TX TX - Emily Garcia, 15, pregnant, Canyon Lake, 12 Feb 1993

Det. Ward behaviors seems SO odd and strange. He seems to be actively work AGAINST finding the truth...

After posting that info here last night, I was going through the family's website (still condensing and transcribing) and found a 3rd comment about Ward blocking progress. I'm on about page 19 or 20 right now.

Regarding Tugela's info about the procedures that are followed to allow others to investigate.....

This is JMO, but I get the impression that the family feels there may be a complete bypassing of these requirements due to others working together to make sure Ward gets to "keep his case", or due to incompetence/apathy. It's just an impression I get from reading between the lines, I haven't seen the family say anything like that outright, and I could be completely wrong.

As an example tho, in the girl's case mentioned above (Heidi Seeman), a cold San Antonio area case around the same time as Emily's, the FBI and Texas Rangers were also working on it. Apparently Emily's family have asked for FBI and Texas Rangers to help in Emily's case but they are not being permitted. There could be legal reasons, rather than nefarious reasons, for this, tho.
 
The death of this young girl and her unborn baby is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to her family, I can certainly understand them wanting and I support them trying to get answers as to who did this to her.

As saddened and angered as I am at what happened to Emily, I think it is important to look at the situation realistically, and I mean no disrespect to Emily or her family in doing so. This is a young teenage girl who grew up in a difficult family situation, she was shuttled from here to there with, it seems, little structure and guidance in her life. I am not surprised that she ended up in a Juvenile facility. It seems to me that at the time, her mother was not diligent in providing the structure and guidance that she needed; that being said, we can't know what was going on in mom's life and what she might have been dealing with, so I don't judge her for mistakes she might have made. I agree with others here that feel that there are many inconsistencies in the story that the family gives, possibly due to miscommunication... and I believe that there is probably much more to the story that we haven't heard. Regardless, hindsight is 20/20, and I'm sure that mom might have done things a bit differently given the knowledge she has now... her pain is evident, as well as her love for her daughter, so I want to see her get the answers that she needs and deserves.

I believe that Emily's pregnancy and death are completely unrelated. It is possible that Emily simply didn't know exactly who the father was, there may have been more than one possible father. One thing I CAN say with near certainty... IF Emily had been having a sexual relationship with an employee of either of the facilities she was at, EVERYONE there would have known about it. I can speak from personal experience with this type of situation. Young, troubled girls are desperate for love and attention, and often focus on male employees of these facilities. Sometimes they imagine there is more to the professional relationship; sometimes there actually IS more, and the male employee DOES cross that line. In my experience, when this has happened, the young girl brags to her friends about it almost immediately, despite promising the man she will never tell; word travels quickly up the vine. She was detained for a significantly long time, so any indiscretions would have surfaced. That being said, each facility handles these situations differently; depending on the circumstances, sometimes it is brushed under the rug, sometimes the man ends up in jail. If there was suspicion of an inappropriate relationship, they may have tried to hush it... that might explain her sudden move to another facility. I believe that timing would correlate with her predicted conception time.

Emily crossed paths with an evil, murderous monster. I don't believe her pregnancy had anything to do with her murder. I believe that there are many that either know or suspect who did this to her, but I am not confident that they will ever reveal what they know, especially if gangs were involved. Based on what we know thus far, I see a lot of speculation but no concrete proof that LE, ME, etc was trying to hinder the investigation or cover anything up.

Whoever did this to Emily, probably has done it before/since... I think that is the family's best option, to try to correlate similar murders to Emily's, especially since we have DNA. Hopefully they will get some answers this way.

IMO/MOO
 
I've been working on pages 20 - 32 so far on the website. On the pages regarding what the psychics involved in the case said, the older sister was involved in prostitution and Emily was possibly also involved (family confirmed this info), deciding to get out when she discovered her pregnancy.

That adds even more suspects! So frustrating! That info can be found somewhere on the psychic pages, 25 - 28...

NOW, I'm on page 32 http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id53.html

Apparently the Texas Rangers have been involved (contrary to old info I posted above) and as of 2012, seemed to be working very well with the family. Here's some info on that from the link. I'v done some editing and paraphrasing:

Texas Rangers who worked on the case: Author J Miller, Hank Whitman, Gary De Los Santos, Trampas Gooding

On September 1, 2001, the 77th Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1748 and Senate Bill 786 which created the Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigative Team. The captain of this team was Capt. Gary De Los Santos.

