FLOCK cameras, phone records help Dallas Police ID a suspect in deaths of three women

An arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5 on Thursday sheds light on an investigation into the deaths of three Dallas women who are believed to have been killed by the same man.

Dallas Police said Wednesday that 25-year-old Oscar Sanchez Garcia is facing multiple murder charges for the deaths of three women, 60-year-old Kimberly Robinson, 25-year-old Cherish Gibson, and a woman whose body was found last Saturday near the Trinity River identified Friday as De'brenese Henry.

BODIES WERE FOUND OVER FOUR MONTHS

The women's bodies were found over a four-month period, in April, June, and July. Before announcing a suspect, Dallas Police said the victims may have had ties to prostitution and warned the community that someone may be targeting sex workers.

According to the arresting document, at about 8 a.m. on June 24, the body of a partially clothed woman was found lying in the grass next to a gravel road by a man headed to fish along the banks of the Trinity River. Police identified the woman as Gibson and said she'd been fatally stabbed that morning, sometime between 5 a.m. and 6:13 a.m.

While investigating the case, detectives learned another woman's body had been found in the same area about two months before, on April 22, about 200 yards away, nude and with similar wounds. That woman was identified as Robinson.

While investigating Gibson's death, detectives spotted large, wide tire marks near where her body was found. Police said surveillance footage obtained from nearby businesses showed several vehicles leaving the area around the time investigators think Gibson died and that one of those vehicles was a dark-blue pickup truck with wide tires.

Dallas Police said detectives later learned Gibson had been on Harry Hines Boulevard prior to her death, an area long known for prostitution. Police said FLOCK license plate cameras in the Harry Hines area recorded a similar-looking dark-blue pickup truck at about 4:47 a.m. and that the truck was registered to Oscar Sanchez Garcia.

According to the registration information obtained by police, Sanchez Garcia lived about a half-mile from where Gibson and Robinson's bodies were found, not far from DART's 8th and Corinth train station.

Dallas Police said Gibson's family members sent them a screenshot showing the last known location of her mobile phone, along the 1500 block of E. Jefferson Boulevard. Investigators went to that location and found Gibson's phone in a field along with other unspecified physical evidence.

Investigators called for DNA comparisons of sexual assault kits taken from both Robinson and Gibson. When the results were in, the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences said the samples were likely the same suspect. However, the affidavit did not confirm whether the DNA was a match for Sanchez Garcia.

Sanchez Garcia's phone records, police said, showed on the night Robinson was killed his phone was near the 700 block of Sante Fe Avenue. Additionally, police said on June 24 his phone appeared to be moving along the same path as Gibson's phone until it was left in the field along Jefferson.

Police have not yet released any other information about the woman whose remains were found along the 800 block of Brazos Street on July 15. The unidentified woman's body was found about a mile up the Trinity River floodplain from where Gibson and Robinson were found but so far there has been no confirmation from the medical examiner's office on when or how she was killed.

'GOOD POLICE WORK AND EVIDENCE' LED TO THE ARREST

Evidence led detectives to Garcia who is a 25-year-old undocumented construction worker, according to online records. Garcia, a Mexican national, has an immigration hold.

“In terms of how we came to identify him, it’s basically good police work and evidence collected,” said Dallas Police Department Spokesperson Kristin Lowman.

Dallas Police attempted to reach sex workers in the area as the investigation evolved, warning them about their safety.

“At the time we put out the message, detectives did not know whether the cases were connected. However, they did identify a trend in that two of the women had ties to prostitution,” said Lowman. “At that point, in the interest of public safety and to warn that community, we felt it was important to put that message out that this was going on.”

Lowman said ‘at this point’ they do not believe there are additional victims linked to Garcia but said the investigation is ongoing and they vow to seek justice for the victims.

“Regardless of someone’s background or employment, it’s public safety. It’s our obligation to make sure people who are in our city are safe. We’ll do anything we can do to make sure that the investigation is thorough and get the message out to keep safe.”

NBC 5 found police arrested Garcia on a misdemeanor assault causing injury, family violence charge in March, one month before the first victim’s body was found.

Garcia’s $1,500 bond conditions required that he not possess a deadly weapon.

'IT'S NOT AN EASY PROCESS TO GRIEVE'

“I really wish he would’ve got caught immediately but I understand things take time,” said Robinson’s daughter Janetria Oliver. “I’m saddened the two other ladies are gone now and I pray for their families as well because it’s not an easy process to grieve."

Oliver said learning of an arrest made Wednesday in her mother’s murder finally allowed her to sleep well at night.

“I just want everyone to know she was loved. She had a family who cared about her. She has kids, she has grandkids and great-grandkids. We all miss her a lot,” she said. “I was shocked by this and we’re still grieving.”

Oliver said she expects to find it in herself to one day forgive her mother’s killer.

“Such a terrible way to treat a human being, regardless of who they are and what their lifestyle was, he had no right to take them away in that manner,” said Oliver. “For me, justice looks like him never seeing the light of day.”

Sanchez Garcia is being held in the Dallas County Jail on two murder charges with bonds set at $2 million each. A bond amount for the third murder charge has not yet been set. It's not clear if Sanchez Garcia has obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Police said the investigation into the homicides is ongoing and asked that anyone with information please contact Detective David Grubbs at 469-540-6377 or david.grubbsjr@dallaspolice.gov or Christopher Walton at 214-701-8453 or christopher.walton@dallaspolice.gov.