By james art
IRVING, Texas – Irving police are reopening a nearly 40-year-old unsolved case with new DNA technology that could help finally catch the killer.
Patricia Wilson Garcia was seven months pregnant with her second child when someone stabbed her to death at an Irving mall in 1988.
Irving police are clearing the dust from a 36-year-old unsolved murder that rocked the community and the family of 22-year-old Garcia.
Terri Wilson Starwalt still remembers the last time she spoke to her younger sister, whom the family called “Trish,” on April 29, 1988.
“She called me at work the other day and told me a joke,” she recalled. “And I was just like, ‘Haha, I’ve got to go!’ And she said ok. That was the last time I spoke to her.”
Later that day, Garcia went to Plymouth Park Mall in Irving, which has since closed.
Garcia bought a gift for someone and then stopped at the post office stamp kiosk. Archived footage from FOX 4 shows what the area looked like in 1988.
Police say that’s where someone stabbed her multiple times in the back of the head, killing her and her unborn baby girl.
“She’s just been such a void in our lives since she’s been gone,” Starwalt said. “It’s just one of those things you never think will happen to you or your family.”
Garcia was 7 1/2 months pregnant with her second child when she was killed. Her other daughter was only 2 years old.
FOX 4 covered her funeral in 1988.
“It was at St Luke’s Catholic Church and there were people standing on every wall. She was that kind of person,” Starwalt said. “
The killer took Garcia’s purse and necklace, but left behind DNA evidence.
Thanks to advances in DNA technology, Irving police are reopening the case on that lead.
“It would be a big relief for us to be done,” Starwalt said. “Knowing who did it and why would be great.”
These are the questions the family has been asking for more than three decades and praying for answers.
“We deserve to know,” Starwalt said. “It’s just that they solve the problem for all of us. This closure will mean everything to all of us.”
Starwalt says their parents died without knowing what happened to their youngest daughter. She hopes she and her other siblings can work it out.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact the Irving Police Department.