nebraska | Murder Database

Anthony Garcia Murders 4 In Nebraska

Anthony Garcia was sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for the murders of four people

According to court documents Anthony Garcia was fired from his job at Creighton Medical Center. Years later he would murder 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman. The murders went unsolved until Garcia would return five years later and murder Roger Brumback and his wife Mary. All of the murders were tied together and linked to the Creighton Medical Center

Anthony Garcia would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

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Anthony Garcia Now

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Last:	GARCIA	First:	ANTHONY	Middle:	J	Suffix:
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Last:		First:		Middle:		Suffix:
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Gender:	MALE	Race:	HISPANIC	Date of Birth:	06/07/1973
Facility:	TECUMSEH STATE COR INSTITUTION

Anthony Garcia Case

A former doctor was sentenced to death on Friday for the revenge killings of four people connected to a Nebraska medical school, including the 11-year-old son of a physician who helped fire the man from a residency program nearly two decades ago.

Anthony Garcia, 45, of Indiana entered the courtroom in a wheelchair and appeared to sleep through the hearing as a three-judge panel sentenced him to death. The judges, who heard arguments earlier this year during the sentencing phase of Garcia’s trial, also had the option of life in prison.

Garcia was convicted in 2016 for two attacks — that occurred five years apart — on families connected to Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha. Prosecutors argued the killings were motivated by Garcia’s long-simmering rage over being fired in 2001 by Dr. William Hunter and another Creighton pathology doctor, Roger Brumback.

Some of the victims’ relatives testified Friday, including Jeff Sherman, whose mother was fatally stabbed alongside Hunter’s young son when she worked at the Hunter family’s home in 2008.

“I’m left with constant images from courtroom pictures of what happened to my mom,” Sherman said. “I can’t ever get those images out of my head.”

Investigators said Garcia fatally stabbed 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman at the family’s home in an upscale Omaha neighborhood. Police collected a slew of evidence but struggled to find a suspect in the killings.

The case went cold in the following years. But that changed with the 2013 Mother’s Day deaths of Brumback and his wife, Mary, in their Omaha home. Police recognized similarities in the 2008 and 2013 killings, and Garcia was quickly eyed as a suspect. He was arrested two months later during a traffic stop in southern Illinois.

On Friday, Thomas Hunter’s mother, Dr. Claire Hunter, spoke of the agony of losing her young son so violently. She said the boy “was a joy in everybody’s life.”

“You can’t begin to enumerate what an event like has had on us, on the entire community,” she said after Garcia was sentenced.

Garcia’s parents and brother, who live in California, also attended the hearing. They were tearful as the verdict was read.

His brother, Fernando Garcia, said it was hard for his family to imagine his brother committing the crimes.

“We just want the victims’ families to know we do pray for them. We feel their pain,” he said. “We’re sorry those things took place. We’re not an evil family. We hope they find peace somehow.”

During the trial, prosecutors presented massive amounts of circumstantial evidence, including credit card and cellphone records placing Garcia in and around Omaha the day the Brumbacks were killed. One receipt showed Garcia eating a meal at a chicken wings restaurant within two hours of when police believe the Brumbacks were attacked.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that Garcia had sought to attack another Creighton medical school faculty member on May 10, 2013 — the same day the Brumbacks were killed. Prosecutors said Garcia pushed in a back door of that woman’s home but fled when the home’s alarm went off. Police believe he then found the Brumbacks’ address on his smartphone and attacked them.

Roger Brumback was shot in the doorway of his home and then stabbed. His wife was stabbed to death, much the same way Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman had been stabbed, according to investigators.

Nebraska had not executed an inmate in more than 20 years until last month, when Carey Dean Moore died by lethal injection for the 1979 shooting deaths of two Omaha cab drivers.

However, the state’s mode of execution remains riddled with controversy and legal challenges in the face of difficulty in obtaining some of the drugs used to carry out lethal injection.

Under Nebraska law, Garcia’s sentence will be automatically appealed.

