L.A. Gang Member's Crime Scene Tattoo Leads To Murder Conviction In Cold Case

Webster's Dictionary describes a stupid person as one who is "given to unintelligent decisions or acts or acting in an unintelligent or careless manner." If they could include a picture next to the description it's a good bet Anthony Garcia would be in that pic.

Garcia, a member of the L.A. street gang Rivera-13, killed a man in a liquor store robbery, then had every detail of the crime tatted on his chest.

Garcia's tattoo shows a man with "the body of a peanut being hit by bullets and falling back toward the liquor store. In gang slang, the word 'peanut' is used to derisively describe a rival gang member" according to the L.A. Times.

For more than four years detectives tried to solve the liquor store murder with no luck. They finally caught a break when one of the detectives noticed Garcia's tattoos while going through snapshots of gang members.

Homicide Lt. Dave Dolson says he has seen all kinds of tats, but nothing like Garcia's, "I haven't seen it before, and I haven't heard of anything like it either," Dolson said.

Others theorize that maybe Garcia wanted to get caught:

"Think about it. He tattooed his confession on his chest. You have a degree of fate with this," Capt. Mike Parker said.

Once in custody Garcia fully confessed, turning a cold case into a first-degree murder conviction.

Source: ThisIs50