HOUSTON – Investigators and family members are speaking out in hopes of bringing renewed attention to a nearly 30-year-old case where a 14-year-old girl was brutally murdered in southwest Houston.
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Crime Stoppers of Houston and the Houston Police Department joined loved ones Monday to ask for public assistance in identifying Erica’s killer.
On Saturday, June 7, 1997, the body of 14-year-old Erica Garcia was discovered in the 11100 block of Bellaire Blvd., which at the time was an abandoned Alief General Hospital.
“For nearly three decades, our family has lived with the unbearable pain, unanswered questions, and the weight of knowing someone out there knows something and who did it,” Margarita Garcia, Erika’s mother, said. “We are asking from the deepest part of our hearts for anyone who knows anything, and the smallest information to come forward.
“If you have heard something, if you remember someone talking or acting differently around that time, or if you carried the secret out of fear or loyalty, now’s the time to speak."
Investigators learned she had been brutally beaten and raped, her own clothing used as a weapon against her.
28 years after her death and her killer still remains free and the case unsolved.
Her family is still desperately searching for answers.
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Crime Stoppers is also offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the identification and/or charging of a suspect or suspects in the case.