Solve a Crime by a Gang Tattoos

County Detective Kevin Lloyd Los Angeles was flipping through a routine process in 2008 the archives of photos of gang members when a picture caught his attention by the amount of detail that reminded tattooed a crime she had decided to freeze after four years of research revealed the Los Angeles Times.

The police station confirmed to AFP that story and said that for now the detective was not available for comment.

These were the photos taken by a misdemeanor to Anthony Garcia, a member of one of the gangs that plague Pico Rivera, a suburb southeast of Los Angeles where Salvadoran immigrants who fled civil war in the ’80s formed most dangerous criminal groups, the Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 and its bitter rival, Mara 18 or M-18.

In 2004, a spectacular murder in a liquor store in Pico Rivera ended the life of Juan Juarez, a 23 years, the authorities tried to figure out without success, including the detective Lloyd.

All steps prior to, during and after the murder of García tattooed from both ends of your collarbone and drawing in the middle of his chest where he killed the Juarez liquor store, even with Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling of the building for the time of the crime.

At what point García tattooed his crime? These are details that remain unclear, but as a fellow detective recognized Lloyd, Captain Mike Parker, the fact that “confession is tattooed on his chest, is having a significant degree of luck.”

The photo was taken in the Pico Rivera station, where Lloyd, a detective with 30-year career, he served for many years. Garcia had been briefly detained for driving with an expired license.

For this misdemeanor was signed and when released, the police applied the standard procedure for anyone who is suspected of being gang members: they must take photos without shirts and tattoos special focus, bringing encrypted communications or identification of gangs and enemies .

“I worked in Pico Rivera for many years, so was quite familiar with the area. It was incredible,” Lloyd told the newspaper.

Since 2008, the detective worked for the whereabouts of Anthony Garcia, who lived with his family in an area of ​​Los Angeles, was arrested and has since found ways to make your confession of the crime beyond the tattoo.

In prison Garcia, 25, was visited by two detectives who posed as gang members and they confessed the crime of Pico Rivera. His words were recorded and served for jury found him guilty of first degree murder this week.

Anthony Garcia will be sentenced in May.