There isn't any gold or silver. His 20-plus high-end watches are gone. And only a few bottles of valuable liquor remain. And now they're pretty certain at this point this is a crime and not, like, a heart attack or a suicide. Because remember, when they got there, like, there were no signs of foul play. So they're like, did he just pass away in his sleep? Was he sitting here?

[00:25:44] Mm-hmm. And did he have a massive heart attack? Or did he, you know, take some pills and induce suicide? Like, we don't know. Right. But we're not – there's no gunshot wound or knife wound or anything like that. But when they realize he's been robbed, that sort of changes the trajectory of their investigation. But Jordan suggests he's like, well, maybe he was planning a suicide and he just decided to give all of his valuables away before his death. He did, after all, Jordan say, set me up to be the power of attorney recently. So maybe he had been planning all of this.

[00:26:14] Oh, interesting. But no one besides Jordan felt like the doctor was depressed or in a suicidal state and said that, yes, while he was generous, like, he often gave people items. And to Mel's point, like, he would pay for people's care and medicine. Committing suicide was out of character for him. And additionally, Dawn is perplexed by the grill on the back patio. I love this. She says, Dr. Garcia didn't even pick up his own dry cleaning. Like, he was not the type of guy that would fire up a grill and, like, make himself food.

[00:26:42] He would have outsourced that problem. Sounds like you. I know. I love them so much. And so police think, like, he's recently given somebody power of attorney and then he passes away under suspicious circumstances. Like, big red flags all around. So they decide to continue their investigation by searching Dr. Garcia's red pickup truck. And this is when the story takes a crazy turn. Quick question. Just want to make sure. So Jordan was the first one to contact police. Correct. Okay.

[00:27:12] Yeah. All right. Even though he lived in Washington State. Right. Okay. Now, in the glove compartment of Dr. Garcia's truck, if I could speak, investigators find a key piece of evidence that will unravel the mystery of what happened to Dr. Garcia and his treasures. First, they found a receipt from a shipping company which notes that they have shipped 4,400 plus pounds of items to Washington. So they go straight to the shipping company.

[00:27:38] And on surveillance video, they see Jordan loading up plastic tub after plastic tub into these shipping containers. All in all, Elena, he makes four different trips in Dr. Garcia's truck with these containers to load them. Oh, my gosh. This, paired with a Walmart receipt that they found in Dr. Garcia's kitchen trash can, showed a purchase for plastic bins and totes, just like what had been loaded into the storage containers.

[00:28:07] And so they're thinking, like, at this point, somebody has come up with a step-by-step plan to steal from and murder Dr. Garcia. Interestingly enough, this trip to Walmart actually came up when authorities had interviewed Jordan initially. And he was like, yeah, on my last trip here, Dr. Garcia and I went to Walmart. So he, you know, he admits that he's been there. But he doesn't think about Walmart having all of their security videos. And so they're able to go back and find video of him while he's at Walmart purchasing these bins.

[00:28:37] Dr. Garcia is not with him. And he's just, like, casually walking through the store, loading it up, smiling to the, like, cashier. The cashier actually has to help him out to his car. He buys so many bins. Wow. And he also buys a thing of charcoal while he's there. So things are not looking good for him. And at this point in the investigation, like, everything's happening really quickly, right?

[00:29:01] And the team of investigators that were tasked with, like, looking at the shipping containers learns that these have – they've already left for Alaska on a big ship. Shipping containers, that makes sense, right? On a barge. That's what they call it. Not a big ship. A barge. And they're on their way to Washington State. So authorities hop on a plane. They head to Washington State in order to intercept the crates full of Dr. Garcia's valuables before anybody else can get to them.

[00:29:26] And so they're talking with the manager of the, you know, the port authority or wherever these containers end up. And they decide to concoct a ruse in order to get Jordan Joplin to come to them. And so the manager calls him. And apparently Jordan had been like, hey, is the stuff here yet? Is the stuff here yet? And so they had been in contact. So he calls them and he's like, hey, the stuff's here, but there's a problem. I really need you to come in so I can talk to you about it.

[00:29:51] But like sort of indicating that maybe stuff had been damaged or, you know, lost. Like who knows? So Jordan shows up. And instead of finding the manager there to talk to him, he finds authorities waiting to arrest him for theft and the murder of Dr. Garcia. Good. And now that Jordan Joplin has been arrested, they execute a search warrant on his home. And when they show up, they find a fiance at his house.

