A suspect in a pair of cold case murders which occurred more than four decades ago in Ventura County has died.
Tony Garcia had been comatose in a long term care facility since last April. The 70-year-old man was being held at the Todd Road Jail when authorities say he was apparently assaulted by a fellow inmate. The case is still under investigation.
The Oxnard man was arrested last year for the murders of two young women in 1981.
Detectives were unable to solve the murders at the time, but they preserved key evidence. They arrested Garcia after they say they connected him to the killings with DNA evidence. He had entered not guilty pleas to the murders, and was facing trial.
