Police had all but written off a 2004 murder at a liquor store in Pico Rivera, California as unsolvable when a routine police procedure revealed something incredible. A Los Angeles County homicide detective was flipping through pictures of tattooed gang members when he happened upon the above picture. What you’re looking at is gang member Anthony Garcia and his incredibly detailed tattoo of the scene of that previously unsolved Pico Rivera liquor store murder.
For reasons we defy anyone to even sort of understand, Garcia, over the course of a few years, had details such as the Christmas lights that hung in the liquor store window to the exact direction the body fell lovingly hand-inked on his chest for all the world to see. In an even more facepalm worthy move, he added an image of a chopper raining bullets down on the crime scene. It will probably not shock you to know that Garcia’s street name is, of course, Chopper. Just in case any doubt remained as to the meaning behind the ink on his chest, he went the extra mile by having the words “Rivera Kills” emblazoned above it all. Garcia is a member of the Rivera-13 street gang, you see.
Figuring that a criminal dimwitted enough to tattoo a cartoon retelling of a murder he committed on his chest probably wouldn’t be difficult to trick into confessing, police rounded up Garcia and then placed him in a holding cell with undercover detectives posing as gang members. Sure enough, Garcia bragged about the crime that was conveniently recreated on his chest, all while the conversation was being recorded.
That confession was used to convict Garcia of first degree murder this week. But on the bright side for him, at least he has some fun new details to add to that awesome tattoo!
