Anthony Joseph Garcia: The Omaha Revenge Murders
Anthony Joseph Garcia is an American former physician who was convicted of murdering four people in two separate double homicides in Omaha, Nebraska. The killings occurred five years apart, in 2008 and 2013, but investigators eventually concluded that they were connected by Garcia's history with the pathology department at Creighton University. Prosecutors described the murders as carefully planned acts of revenge against people associated with the medical residency program from which Garcia had been dismissed. His victims were not strangers selected at random. Each crime scene had a direct connection to physicians involved in Garcia's former professional life.
Garcia's Connection to Creighton University
Garcia worked as a pathology resident at Creighton University in Omaha from 2000 into 2001. His time in the program ended after problems involving his professional conduct, and physicians in the pathology department were involved in the decision to remove him. Among the doctors connected to his dismissal were Dr. William Hunter and Dr. Roger Brumback. The consequences followed Garcia for years because his incomplete residency and termination became issues when he later applied for medical licenses and other positions.
Prosecutors argued that Garcia came to blame members of the Creighton pathology department for damaging his medical career. According to the prosecution's theory, that resentment eventually developed into a revenge campaign. The first killings struck the household of Dr. William Hunter in 2008. Five years later, Garcia targeted other people connected with the pathology department, including Dr. Chhanda Bewtra and Dr. Roger Brumback.
The Murder of Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman
On March 13, 2008, Dr. William Hunter returned to his family's home in the Dundee neighborhood of Omaha and discovered an extraordinarily violent crime scene. His 11-year-old son, Thomas Hunter, and the family's 57-year-old cleaner, Shirlee Sherman, had both been killed inside the residence.
Thomas and Sherman had suffered deep knife wounds to their necks. Major blood vessels had been severed, including their carotid arteries and jugular veins, and the knives used in the attacks had been left in their necks. The similarity of the wounds strongly suggested that the same attacker had killed both victims during the same incident. Investigators also found that theft did not appear to be the purpose of the crime. The killer had entered the home without the type of obvious forced entry normally associated with a burglary, and nothing of significant value had been taken.
The identity of the killer was initially a mystery. Thomas was a child with no apparent connection to criminal activity, while Sherman was a longtime Omaha resident who was simply working in the Hunter home. Police examined numerous possibilities and interviewed people who had been in the Dundee neighborhood. Witnesses reported seeing a suspicious man in the area, but the information did not immediately lead detectives to Garcia. Although Garcia had once worked under Thomas's father at Creighton, investigators did not have enough evidence at the time to establish him as the killer. The double homicide gradually became a cold case.
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