Woman facing murder trial tries to get fellow inmates to kill witness, Florida cops say
An inmate awaiting trial in connection with two homicides tried to get other people behind bars to kill the prime witness in her case, according to a Florida sheriff’s office.
The woman, Fatima Garcia Avila, 21, tried to convince several inmates at the Falkenburg Road Jail in Tampa to kill the witness, according to a news release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives charged Garcia Avila on March 28 with “solicitation to commit murder,” the release says.
Garcia Avila was already in custody awaiting trial in connection with two homicides that took place in July, according to the release.
She and a second person drove to the first victim’s home in Dover on the night of July 18, the release says. After the killing, they left the residence in separate vehicles, and detectives later found one of the vehicles had been set on fire nearby, according to the sheriff’s office.
On July 26, detectives found a man dead from “upper body trauma” at a boat ramp in Thonotosassa, deputies said. They later found that Garcia Avila and the second suspect had been at the boat ramp at the time of the man’s death, according to the release.
Garcia Avila and the other suspect had “familial ties” to the victims, and the victims were “not killed at random,” deputies said.
She was charged with two counts of tampering with a witness and four counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm in connection with the July 18 killing, according to Hillsborough County Jail records. She faces the same counts in connection with the July 25 killing.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to questions from McClatchy News about the killings. A public records request for an arrest affidavit for Garcia Avila was not immediately fulfilled.
A call to the public defender’s office, which is representing Garcia Avila, was not answered.
“This is a woman who has no regard for life other than her own, and she continues to prove that even behind bars,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “I commend the work of the detention deputies and staff for being attentive, alert, and stopping another potential murder.”
Dover is about 20 miles northeast of Tampa, and Thonotosassa is about 15 miles northeast of Tampa.
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