Houston – A murder mystery almost 27 years old.
A mother’s plea for answers and justice for the murder of her 14-year-old daughter.
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A case she hopes is ‘Solvable.’
KPRC’s Zach Lashway shares the story of Erica Garica.
What happened to 14-year-old Erica Garcia?
Margarita Garcia contacted KPRC’s ‘Solvable’ team for help after seeing that we are digging into cold cases in the area. Zach Lashway talked with her about the horrific way her daughter was murdered.
Nearly 27 years after a 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered, her body left in an abandoned hospital, the teen’s mother is searching desperately for answers. Zach talked with Margarita Garcia, the mother of Erica Garcia.
“She was raped. She was beaten. She was strangled with her own underclothes,” said Margarita Garcia. “She had a horrible death.”
Erica’s body was left at the very entrance of a hospital. At the time, Alief General Hospital along Bellaire Boulevard was shuttered.
“They took that plywood off and entered through one of the doors of the emergency entry, I believe. The security guard who was supposedly patrolling the area at the time noticed that one of the plywood had been down. He went to check, and he found her there.”
It’s those details that haunt Margarita, not knowing how her 7th-grade girl, who just made the cheerleading squad at Sharpstown Middle School, was never to be heard after June 6, 1997.
“She called me at 11:45 that night, and I remember I’ll never forget it, because it was storming that night really bad. And she told me that she was on her way home, and I told her. I asked her, ‘Do you want me to go pick you up?’ She said, ‘No, mom, I’m on my way home.’ That was the last time I heard a voice.”
Margarita says Erica had gone out to a teenage club that Friday night. From there, Margarita says she was told Erica went to an apartment complex and then a club at the corner of Boone Road and Bellaire Boulevard.
“Nobody knows who she left with. Nobody knows what car she got in.”
“If you could get one extra minute with her, what would you say?” Zach asked.
“To give me a sign... some type of sign on who did it. I feel that it was more than one person. Just give me a sign... something,” Margarita said. “It doesn’t matter what she was in or who she was, she was a human being, she was my daughter, and she was murdered.”
Margarita says her sister, Erica’s aunt, spends holidays, Mother’s Day, and Erica’s birthday year after year at her final resting place. She says she feels comforted when visiting.
Erica would have just turned 41 years old this month. Margarita says she longs for the day she can visit her daughter’s grave and plant flowers in peace knowing the person responsible for her daughter’s death will be held accountable.
If you have any information on Erica’s unsolved murder, reach out to H-P-D or Houston Crime Stoppers.
If you have a case you want us to investigate, email us at solvable@KPRC.com.
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