[00:30:17] I should note this is a different woman that showed up with him when he arrived in Ketchikan to open the door for the police. Right? Oh, we've got a little dog barking in the background. Sorry, guys. And so when his fiance was questioned about Jordan's relationship with Dr. Garcia, she told him that Jordan had told her the doctor was dying. He was terminally ill. And so he was going on like a regular basis just to check on his friend and take care of him.

[00:30:44] And so, yes, they feel very confident at this point in pursuing theft charges against Jordan Joplin. But they're still sort of unsure of how and why Dr. Garcia died. So a further search of the home found more evidence to incriminate Jordan and Dr. Garcia's murder. First, and maybe most importantly, and so stupid of him, they found a video on Jordan's phone from March 17th.

[00:31:09] It sadly showed Dr. Garcia gasping for air as he laid on the same couch where police found him 10 days later. He was laying in the same position and wearing the same clothes as the police found him in as well. They also found Dr. Garcia's phone in a Faraday bag. Now, I had to look that up. Do either of you know what that is? Uh-uh. Mel, did you? Okay. So essentially, like a Faraday bag is something that blocks transmissions.

[00:31:35] So, you know, you can't tell when it's receiving a signal. It can't send a signal. Okay. So, I mean. I don't know why you wouldn't just turn it off. Yeah. Yeah. I would think you could turn it off, but maybe. Maybe just because I work for the telephone company does not mean I know all things. Phone related? Yes. Well, I think they use it for other things, not just phones. I mean, things that you like maybe can't turn. I don't know. Like you can buy them on Amazon. So they're a thing, but.

[00:32:05] I feel like we can use this our next trivia night, you know. There you go. Yeah. Also in the bag, they found Dr. Garcia's wallet and his ID. And it's about this time that the toxicology report comes back on Dr. Garcia and investigators finally know what killed him. The report reveals that Dr. Garcia died of an overdose of morphine. But again, that's sort of odd because the medical examiner didn't find any like needle marks on Dr. Garcia's body.

[00:32:32] So they determined that he must have actually ingested the morphine, which is like not really how you take morphine. Right. The toxicology. Ugh. I've not even had a full glass of wine. Absolutely. Moly. The toxicology report also showed that his blood had elevated levels of carbon monoxide 4% over the normal limit. No, I'm sorry. That's not right. That's what I wrote, but that's not right.

[00:33:00] It was four times the normal limit, which makes a lot more sense. 4% over is not really dramatic. Yeah. Still sounds bad. Yeah. I don't know. I feel like 4% is not deadly. Deadly. Four times? Deadly. So now, here's the investigator's working theory. Someone arrived at Dr. Garcia's home, and somehow they're not really sure how they got Dr. Garcia to ingest this morphine. Maybe in his drink or in like some food or something.

[00:33:29] And at that point, the perpetrator sets up the grill, removes the smoke detectors so that it either looks like a suicide attempt, or so that the carbon monoxide kills the doctor in case the morphine doesn't. Because again, if you're ingesting it, you're not taking it like you normally would, so you're not sure how the body's going to respond. And just as you think the case against Jordan Joplin really can't get any weirder or more obvious,

[00:33:53] investigators who are following the money, as they say, discover several transfers to a Logan Cruz. Well, who the hell is Logan Cruz? Right? Great question. What they know is, and they remember at this point, they're like, oh yeah, when we got that first welfare check call, Jordan told the operator, he was like, everyone calls me Logan.

[00:34:17] In fact, Elena, Logan Cruz is a stage name that Jordan used while, any guesses why he would need a stage name? Acting? Perhaps, yes. Maybe a variation of acting? Oh. I mean, he was apparently very popular on sites such as SeanCody.com and Bromo.com, both of which are considered to be very popular gay porn sites.

[00:34:45] I did type them in, but I was really worried that like something would happen to my computer. I mean, I didn't go any further than just verifying what the sites were. I didn't even click on the link. But I was like, this is creepy. And then I'm like, is it going to show up in like our family browser history? Oh gosh, you're like mad at your son. You're like, where are you looking at these? Yeah, Bromo.com. Oh, poor. I don't think that's where he'd be looking. Oh, right. Well, yeah, I never know. But that's really bizarre. Yeah. Two fiancés and now he's on a gay porn site.