When Emily's case was turned over to the Texas Rangers, Lt. Hank Whitman of San Antonio, Texas was assigned to it. He worked on it for a year and was then transferred to Virginia. All 7 of the Rangers were reassigned to other offices. Then the Ranger's office was moved to the southern district of San Antonio.

During the time Lt. Whitman worked Emily's case, Sheila (victim's mom) & Elizabeth (victim's sister) had a very hard time getting an appointment to talk with him about Emily's case. There were very few meetings with Lt. Whitman and he didn't give much information, or say if they had any leads regarding Emily's case.

After the office was moved, Sheila contacted them and found out that Sgt. Arthur J. Miller was the new ranger on the case. When she asked to set up a meeting, Sgt. Miller told her that he had been given 25 cold cases and that he had no idea if Emily's case was one of them or not.

Sgt. Miller told Sheila that he would look it up and call her back, but he did not. That conversation took place in February 2008.

[update] 04/02/2008

After making this web page about a week ago, I [Emily's aunt who maintains the site] want to add that today when I called the Texas Rangers, I was immediately put through to speak with Sgt. Trampas Gooding, the new Ranger who has the case. I asked if there was news, if anyone was really working her case, etc. He told me that Emily's case is one that he recently got and her files are on his desk as we spoke.

He also said that he likes to go through all the files and also talk with the Sheriff and the detective working Emily's case, which would be Det. Ward, before he talks with the family about it. He told me to feel free to call him any time I would like and he would discuss what was happening.

He has done more for my family in his one phone call than everyone else has during the 19 years since Emily's murder. You have no idea how important it is for a family that has lost someone to murder to keep in contact with the detective or whoever has the case so the family will know that someone is working on it and it isn't just sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust, and that wasn't happening until now.

When I told Sheila, she broke down and cried. Now we at least have hope and know someone will be working on Emily's case and is even willing to talk with us about it at any time.

[update] July 22, 2012

I recently found out that Sgt. Trampas Gooding is now the head of the new Texas Rangers Cold Case Unit and Emily & Emilio's murder case has now been transferred to that division.

Sgt. Gooding is still working the case and I have talked with him a couple of times in the past week. There are some new leads, but we aren't permitted to put this information on our site, due to the fact that it could hinder the investigation.

Our family has recently gotten new information about the case and a couple of people have come forward. All of this information has been given to Sgt. Gooding. We are awaiting answers to these leads.
 
Does anyone know what language Emily's family speak? If it is Spanish, that might explain why there is this long theme of apparent misunderstanding and miscommunication throughout the story. It starts with the failure to report her missing when they claim they thought they did, to the inability apparently to talk to anyone who knew her, to these very strange claims about all of the people involved in the investigation of the case.

I found the answer to your question! :)

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id80.html

This is page 40, the Dia de los Muertos Parade, November 2, 2009, that the family participated in.

There are youtube videos on that page. Emily's mother (and other family members that I could hear) speak English with an American accent.

OFF TOPIC question:

I usually keep my Mute button on when I'm online. Don't like ads and stuff interrupting when I'm reading.

I turned on my speakers so I could hear Emily's family's videos, and there is background music playing. It makes it hard to hear what the family is saying in their videos. The music is on the site and is not in the videos. It's on every page.

Is there a way to turn off the background music on the site so I can hear the videos better? I looked for some kind of music player so I could mute it, but didn't see one. TIA!
 
http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id114.html

Great 2011 article by Emily's sister Elizabeth. Excerpts:

For most who have never gone through such a thing, [murder of a loved one] it may seem like nothing in this world could keep you from obtaining justice, or at least keeping the search going, for your child or loved one. In the pursuit of justice, your friends and relatives don’t want to be around you because you can’t stop talking about it. Your work suffers as you become angry and disillusioned.

After 18 years of walking that path I can say that I have indeed died, and been reborn. I have been patronized, ignored, and accused by the police. I have been manipulated, misrepresented, and lied to by the media. I have been disappointed, confused, and horrified by the psychics. More than anything, though, I have been surprised, amazed, and awed by how pursuing my sister’s case has made me the person I have become.

Justice is about punishment and prevention. Her death was not an isolated incident of violence. It was a very predictable conclusion to a life of suffering and humiliation at the hands of others.

Therefore, if I continue to pursue justice it will not be punishment I seek, but prevention. Not for just that which ended her life, but for the very conditions of this world that made her life and death possible. I do not accept that this cycle of violence is an inevitable aspect of who we are. It is a byproduct of a misaligned society. Emily’s case is a reflection of who we are and the world that we have built. It is something to learn from, to remember, and to prevent. So although Emily’s killers may never be caught, we will have justice as long as we keep pursuing it.

