A secret romance in a remote Alaskan town leads to murder.
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00:00:00Right here tonight, an all new season of 2020.
00:00:03And this story couldn't have more twists and turns.
00:00:06A beloved doctor missing, then found dead.
00:00:09A man with no enemies, but a lot of secrets.
00:00:12An all new 2020 starts right now.
00:00:18Dr. Garcia, police department.
00:00:21Make yourself known, sir.
00:00:22Here's the master bedroom.
00:00:24Dr. Garcia, Dr. Garcia, Officer Miller.
00:00:28You've got your gun pulled, and you're ready for anything.
00:00:33He just says he's here.
00:00:34Dr. Garcia was deceased on the couch.
00:00:40You know, is this real?
00:00:41How could this have happened?
00:00:44He was the most gentle, kind, wonderful soul
00:00:47you could imagine.
00:00:49This doctor, this paragon of the community,
00:00:51was found dead in his house.
00:00:53He's been robbed.
00:00:54He's not just dead, he's been robbed.
00:00:56There were racks and racks that were empty.
00:00:58There was no gold.
00:00:59There was no silver found.
00:01:01I have so many questions about the case
00:01:03and have hardly any answers.
00:01:06And you don't know if it's natural causes,
00:01:08if it's self-inflicted, or if someone has murdered him.
00:01:12My life became a true crime show.
00:01:15Who is this guy, and where is all this money going to?
00:01:19So what is that relationship?
00:01:20And I said, you can't let that guy go.
00:01:22There's something wrong here.
00:01:26We're on our way to Ketchikan, Alaska, the Rock.
00:01:32To get here, you have to either take a plane or take a boat.
00:01:36And if you take a plane, you still have to take a boat.
00:01:39Because the airport is located on one island,
00:01:42and Ketchikan proper is located here.
00:01:44It's beautiful enough that it's a place worth coming to.
00:01:47It's remote enough that it's a place worth escaping
00:01:50the place you came from.
00:01:52And it's also the site of an enduring and deep mystery
00:01:57involving one of this town's most respected
00:01:59and well-regarded citizens.
00:02:02In Ketchikan, you can find the Ketchikan National Park,
00:02:05the National Geographic, the National Geographic,
00:02:10the National Geographic, the National Geographic,
00:02:12And it all began with one out-of-the-blue phone call.
00:02:32On March 18th of 2017, Ketchikan Police Department, we had a welfare check call come in.
00:02:39This person actually is from the Seattle area.
00:02:44He says he's a friend named Jordan Joplin.
00:02:46He's the general surgeon there.
00:02:47I just want to make sure that he's okay.
00:02:49Okay.
00:02:50We had an officer respond to the doctor's house.
00:02:55What is a welfare check exactly?
00:02:57Basically, somebody is concerned about somebody's well-being.
00:03:02Officer Devin Miller had lived in Alaska since he was three years old, and on that day in
00:03:072017, he was on patrol, and he was sent to Dr. Garcia's house.
00:03:12How often would you be asked to do a welfare check by someone who lived a long ways away?
00:03:18I got to tell you, that's the rarity.
00:03:23I responded and drove up to the residence.
00:03:26There was snow on the ground.
00:03:28I could see that there was no tire tracks.
00:03:34What did you do when you got here?
00:03:36I made sure that, checked the house, made sure it was secure.
00:03:39We looked for any kind of footprints, everything was secure, lights were on at the house.
00:03:44Did you try to get into the house on the 18th?
00:03:46I did check the lock to make sure it was locked.
00:03:48What did that tell you?
00:03:49It looked like typical of what somebody does when they go on vacation.
00:03:53After that, I contacted his office.
00:03:58The police learned that Dr. Garcia's colleagues, they're aware he has plans to be out of town.
00:04:02He's attending a medical conference in Las Vegas.
00:04:05This is a conference he attended every year about this time.
00:04:09It's about a seven to ten day trip.
00:04:16So that's that, right?
00:04:17That's that.
00:04:18You don't have to get back in touch with the caller.
00:04:20I do not.
00:04:24But Dawn Hink, now she manages Dr. Garcia's schedule at the hospital, and she's his very
00:04:29good friend.