[00:35:15] Uh-huh. Okay. Yep. Now, in another crazy coincidence, Saul, who remembers Dr. Garcia's brother, he flies to Ketchikan right after he learns of his brother's death. And he ends up staying a while. And he says that one day he's talking to his brother like spiritually. You know, he's in the house. He's like, hey, buddy, we really need some help here to like cinch up this investigation. Close it up. Like, we got to figure out exactly what happened. And not long after, Saul takes a walk.

[00:35:45] And as he's walking, he's like walking over this beautiful bridge. They show it on the 2020 episode. You guys should go watch it. And he just happens to look to his left and he sees like several white discs down in the brush. And what is it? Oh, it's the missing smoke detectors from Dr. Garcia's house. And investigators are able to like match the serial number from these discs to the plates in Dr. Garcia's house and verify that like, yeah. Wow.

[00:36:12] So it's like, okay, if there was a possibility that he was committing suicide and he wanted to take down these smoke detectors, he's not going to go all the way like out to this ravine and try to throw them away. He doesn't care what happens to him. So anyway, it's just like one more nail in the coffin of good old Jordan Joplin. And so ultimately, here's what they piece together has happened. So a few years earlier, Dr. Garcia actually had a triple bypass.

[00:36:42] And his brother said it caused him to sort of fall into a bit of a depression and like really reevaluate his life as like totally. That's a thing that happens. And that's about the time that Dr. Garcia met Jordan, who was working at a massage parlor in Washington State. Now, Dr. Garcia had always been very private about his personal life. And his brother said that while he dated some in their youth, that a partnership with another man would have been really hard for him to discuss with their parents.

[00:37:08] And so, you know, he continued to explore relationships after this newfound lease on life, but stayed pretty private about them with his friends and his family. Indeed, investigators found cards and notes and love letters from Dr. Garcia to Jordan in Jordan's house, the one he lived in with his fiance. And they also found love notes from Jordan to Dr. Garcia in the house that Dr. Garcia lived in.

[00:37:34] Now, one of Jordan's friends, Amanda Polreich, described Dr. Garcia as Jordan's sugar daddy and told investigators that she gave Jordan the morphine months prior to Dr. Garcia's death. And he asked her. I can't even wrap my head around this. Like, how much morphine does it take to kill a person? And then she just gives it to him. She just gives it to him. Oh, my God. These are some shady characters, right? Totally.

[00:37:59] I mean, if I asked you for a Xanax, which is more likely than me asking you for a morphine or some morphine, a morphine. And then I was like, well, how many Xanax does it take to kill somebody? Like, would you still give them to me? Oh. No. You would call Melanie or Casey. I would give you one. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, only if it was in the sense of, OK, how much is too much? Like, how do I know?

[00:38:28] Like, you know, can I have to? Oh, I see. I could see. OK, fine. Play devil's advocate. You're right. No, you're right. That's not how she said it to investigators, though. OK. OK. So now their working theory is that Jordan manipulated Dr. Garcia and made it, like, into his circle of trust before giving him this lethal dose of morphine and stealing his valuables collection. And then he called in a welfare check.

[00:38:55] And then he called in a welfare check in order to establish an alibi. In a trial that ensued, Jordan's defense claimed that Dr. Garcia suffered from pain and anxiety and depression and he self-medicated and thus either accidentally gave himself an overdose or he overdosed on purpose in a suicide attempt. Now, when he took the stand, Jordan said that he loved the doctor. What did his fiance have to say about that? I mean, right. Seriously. And his girlfriend. Right. All the people.

[00:39:24] And he claimed that the doctor was about to retire and buy a home in Washington. And that's why he was shipping all of the stuff to Jordan and Washington state. As people that deal with people selling houses and moving stuff, you never move it beforehand. That's crazy. And not just that type of stuff. You would take a larger amount of things. I don't know. Yeah, it's weird. And let's be clear. Like the evidence against Jordan is pretty overwhelming. You have the friend who provided him with the morphine.

[00:39:54] The video showing him shopping for storage tubs without Dr. Garcia. The video showing him loading the tubs into a freight container destined for his own town. You have Dr. Garcia's cell phone wallet and ID all in a bag designed to keep it from being found. And then you have, of course, what I consider to be the smoking gun. The video on Jordan's phone of Dr. Garcia in visible distress and dying on his couch on March 17th. Why would he even take a video of that? Why? Right. I don't know.