---
BBM - this statement reminded me (tho it's not exactly the point Elizabeth is making) that Emily's murder is most likely not a one time crime. Whoever did this most likely has other victims. Solve one and it may solve the others.
 
Im not one to knock Law Enforcement for kicks but them not making a connection between their Jane Doe and Emily seems thickheaded in the extreme to say the least.

Especially, with her being found on the SW side of Canyon Lake. Seems like they would have called SA to see if they had a girl reported missing.

From looking at the maps I think the perp is very familiar with that area. Either, he lived or worked there. For him to know that little stretch of road, he had to have known the area very, very well.

I have a friend that lives near Bulverde that had never heard anything about this case.
 
I really think that is a typo, and meant to say she...

Tulessa,

On this page http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id112.html written in 2011, Emily's mother writes about that again and says the same thing:

One detective [Ward] working Emily's case even told me that,"Only he and the person who did it know who he is".

I think this is a little different from what the family said on another page. I think that quote was more like "only he and Emily know what happened" to her. I need to go back and look for that.

ETA - The slightly different quote is here, page 5 http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id71.html and says:

He told us that "Only he and the killer knew what had happened to Emily", but if that was the truth, why is he trying to protect a killer?

So the family have quoted Ward a couple of different ways regarding the same incident.
 
Putting in my two cents on the "how did Emily know her baby was a boy?" question: I read the aunt's website a few days back and I'm pretty sure I remember it saying at some point (and I apologize for not linking, but it was two or three days ago and their site is too cumbersome to try and re-find it right now) that they learned the baby was a boy from the ME and they named him Emilio in honor of his mother. So, in that case, Emily likely never knew she was carrying a boy.
 
What a sad, tragic, and maddening case. I feel so much for her family, whose efforts to find answers as to what happened to her have been met with nothing but frustration. I have a few thoughts.

First, if she was 3 months pregnant, it seems clear that the father was someone who was at the facility where she had spent the previous 3 months. Someone asked why she would be sent to a rehab facility after having already been in juvenile detention for 9 months. I can say that there is nothing unusual about that. Being clean and sober because you were locked up is meaningless, if you have an addiction. Without treatment (and often even with it, sorry to say), you will go right back to using once the artificial barriers of incarceration are removed. I have seen it countless times. Treatment providers also generally believe that incarceration in a punitive facility, like jail or detention, immediately following treatment, is counterproductive to recovery. For that reason, it is not uncommon for someone who is sentenced to serve time in jail or detention, to be sent to treatment AFTER incarceration, because there they can get real treatment, and be prepared for living a sober life once they are released.

Second, the failure to ID her remains for a year. Although the reports were confusing, it seems clear to me that they did make efforts to ID her, even having media reports published and posting a Crimestoppers reward. I think the reason no connection was made is, unfortunately, the mother had NOT filed an official missing persons report. So, there was no report regarding Emily for LE to match her remains to. This is very unfortunate, but not something that can be blamed on LE imo.

Third, the ME. Yeah, he seems incompetent. It is absolutely inexcusable that he would not have DNA tested the fetus. A young woman who is 3 months pregnant turns up murdered, and you don't DNA test the fetus to see if it can ID the father? Even if, as I suspect, her pregnancy had nothing to do with her murder, they certainly did not know that at the time. And the father of the child would be the absolute FIRST person you would start with as a potential suspect. Either eliminate him and move on, or find more evidence of his involvement and go from there. I don't think the ME was trying to cover up for someone or in on a conspiracy. I just think he was grossly incompetent (as seems to be supported by some other info that has been posted here recently). Sadly, ME incompetence has led to many cases of justice denied, both with people being wrongly accused, and with cases never being solved.

The fact that the Texas Rangers are now involved is a good thing. All investigators are human and flawed, of course, but as a whole, the Rangers tend to be a very dogged and determined group. I hope they will be able to find some answers.

If they do have DNA from the perpetrator, there is always hope they will solve this crime. Maybe it's not enough of a profile yet to be entered into CODIS. That's what it sounds like to me, from Det. Ward's statements. But technology improves, and there is hope that it one day will be enough. The type of person to do something like this imo is the type who will or has committed other felonies, and his DNA will be in CODIS. I really do have hope.

