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Suspected killer told police woman in toolbox killed herself

Posted at 6:29 PM, Feb 20, 2020
and last updated 2020-02-20 22:45:52-05

New details have been released in the murder of 29-year-old Rebecca Maloney.

In an affidavit obtained by KRIS 6 News -- Jaime Garcia, one of the men suspected in her murder -- originally claimed she killed herself.

Aransas Pass Police Department detectives determined this was a lie, after the 41-year-old former property manager at the Rahi Motels and Cottages was given a polygraph test, and after investigators interviewed other witnesses whose stories contradicted Garcia's.

Her body was found last month in a tool box in Aransas Pass. Police determined she died of a gunshot wound to the head fired from a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol.

Three men -- Garcia, 33-year-old Luis Garza-Gonzalez, and 44-year-old Luis Alberto Perez -- were arrested in connection with her murder.

According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KRIS 6 News, during a police interview on Jan. 17, Garcia told detectives that he picked up Maloney at a dollar store near the Rahi Motels and Cottages on Highway 35 Business.

Garcia told officers he took Maloney to a room that he rented so that she would have a place to stay.

Garcia said he asked Maloney to "make out" with him but she declined and told him she wanted to take a shower. Garcia said he left her in the room to get cleaned up and returned to the Rahi Cottages' office. He said he then heard a gunshot.

He said that, days prior, he purchased a .40 caliber pistol from Luis Garza-Gonzalez, and that the pistol was in the room at the same time Rebecca was there, but he could not remember where he put it.

Garcia said when he returned to the room, he found Maloney dead in the bathroom and that Garza-Gonzalez and Perez placed Maloney's body in a toolbox and dumped her body on North Railroad Street in Aransas Pass.

Gonzalez later told investigators Garcia asked him and Perez to take the toolbox with Maloney's body inside. According to the affidavit, Gonzalez said he and Perez took the toolbox from Garcia's unit, loaded it into a vehicle, and dumped it with Maloney's body on North Railroad Street.

Maloney's body was found on Jan. 21, four days later. Three days later, officers obtained a warrant to search Garcia's unit at Rahi Cottages. While executing the warrant, investigators found a small amount of methamphetamine and an illegal sawed-off shotgun. APPD officers arrested Garcia on felony charges.

The department arrested Luis Garza-Gonzalez on Jan. 29. Police confirmed Garza-Gonzalez, 33, is a Texas Syndicate gang member.

U.S Marshals arrested Luis Perez on the 6500 block of Samba Drive in Corpus Christi on Feb. 7.

Garza-Gonzales and Garcia are both being held on $1 million bonds. Perez is being held on a $1 million-dollar bond for murder and an additional $250,000 bond for warrants out of Aransas County.