Suspect in Colusa woman’s 2018 death arrested by U.S. marshals in Mexico

A man wanted in the January 2018 slaying of 21-year-old Karen Garcia was arrested by U.S. marshals in Guadalajara, Mexico, and booked into Colusa County jail on Sunday, officials reported.

When the Colusa resident went missing Jan. 8, her ex-boyfriend Salvador Garcia Jr. was cooperating with investigators and the media. He told CBS 13 that she’d left in a hurry that morning, and didn’t respond to his multiple attempts to reach her. His boss told The Sacramento Bee he’d even helped organize searches.

But on Jan. 14, law enforcement found Karen Garcia’s body inside a vehicle in the parking lot of a Marshalls store in Woodland. Evidence at the scene suggested she had died of blunt-force trauma to the head, and Garcia – the lone suspect – was on the run, authorities said.

The Colusa Police Department reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service soon after Salvador Garcia’s disappearance.

Salvador and Karen Garcia had been living with their daughter Avianna, 2, in an apartment on Oak Street in Colusa during their nine-year relationship before their breakup.

During their investigation of Garcia’s disappearance, officials found blood in the apartment, and Salvador Garcia’s car also had traces of blood, The Bee reported the week of the slaying.

In February, the joint authorities offered a reward of $5,000 for confidential information leading to Garcia’s arrest and conviction. Colusa Police Department Chief Joshua Fitch told The Bee they received multiple leads on Garcia’s possible location, but none of the individuals sighted turned out to be the suspect.

Several agencies joined the investigation in the following months – including the Riverside Police Department, Sacramento County District Attorney Office and Mexican authorities – Fitch reported in a Facebook post.

“The law enforcement agencies of Colusa County would like to give thanks to the U.S. Marshals Service for their assistance as well as to all who helped throughout this over a yearlong investigation,” Fitch said.

Karen Garcia’s slaying brought double tragedy for her family: She disappeared the day after her sister Jessica and five other people died in a collision involving a wrong-way driver on Interstate 5 in Woodland.

This story was originally published August 4, 2019 at 11:56 AM.