Emily sounds like her short life was very troubled. She was associating with a lot of bad people, using drugs and/or alcohol, skipping school, and engaged in prostitution. It seems as though as soon as she was released, she was already going back to these old, bad associations and behaviors. She was just a child, so already vulnerable. And then all these behaviors put her at so much greater risk. I am not in any way blaming her. She is an absolute victim. And the person who did this to her needs to be caught and locked away forever. These types of sadistic people prey on those like Emily. They prey on the runaways, the troubled, those with substance abuse issues. They do it because it is easier for them and they think they can get away with it. I sincerely hope whoever did this to Emily does not get away with it. Her life was precious, and she deserves justice.
 
Coming up on the 20th anniversary of Emily's murder, the family started sharing tips they had received, photos, and some other info. It starts on the first page linked (66) and goes for a few pages after that, with a couple interruptions of pages containing other info.

It looks like these pages were added about a year ago. Apparently, progress of the investigation stalled again so the family decided to see what they could share with the public that might bring in some leads.

A few emails and communications they received seem odd, imo, psychics, maybe some misguided folks, but at least one or two claim to have info on people who knew Emily, were convicted of murders in the same area where the victims were close to the same age as Emily, and someone even suspected in Heidi Seeman's murder.

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id132.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id133.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id134.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id139.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id140.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id141.html

http://theresayeary.tripod.com/id142.html
 
I am so very sorry about her death and that no one has been brought to justice for it yet. My heart will be with the family during the next holiday season, I am sure it never gets easier
 
Sending out prayers for Emily's family for strength during this holiday season.
 
Third, the ME. Yeah, he seems incompetent. It is absolutely inexcusable that he would not have DNA tested the fetus. A young woman who is 3 months pregnant turns up murdered, and you don't DNA test the fetus to see if it can ID the father? Even if, as I suspect, her pregnancy had nothing to do with her murder, they certainly did not know that at the time. And the father of the child would be the absolute FIRST person you would start with as a potential suspect. Either eliminate him and move on, or find more evidence of his involvement and go from there. I don't think the ME was trying to cover up for someone or in on a conspiracy. I just think he was grossly incompetent (as seems to be supported by some other info that has been posted here recently). Sadly, ME incompetence has led to many cases of justice denied, both with people being wrongly accused, and with cases never being solved.

You need to keep in mind that the early 90s was the period when DNA matching was just starting up in criminal investigations. I'm sure it was pretty common at that time for samples not to be retained for that specific purpose. Crime labs follow a protocol or standard operating procedure for how they collect, handle and store evidence, and if at that time they didn't have a procedure to collect tissue for that purpose, it would not have been collected. You can't look at what they did then from the perspective of now, because things are completely different now.
 
Does anyone think it's possible that the person who murdered Emily and Emilio could be someone of authority? Possibly that could explain the sort of botched investigation? To me personally it just seems like the police and the investigators where trying to cover for someone.

Maybe the father of Emilio was someone who is of authority that worked at Mauc? (sp?)
 
Just stopping in to pay respects. R.I.P. Emily. May your family find justice. :please:
 
Is there a copy of the autopsy or any other official documents available?
 
Is there a copy of the autopsy or any other official documents available?

I quickly looked over some sites linked in this thread and didn't see anything.

I also spent several days going over the family's official website and I don't recall seeing a copy or transcription of documents like that.

It definitely doesn't mean that info is not there, because admittedly, my memory is terrible, and I was reading the site mostly late at night, which makes it worse.

I skimmed over pics and embedded articles because I was concentrating on transcribing the text of each page into an easier to read format: moving centered text to left justified, separating into paragraphs, changing to a standard font and reducing text size, etc., so the info you're looking for could be there, but I don't remember seeing it. I don't know about other sources tho.
 
I quickly looked over some sites linked in this thread and didn't see anything.

I also spent several days going over the family's official website and I don't recall seeing a copy or transcription of documents like that.

It definitely doesn't mean that info is not there, because admittedly, my memory is terrible, and I was reading the site mostly late at night, which makes it worse.

I skimmed over pics and embedded articles because I was concentrating on transcribing the text of each page into an easier to read format: moving centered text to left justified, separating into paragraphs, changing to a standard font and reducing text size, etc., so the info you're looking for could be there, but I don't remember seeing it. I don't know about other sources tho.

Thank you, I remember reading that her mom was still waiting for a copy of the autopsy. I just didn't notice how old that writing was.
 
Hoping there would be something new, bumping for Emily and little One!
 

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