They were shocking crimes. Two women were sexually assaulted, and murdered in Ventura County in the early 1980’s. The cases were never solved. Now, there’s been an arrest, and detectives say the suspect was living among us the whole time.
"The fact is, this suspect has been hiding in plain sight for over 40 years,"
said Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff.
He said Tony Garcia of Oxnard was arrested this week for the 1981 murders of Rachel Zendejas and Lisa Gondek.
They were cold case crimes which stymied investigators. The first killing occurred on January 18, 1981. Fryhoff says Zendejas was a 20-year-old college student, and single mother of two who lived in Camarillo. After a night out, she took her babysitters home. Detectives think she was abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered when she returned to her apartment. He body was found the next morning.
Then, the second attack and murder occurred on December 12, 1981. Oxnard Police Chief Jason Benites says Lisa Gondeck had come to Ventura County a few months earlier for a visit. The 21-year-old liked it so much she decided to stay, and got a job and an apartment in Oxnard.
She returned home after a night out with friends. In the middle of the night, a neighbor called for help because her apartment was on fire. Firefighters put out the blaze, but found her body. She had been sexually assaulted, and strangled.
But, at the time, authorities didn’t connect the two crimes. Because of where they occurred, the Ventura County Sheriff’s office had jurisdiction over the Zendejas case, and Oxnard Police over the Gondek case.
There was a break in 2004, when DNA matched the two murders. But the case went cold again.
Technology came into play again. Detectives reached out to experts on what’s known as Genetic Genealogy. Authorities aren’t talking about the specifics about how it was used in the case. But, it involves using DNA to construct a family tree to find unidentified suspects. They say it led them to Garcia.
Benites says they found more connections between the two cases and the suspect, but they can’t say more now because of the pending case. One major connection is that both women had visited the same Oxnard nightclub the night of their murders.
Family members weren’t on hand for the announcement of the arrest. Zendejas’ two daughters were just infants at the time, but they are now in their 40’s.
As for Garcia, he’s now 68. He came to Ventura County when he was in the Navy, in the 1970s. He stayed in the county after being discharged around 1980. Authorities aren’t saying much about what he did. He was a karate teacher at one point, and worked as a carpenter. There’s no word on whether he had a criminal record.
He’s facing first degree murder, and other charges for the two killings. His arraignment was postponed to later this month, so he hasn’t entered pleas to the charges yet.
One of the big questions is whether prosecutors think he committed these crimes four decades ago, and then stopped. Could there be more victims? Detectives say they are investigating.
But, Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko says they’ve solved two cases which have left families in agony for decades.
"After more than four decades, the long arm of the law has brought justice," said Nasarenko.
