Man charged in ex-EH woman's 1981 murder in California

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Feb. 9—A man has been charged in the murder of a woman who was strangled more than 41 years ago in her Oxnard, California, apartment, just seven months after leaving her East Hartford family home.

A martial arts instructor named Tony Garcia, 67, is in custody in the murder of the woman, Lisa Gondek, who died at age 21 in December 1981, according to Richard Simon, a senior deputy district attorney in Ventura County, California.

COLD CASE ARREST

SUSPECT: Tony Garcia, 67, charged with two murders

VICTIMS: Former East Hartford resident Lisa Gondek, who died in December 1981 at age 21 in her apartment in Oxnard, California, and Rachel Zendejas, who was killed at age 20 during a rape and kidnapping outside her apartment in nearby Camarillo 11 months earlier

EVIDENCE: Includes DNA

Garcia is also accused of murdering Rachel Zendejas, 20, who was killed during a rape and kidnapping outside her apartment in nearby Camarillo 11 months before Gondek's death, according to Simon.

Oxnard is a coastal city, with Camarillo immediately to its east, in a fertile agricultural area 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

It had been suspected for many years that the same person murdered Gondek and Zendejas based on a match in DNA samples found at the two crime scenes. Comparison of the two cases also revealed that both women spent time at the same Oxnard dance club on the nights they died.

Simon said DNA evidence connected Garcia to the crimes. He said Garcia was developed as a suspect through the use of databases that compile the DNA profiles people submit to commercial services in an effort to identify previously unknown relatives.

Such "familial DNA" investigations have led to the solution of a number of cold cases in recent years, including the convictions in Connecticut of former charter school executive Michael Sharpe and former Manchester firefighter Angelo Alleano Jr. in long-unsolved strings of rapes.

California currently has a moratorium on the death penalty, Simon said.

But, under the state's law, commission of multiple murders or commission of a rape or kidnapping in connection with a murder are "special circumstances" that prosecutors can use in seeking the death penalty if they choose to do so, he said.

He added that the multiple murders don't have to be committed on the same occasion. The murders of Gondek and Zendejas qualify despite their separation in time and location.

In addition to that special circumstance, Garcia will be charged with special circumstances for the rape and kidnapping of Zendejas, the prosecutor said.

He said Garcia's bail would be determined at his arraignment today, adding that the district attorney's office would ask the judge to order Garcia held without bail.

As to Garcia's arrest, Simon said, "This is a fantastic development, and I am ecstatic while still sad about the loss of the two young beautiful lives."

Gondek's family members — especially her mother, Gloria Maynard — have been active over the years in urging law-enforcement authorities to continue the investigation of her murder.

For some 21 years, the Oxnard Police Department's prime suspect in Gondek's murder was the Navy man who was last seen with her. He was eventually cleared through DNA evidence.

When the Journal Inquirer wrote a story about the investigation of the Gondek murder in 2005, almost 24 years after it happened, Maynard's emotions were still raw.

"For me, it'll always be my fault," she said during an interview in her then-home in East Hartford, tears welling in her eyes. "If you have children, you feel you can protect them from anything. ... Rationally, I know it's not my fault, but I'm not always rational."

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