[00:40:24] It's horrible. Sick. It is. It is sick. You're absolutely right. I mean, it is horrible and sick, but it's also just stupid. Yeah. Yeah, it is. And somehow it still took the jurors three days to deliberate. But in the end, they did find him guilty of murder and theft. And they sentenced him to 99 years, which is like the longest sentence you can get in Alaska. They don't have the death penalty. And I love what the town did in Dr. Garcia's honor. The hospital planted a memorial tree.

[00:40:51] And his brother Saul says that he wants his brother to be remembered as a compassionate and caring man who helped people not only with medicine, but by connecting to them and being friends with them. And I don't know. I just thought that was like a really lovely tribute to do something that would continue to grow and thrive and be a part of the community that he loved being a part of. That's so sweet. Yeah. But it did make me think, have you all ever like planted something in memory or in honor of someone?

[00:41:21] I've never planted anything, but I remember when my grandmother died, someone sent us, it's some, I think it's like a funeral plant. I don't know what it is, but it blooms forever. And we were able to make different pots for family. Oh, that's not like split it up. Right. Yeah. That's lovely. Yeah. That's a really nice idea. Yeah. No, I have not. When we, so when my son was born, we were in like a little townhouse in the middle of the city. And we moved when he was about 18 months old into what we thought was going to be our forever house and was not.

[00:41:49] But when he turned two, we had a two-year-old tree planted in our front yard. And it's just around the corner from where we are now. And so I get to drive by it and see it. And maybe, gosh, I'm trying to think, maybe it was when he turned 10. I just dropped a little note at the front door of that house, right? And I was like, hey, we lived here. We planted this tree. I would love to take a picture of my son in the front yard on his 10th birthday. Aww. You know, if you see us out there, we're not crazy people. That's who we are.

[00:42:20] And I mean, they didn't shoot at us when we did that. I was thinking it'd be funny if they were like real jerks and like chop the tree down. And I'll show you. Look at you. Awful. I would cry. Like, I'm not a crier. I would bawl. Take a picture in front of the bulk trash. Oh, my God. I'm sad just thinking of that. How much wine did you have before we got here? None. It's my first class. I don't know. I think you're being a little morbid, like sticking to her. You know she's going to be emotional over this tree.

[00:42:51] All right. So do you guys want to know what happened to the house? Yes. Okay. So Saul was the executor of his brother's estate. And he sold the house to a couple in 2017. And from what I can tell, they're still the owners when it was sold in 2017. Mel and I went back and forth a lot on the data and who owned it. I might have done a little bit of Facebook stalking. Like, I think they're still there. And I don't know that it was ever listed publicly. Yeah, because you're right. I look to, and you have access, obviously, to different sites.

[00:43:19] But I was surprised how much I could not find a realtor posting about it. But as we mentioned, I mean, I found records of people who had lived there previously that were fairly notable residents of the community. And I mean, it's a very nice house. So I could see maybe this being off. I don't know. If it's off market, would it work like this? Would you sell a house off market? You're just not going to find, like, links and pictures. When I do my searching, I'm pulling, like, tax records.

[00:43:48] So I can see when it changed, like, when the deed changed to another person. But I think, you know, I think I am personally just hopeful that whoever bought this house loves the community just like he did and brings, like, this new energy back to it. Yeah. I actually showed a house this morning, and the listing agent was there. And she was like, you know, I've done this so long. I can just feel the energy in houses. It's very much a you thing. And she was like, I can walk in before I even look in the closet.

[00:44:18] I can tell if people are getting a divorce or not. Ooh. Wow. Yeah. That's okay. Right. I like that. But that is a good way to know if people are getting a divorce in a house you're looking at. You look in the closets. Yeah. Smart. Very clever. One side sort of cleared out. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's clever. Or you go to my house and you realize there is very little closets. And so all of my husband's stuff are in one of the other bedrooms. Yeah.

[00:44:46] But I mean, that would be normal for a house in your neighborhood, right? The person with the most clothes gets the largest closet in the main bedroom. Yes. All right, ladies. So it is time for the question of every episode. Elena and Melanie, would you live there and would you list it? I don't think I would definitely list it. I don't think I would live there. However, I see why the family still owns the home. They wouldn't want to live there. Right. Yeah.