Friday’s sentencing was briefly interrupted when the lead judge in the case suffered a medical emergency and had to be carried from the courthouse on a stretcher. Gage County District Judge Rick Schreiner took over, explaining that Randall had undergone a medical procedure earlier in the week that caused him extreme back pain.

https://apnews.com/article/fbef916336c04b2589b745886f347b86

Jorge Galindo Murders 5 In Nebraska

Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela would be sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for the murders of five people

According to court documents Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela would enter a bank with the intention to rob it and before they were done five people would be shot and killed: Lisa Bryant, 29, Lola Elwood, 43, Samuel Sun, 50, all Norfolk, Jo Mausbach, 42, Humphrey, and Evonne Tuttle, 37

Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela were arrested, convicted and sentenced to death

Jorge Galindo Photos

Jorge Galindo Now

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Last:	GALINDO	First:	JORGE	Middle:		Suffix:
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Last:		First:		Middle:		Suffix:
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Gender:	MALE	Race:	HISPANIC	Date of Birth:	05/18/1981
Facility:	TECUMSEH STATE COR INSTITUTION

Jose Sandoval Photos

Jose Sandoval Now

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Last:	SANDOVAL	First:	JOSE	Middle:		Suffix:
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Last:		First:		Middle:		Suffix:
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Gender:	MALE	Race:	HISPANIC	Date of Birth:	05/08/1979
Facility:	TECUMSEH STATE COR INSTITUTION

Erick Vela Photos

Erick Vela Now

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Last:	VELA	First:	ERIC	Middle:	FERNANDO	Suffix:
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Last:		First:		Middle:		Suffix:
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Gender:	MALE	Race:	HISPANIC	Date of Birth:	10/10/1980
Facility:	TECUMSEH STATE COR INSTITUTION

Jorge Galindo Case

Twenty years after five people were slain in a Norfolk bank in one of the deadliest bank killings in U.S. history, the three men who shot them remain on death row with open appeals and no execution date in sight.

In just 40 seconds on the morning of Sept. 26, 2002, Lola Elwood, Lisa Bryant, Jo Mausbach and Samuel Sun, employees at the US Bank branch in the northeast Nebraska town, and a customer at the counter, Evonne Tuttle, had been gunned down, the terrible crime captured on video and in the accounts of two employees who survived the nightmare.

Jose Sandoval walked to the front, quickly shooting Sun, Tuttle and Mausbach.

Erick Vela and Jorge Galindo went to offices on either side, Vela shooting Bryant and Galindo shooting Elwood, then firing at a customer who started to walk in.

The three left empty-handed as the five died.

Police later would describe the acrid smell of spent gunpowder and blood heavy in the air when they arrived.

Within hours, Sandoval, Galindo and Vela would be locked up for it after stopping at a McDonald’s in O’Neill, 75 miles away.

But nothing else in the cases has happened quickly.

The three ultimately landed on death row, Sandoval and Galindo after being found guilty at trial and Vela after pleading guilty.

Separate three-judge panels found their crimes warranted death sentences.

Then came automatic appeals, all rejected.

But in the years since, legal twists complicated matters. First, a U.S. Supreme Court decision over how it’s determined who gets life versus death. Then, Nebraska lawmakers’ repeal of the death penalty in 2015, which voters reinstated the next year.

Attorneys argued the sentences for everyone on the state’s death row had been commuted to life in prison. And they’ve raised dozens of other issues that they say should lead to a new trial or a life sentence rather than death for them.

In March 2019, the state filed a response in Sandoval’s case arguing the district judge should deny his motion for post-conviction relief without a hearing.

“The case files and records affirmatively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief,” Solicitor General James Smith wrote.

But court records indicate in the three and a half years since the filing, District Judge Geoffrey C. Hall of Fremont has yet to rule either way.

In Vela’s case, his attorney, Jerry Hug, told a federal court judge this May that he anticipated progression of the state court proceedings “with the understanding that the state court records of the petitioner’s capital case are voluminous and have necessarily involved considerable time to gather, review and organize. Additional time will be required for briefing, submission, and a state court decision.”

And Hug referenced a number of postconviction cases pending resolution in the Nebraska Supreme Court, including Galindo’s.

At oral arguments Sept. 1, Adam Sipple, Galindo’s attorney, tried to convince the justices that a district court judge was wrong to deny a hearing on a motion for post-conviction relief.

In a 138-page motion filed in 2019, he detailed a laundry list of issues, including the state’s last-minute disclosure it was going to present evidence of Galindo’s alleged involvement in the death of Travis Lundell, a 21-year-old who had gone missing a month before the bank robbery, in pursuit of a death sentence.

“When Mr. Galindo’s sentencing case is assessed and evaluated consistent with the law and consistent with the Constitution, his youth, his confession, his cooperation and his demonstrated remorse provide a strong case to spare him from execution,” Sipple said.

He said there were two huge issues that could have led to a life sentence if the sentencing panel had known. One, his trial counsel’s failure to introduce the evidence of remorse. And two, his failure to argue Galindo’s youth as a mitigating factor.

Sipple said defense counsel at sentencing left sworn deposition testimony in his file from, among others, a captain at the jail who told a defense investigator that Galindo expressed remorse to him and another jail deputy, and testimony from a teacher who said he was immature and easily influenced by others.