00:04:30She's not the one who took that initial call from the police.
00:04:34So officers are unaware that she was getting a little concerned that she hadn't heard from
00:04:39Dr. Garcia.
00:04:40Dr. Garcia would send me messages probably 20, 30 times a day when he was on vacation.
00:04:49We were in constant contact where he was, how much fun he was having.
00:04:55I had sent him a message and didn't receive anything back at all.
00:05:01So it definitely struck me as odd.
00:05:05Any questions or worries about Dr. Garcia would be kind of big news here.
00:05:11Ketchikan is a small town, and he's only one of two general surgeons for the whole area.
00:05:19We don't have a lot of doctors here.
00:05:22It's such a small community.
00:05:25He was often the only one here.
00:05:26You'd have to take care of an awful lot of things that you might not take care of if
00:05:33he was working in a large metropolitan community.
00:05:40What kind of surgeries was he doing for the most part?
00:05:42Any kind of trauma.
00:05:43Logging accidents.
00:05:44Gallbladders, logging accidents, helicopter crashes.
00:05:48We have tons of different unique situations up here that are unparalleled to anywhere
00:05:52else.
00:05:54Dr. Garcia had become a beloved presence since moving here to Ketchikan, a town he first
00:05:59discovered the same way so many other people do, on an Alaskan cruise.
00:06:08So Alaska is an enormous state.
00:06:10There's also a panhandle that comes quite far down.
00:06:13Ketchikan is the southernmost city in that panhandle.
00:06:16So Ketchikan's the first stop for most cruise ships coming north into Alaska, and it's the
00:06:20last stop for cruise ships heading down to the lower 48.
00:06:25Population of Ketchikan is about 8,000 or so, but that comes with an asterisk, because
00:06:29between the months of April and October, Ketchikan is a cruise ship mecca.
00:06:36As many as 15,000 passengers disembark from these massive boats every single day.
00:06:44What is it like when it's busy here?
00:06:45Wall-to-wall folks stumbling over each other.
00:06:48It's good for our economy.
00:06:50They want to see whales, they want to see eagles, they want to see bears, all of which
00:06:56we have.
00:06:57And of course, people come here a lot to catch the fish.
00:07:00We're known for being what we call the salmon capital of the world.
00:07:07Locals and cruise ship tourists, Dr. Garcia treated them all with the help of Don Hink,
00:07:13who later in mid-March 2017, received a troubling call about Dr. Garcia's whereabouts.
00:07:21I got a phone call from Dr. Garcia's mother, and she had asked me to please go to the house
00:07:27and see if I could find out, you know, if he was there, because he wasn't responding
00:07:31to anything she was doing.
00:07:34And so I did that.
00:07:37Everything at the house seemed to look pretty normal.
00:07:40The vehicle was not there.
00:07:44We drove past the airport lot, and Eric's truck was there, just as if he was going to
00:07:49be going on a vacation.
00:07:52And so everything seemed OK.
00:07:57With signs pointing to Dr. Garcia being out of town, the police say they've followed their
00:08:02standard operating procedures.
00:08:06In order for us to enter a house or to forcibly go inside of the house, we're going to need
00:08:12some kind of an exigent circumstance.
00:08:15In the case of Dr. Garcia, we didn't have those circumstances.
00:08:18Then, six days after that phone call for a wellness check, Jordan Joplin, the friend
00:08:23from Washington State, calls again.
00:08:25Basically trying to find out if they got a hold of Eric or if he could enter that Saturday
00:08:30he was supposed to come here to Washington, which is where I'm at.
00:08:35Joplin says that Dr. Garcia did not follow through on those plans, and he's still concerned
00:08:42that something is not right.
00:08:45So, what degree does that move the needle?
00:08:49It really didn't move the needle much at all.
00:08:51I don't know that the information had really changed much.
00:08:56But the next day, Joplin calls for a third time.
00:08:59Nobody's heard from him yet.
00:09:01He gave me a house key, and I'm going up there on Monday because I haven't heard anything,
00:09:06and I am very worried.
