In the early morning hours of February 27, 2018, the body of 29-year-old Mark Christopher Garity, a White/Caucasian male, was discovered in a street in midtown Tucson, Arizona. Responding Tucson Police officers found him with significant head trauma and immediately began to render aid. Paramedics arrived shortly after, but Garity was pronounced deceased at the scene.
An autopsy would later confirm that he had died from a gunshot wound.
The investigation into the death of the young software engineer, described by his family as a kind and giving man with a love for the outdoors, quickly shifted from a 'man down' call to a homicide case. Detectives learned that Garity, a resident of the area, had been seen earlier that morning with his girlfriend's brother, 21-year-old Vincent Detwiler, and another male friend of Detwiler's. The two men had been visiting from California and were driving around with Garity on the night he was killed. When investigators were unable to locate Detwiler and his friend in Tucson, they suspected the two had returned to California.
Tucson Police detectives reached out to the San Bernardino Police Department with information about the murder and their belief that Detwiler had fled to their jurisdiction. The collaboration between the two law enforcement agencies proved fruitful. After being located in San Bernardino, Detwiler admitted to his role in Garity's death. He was subsequently arrested and booked into the San Bernardino County Jail on one count of second-degree murder, awaiting extradition back to Arizona to face charges. While the other man present on the night of the murder was identified, he was not immediately arrested as the investigation continued.