He also raised issues over a criminal investigation by the Nebraska State Patrol of the lead prosecutor, Madison County Attorney Joe Smith, “including his associations with drug-dealing suspects he called as jailhouse informants against Galindo.”

But Justice Jonathan Papik said, even if they found that trial counsel had been deficient and that the panel shouldn’t have considered Lundell as an aggravator, “Wouldn’t we then have to ask ‘Well, is there prejudice?'”

Is there a reasonable probability that the outcome would be different, he asked.

Sipple agreed, but said the allegations created legitimate issues warranting an evidentiary hearing, which would lead to findings.

On the other side, James Smith, the solicitor general, said even if the sentencing panel didn’t consider the Lundell evidence and did consider Galindo’s youth and remorse, it wasn’t sufficient to outweigh all the aggravating circumstances.

“In short, if you go in and murder five innocent people saying that ‘Gee, I shouldn’t get the death sentence because I really didn’t kill the sixth,’ that doesn’t really indicate a prejudicial error in the sentencing that would justify having a futile evidentiary hearing,” he argued.

The Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled.

Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning wasn’t living there on Sept. 25, 2002.

“But as a native of the area, I precisely recall the shock and bewilderment I experienced upon hearing the news,” he told the Journal Star on Friday.

Moenning called it an unthinkable horror that sent shockwaves throughout the community and entire state.

“Norfolk’s response, though, was telling,” he said. “Immediately the community embraced the victims’ families, supported their needs, and recognized the importance of honoring their loved ones’ legacies.

“Ultimately created in the place of these heinous crimes was a place of solace and peace — a natural landmark that to this day welcomes travelers on U.S. Highway 81 with a profound message: love and community always outlasts hate and violence.”

https://journalstar.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/20th-anniversary-of-norfolk-bank-killings-approaches-no-execution-date-in-sight-for-3-shooters/article_18b60762-2219-56bd-93c1-5211fa28d7a5.html

Dylan Cardeilhac Murders Prison Guard

Dylan Cardeilhac was sixteen years old from Nebraska when he murdered a guard

According to court documents Dylan Cardeilhac was in jail awaiting trial for an armed robbery when he would attack a correctional guard. Dylan would strangle the woman until she died

Dylan Cardeilhac would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison

Dylan Cardeilhac Photos

Dylan Cardeilhac Now

Committed Name
Last:	CARDEILHAC	First:	DYLAN	Middle:		Suffix:
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Last:		First:		Middle:		Suffix:
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Gender:	MALE	Race:	WHITE	Date of Birth:	06/07/1998
Facility:	RECEPTION & TREATMENT C

Dylan Cardeilhac Appeal

The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of a Torrington teenager convicted of choking a Scotts Bluff County Detention Center guard and causing her death.

A jury convicted Dylan Cardeilhac — then 16 — in November 2014 of second-degree murder in the Feb. 16, 2014, death of Amanda Baker. Baker died two days after Cardeilhac attacked the woman, choking her until she was unconscious.

In February 2015, District Court Judge Travis O’Gorman sentenced Dylan Cardeilhac to imprisonment of 60 years to life. In his appeal, Cardeilhac said that the judge failed to comply with proper juvenile sentencing principles. Defense attorneys argued that the sentence was excessive.

Dylan Cardeilhac and his attorney also said that the court erred in advising the jury that it would deliberate in the case until 9 p.m. before breaking for the day and alleged jury misconduct.

According to the appeal, one jury had told Dylan Cardeilhac’s attorneys that after six hours of deliberation, she had been the sole holdout, wanting to convict Cardeilhac of manslaughter rather than second-degree murder. She allegedly said that two of the jurors were “extremely belittling and belligerent” as some of the other jurors made statements to try to persuade her to change her vote.

During that exchange, one of the jurors offered to demonstrate to the woman — who consented — what it was like being choked from behind. Soon after the demonstration, the juror said, she changed her vote from manslaughter to second-degree murder. However, the juror said that she did not feel pressured to change her vote. The defense had previously objected to this re-enactment, asking for a new trial as they felt the demonstration was extraneous prejudicial information received outside of court. The court did not grant a mistrial in the case.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that no juror misconduct had occurred. Reenactments or other exercises by which the jury tests the evidence presented at trial are generally considered appropriate jury conduct, the ruling said.

Jurors had been instructed that they could deliberate until 9 p.m. and would return to the deliberations the next morning, if a verdict was not reached. The Nebraska Supreme Court rejected the defense’s argument that the instruction pressured the jury to come to a deliberation and that it was an appropriate instruction.