00:09:08I did talk to a lawyer, and he said that I could talk to you guys, and I can give you
00:09:11guys permission to go in there, but I would have to physically be there.
00:09:15We're more than welcome to go do that for you.
00:09:17Yeah, Joplin?
00:09:18Yeah.
00:09:19Okay.
00:09:20And so, on the morning of March 27th, it's Joplin showing up to open Dr. Garcia's front
00:09:26door.
00:09:27Police officers keep him outside the house, where he waits with a concerned Don Hink.
00:09:34What happens over the next 90 seconds or so will set off torrents of emotion, and unveil
00:09:39a mystery that's filled with sick twists and shocking turns.
00:09:44The police enter the residence with their guns drawn, and then...
00:09:48Dr. Garcia, police department.
00:09:51Can you make yourself known, sir?
00:09:58This close friend that had been calling the Ketchikan Police Department for the welfare
00:10:02check of Dr. Garcia, Jordan Joplin, called once again and said that he was just arriving
00:10:08from Seattle.
00:10:11You had this guy in town who said he had keys to the house, and he wanted you to accompany
00:10:18him.
00:10:19Yeah.
00:10:20We provide a service.
00:10:22Sergeant Cheater and I got there around 9 o'clock in the morning.
00:10:25The house looked the same as when I was there before, so we just waited for Mr. Joplin.
00:10:34It was kind of a big house for a single guy like Dr. Eric Garcia, but the only in Alaska
00:10:40views must have suited the 58-year-old surgeon who had arrived here in the morning.
00:10:45Dr. Eric Garcia, but the only in Alaska views must have suited the 58-year-old surgeon who
00:10:50had arrived here eight years earlier.
00:10:52His latest stop on a journey that began more than 4,000 miles away...
00:11:00in Puerto Rico.
00:11:04Which town in Puerto Rico was it?
00:11:06Ponce, which is the southern side of the island.
00:11:10Our grandmother had a heart defect, so for him to pursue medicine, it was important so
00:11:16that he could help the family.
00:11:20I think he knew that to get his specialty that he wanted to, he was going to have to leave.
00:11:27After he finished his residency program, he moved to Eagle Pass.
00:11:33On the Rio Grande, the border between Texas and Mexico, Eagle Pass has about 30,000 residents.
00:11:39So back in the mid-90s, it's an opportunity for a young surgeon like Eric Garcia to do it all.
00:11:48When you are a general surgeon in a small town, you get to do a lot of things.
00:11:53Did he like the kind of big fish in a small pond aspect?
00:11:57I believe so.
00:11:58He could be more prominent that way, more involved, would have more impact.
00:12:04He loved to travel.
00:12:08We traveled the world together.
00:12:13We decided to take one of those Alaska cruise that took place in September 2004.
00:12:19That was the first time he went to Ketchikan.
00:12:24He really liked Ketchikan.
00:12:29A few years later, a recruit called him to try to get a general surgeon for Ketchikan.
00:12:37I thought, oh, of all places, Alaska, I mean, that's pretty far away.
00:12:42Far away for him, indeed.
00:12:44On paper, anyway, Dr. Garcia seemed like a fish out of water.
00:12:48Dr. Kolatch from Juneau is on line one.
00:12:52We only have one line.
00:12:54Not unlike Dr. Joel Fleischman, played by Rob Morrow in the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure.
00:13:03But in reality, Dr. Garcia was a huge hit with coworkers and with the townspeople, too.
00:13:09They admired both his surgical skill and his personal warmth.
00:13:15I met Dr. Garcia probably a week or so into my work.
00:13:21And he was the most gentle, kind, wonderful soul you could imagine.
00:13:27We were extremely close.
00:13:31He would come over to our house for family and friend gatherings most holidays.
00:13:37He was very easy to like.
00:13:39Always pleasant, always fun to be around.
00:13:41You know, sometimes you run into people you like running into.
00:13:43He was one of those people.
00:13:45Bob Jackson had sold Dr. Garcia that house.
00:13:47Their bond was a close one.
00:13:49Now, on the morning of March 27, 2017, he'd be joining his friend Dawn Hink up there.
