MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A 40-year-old man who detectives suspect fatally shot his girlfriend before abandoning her body in a canal appeared in court on Thursday in Miami-Dade County.
Detectives arrested Saul Garcia on Wednesday at the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office headquarters in Doral after an investigation uncovered evidence that included surveillance video and cell phone data.
A missing person’s case turned into a murder investigation after Garcia’s live-in girlfriend -- who is the mother of his 2-year-old daughter -- vanished on Oct. 6, and deputies found her body on Oct. 11 in a canal in Redland, records show.
On Oct. 5, the victim “reached out to a friend seeking a place to stay for only her and her daughter,” a deputy wrote in an arrest report, adding that relatives knew Garcia to be verbally abusive.
On Oct. 8, Hammocks district deputies responded to Garcia’s home at the Finca Media Luna, along Southwest 208 Avenue, near 168 Street in the Redland area, records show.
The victim’s body was in a nearby canal along 168 Street, near Southwest 205 Avenue, according to deputies.
Cell phone data showed the victim’s cell phone was at their home when Garcia went to drop off their daughter at daycare on Oct. 6, and later it “traveled” to the canal, according to detectives.
Garcia’s cell phone “stayed near the canal traveling around it, until he drove back to his residence,” deputies wrote about the cell phone data.
Surveillance video also showed Garcia’s Toyota Camry traveling in the area of the canal, according to deputies.
Garcia told family and friends “that he believed the victim was possibly in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” a deputy wrote.
On Nov. 25, the medical examiner’s office reported that the victim had been shot in the head and ruled her death a homicide, records show.
The victim’s brother found it suspicious that it took a day for Garcia to tell him and other family members that she had vanished, according to deputies.
Deputies reported Garcia, who was born in Mexico and works as a landscaper, made conflicting statements before and during the investigation.
After she vanished, Garcia told her employer, friends, and family that the last time he saw her was when he dropped her off at a bus stop so she could go to work, according to the deputies’ arrest report.
When he reported her missing, he said that the last time he saw her was when she was getting ready to go to work, and he left to take their daughter to daycare, according to the deputies’ arrest report.
Garcia faced a charge of second-degree murder. Inmate records show he was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday night after he appeared in court and a judge denied him bond.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Wilson Louis contributed to this report.
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