[00:45:14] But I wouldn't, as an outsider, want to be there. But I would definitely list it. What about you, Melanie? You know, I don't really have any bad juju about this house. Not that I'm nearly as, I don't know, empathetic or pick up on it this way. I guess because he's a nice guy. Mm-hmm. You know, there was not, not to be crude, but it was not a violent, I mean, it was a

[00:45:39] violent death and he was murdered, but not, it was not a, I don't know, bloody death to it. And it also doesn't have any of my trigger areas of like children involved in it. Yeah. I thought there were a lot of parallels in this story. And we've talked in this podcast about how the parallels come up over and over again. But we have the person that was taken advantage of by, you know, a lover.

[00:46:05] We have, it actually reminded me of the one you did recently, Elena, where the kids came into the living room and like saw a dad dying and they just like. Oh, yeah. Kept going. I was like, yeah, I was like, who just videos that and leave? Like there were a lot of, it just felt like there were a lot of similarities in this story. Are there welfare checks? We've had a lot of stories with welfare checks. Yes. I think, I don't know that I could live in the house.

[00:46:31] And I think my problem is that he was there for so long and people kept coming to the house and he was inside. And I just feel like I wish they had taken the next step. I'm not saying they did anything wrong. They followed complete protocol. But it bothers me that he laid there without assistance and without the dignity that he deserved. Right. And I think that would just upset me.

[00:46:57] But I'm thrilled that there's another family in the home that's giving it new good energy. And I would list it, of course. Right. But only with Bobby. Bobby and I would be a team. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Bobby. Bobby. So going back to the parallels, there was the bacon that reminded me of the story that we did where there was a slab of bacon left where someone was murdered. That was like an old one, right? Yeah. That was like a one. Yeah. Right. They left a slab of bacon. Yeah.

[00:47:26] That was like a very specific detail. Right. Of that story that there was bacon out. Yeah. So weird. And then I want to know what the deal is with the grill. Did that ever come out? The charcoal in the grill? Well, I think it was twofold. I think it was one, an attempt to make it look like a suicide. Like he had died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Oh, okay. But then I think the flip side of that was maybe he didn't know how much morphine it would

[00:47:53] take to kill him if he was ingesting it as opposed to like shooting it into a, like, I don't know. Do you shoot that into a vein? Probably not. Medical. No, probably. I don't know. Usually you get it with a needle somehow. Yeah. And so if that wasn't enough to kill him, then the carbon monoxide would like take over after he was passed out. Oh, I understand now. Yeah. And he was just holding the briquette just like for dramatic purposes. I mean, who knows? I don't know why he had the briquette.

[00:48:22] Did he put it in his hand? Like, probably. He probably put it in his hand after he started the fire and let it burn down. I think we got to acknowledge the fact that Jordan Joplin was not the smartest criminal here. I mean, like, you got to imagine, I think what he was probably trying to do was trying to falsify, make sure he looked like he was dying of carbon myoxic poisoning and that

[00:48:50] maybe he was giving him a little bit of morphine to make him a little drowsy. I don't know. I think you're right. And he probably didn't expect that there would be a toxicology test thinking that he had set it up to look like a suicide. Like, that's what investigators would think. And so they probably wouldn't even. Right. Although I think every doctor would think that, okay, I saw a picture of this grill. I mean, it's like a small grill. I mean, you know, let's be honest now. It just seems like very odd, like very suspect.

[00:49:20] I mean, this is a 3200, you know, house. Well, and here's the thing, not to be morbid, but if you were really going to commit suicide by carbon monoxide from a grill, you would bring it inside and shut the door. Yes. Like any doctor would know that. But Jordan didn't do that because he was afraid he'd burn the house down. And then that's not really a suicide, you know, like, or maybe he didn't give it that much thought. And he had to get out of town. Right. Because if he was there in town, I'm sure there was records of him being there in town.

[00:49:49] So he had to get out of town, like he had been visiting his friend who was, you know, quote unquote dying and go back to Seattle and then give it enough time so that he would call and make it seem. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That's weird. All right. Well, we hope that you all found this episode as interesting as apparently we did, as we're going to continue to think on it and figure out what Jordan did wrong. I mean, we know what he did wrong, but like why he did not commit a smarter crime.

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[00:51:40] of life we're in and that's why we also have time to podcast because nobody's around here. Yeah. Bye. Bye guys. We'll see you next week. Hey y'all. Thanks for listening and being a part of our crime estate family. If you're curious about today's featured crime estate, you can find additional photos and details from today's episode online at crimeestate.com or on Facebook and Instagram by following at crimeestatepodcast. Have a crime estate we should cover? Let us know.

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