00:13:56Just minutes after, she and Jordan Joplin arrived at the site to meet the police.
00:14:03I see two vehicles drive up the driveway.
00:14:05And one was a red Ford truck, which I knew Dr. Garcia drove a red Ford truck.
00:14:12They said he had a red truck. Is this the truck?
00:14:15Where'd you find that?
00:14:17Down at the airport.
00:14:18The officers are recording on body cameras.
00:14:21Let's take a look.
00:14:22That's Mr. Joplin.
00:14:25This is Jordan Joplin using his keys to open the front door.
00:14:29Correct.
00:14:34Dr. Garcia! Police Department!
00:14:37What did you expect to find?
00:14:39An empty home.
00:14:41Did you make yourself known, sir?
00:14:43Typical procedure.
00:14:44We'd announce Ketchikan Police Department.
00:14:46Let it be known if you're inside.
00:14:48There was no response.
00:14:50Dr. Garcia! Dr. Garcia!
00:14:52Officer Miller! Police Department!
00:14:55You've got your gun pulled and you're ready for anything.
00:14:58It's standard for how we enter a residence.
00:15:02We're worrying. We're checking anywhere somebody could hide.
00:15:05We just want to make sure it is secure.
00:15:07We cleared the first floor and started moving up the stairs to the second floor.
00:15:12Hello, Dr. Garcia!
00:15:14That's Sergeant Cheatham in front of me.
00:15:16He reached the top of the stairs and he said that he found the deceased.
00:15:24Dr. Garcia was deceased on the couch.
00:15:31I think my mind just went, this doesn't make sense.
00:15:38Just outside the front door, it's Sergeant Cheatham
00:15:41who has to break the news to Dr. Garcia's friends.
00:15:45There's no easy way to put this, but he has passed away.
00:15:50Jackson had arrived just in time to hear what had happened to his friend, Dr. Garcia.
00:15:56We were all upset. Everyone there was probably briefly in shock.
00:16:02I walked to the opposite side of the house as far away as I could get.
00:16:06Just despair at that point.
00:16:08Dawn Hink is brokenhearted, undone. She is totally distraught.
00:16:18And Garcia's friend from Washington, Jordan Joplin, says he is hurting physically.
00:16:25No, I don't blame you.
00:16:29Okay. If you need to go to the hospital, we can get you to the hospital.
00:16:33If you want to go sit down, go sit down.
00:16:36Joplin recovers, but as the news spreads around Ketchikan, the entire town goes into shock.
00:16:47What did you think about when you heard that news?
00:16:50I guess kind of panic. Not really wanting to believe that.
00:16:56You know, is this real? How could this have happened?
00:17:04I didn't believe it at first.
00:17:07No, it can't be.
00:17:10But it was.
00:17:15Garcia's mother had been worried that he was not returning her calls.
00:17:19Now, from thousands of miles away, Dr. Garcia's brother, Saul, is calling the Ketchikan police for an update.
00:17:29My wife and I were in a conference room, and we called.
00:17:33We were both sitting there calling, and I had the officer on speakerphone, and he's telling us this.
00:17:38Your brother was found dead.
00:17:42The police start trying to figure out what exactly has happened to Dr. Garcia,
00:17:46and they start to learn that the good-hearted doctor actually had some health problems.
00:18:02My first impression is like, oh, maybe, you know, there was an event with his heart to the point that now he passed away.
00:18:10We can make theories on how we think somebody dies, but we just won't know until we get the autopsy results back from the state medical examiner.
00:18:20But after police discovered what's behind this locked door,
00:18:26their thinking will totally pivot to matters more criminal.
00:18:41It's a shocking find.
00:18:43This town's revered surgeon, Dr. Eric Garcia, dead on the couch in his home.
00:18:48But how?
00:18:49Ketchikan, Alaska police, they've got a locked door mystery on their hands, a scene that's filled with clues.
00:18:56And right from the start, something about this man, Dr. Eric Garcia,
00:19:01has been the subject of a lot of controversy.
00:19:04Coming up the stairs, it smelled like barbecue briquettes.
00:19:08You're talking like lighter fluid and charcoal briquettes?
00:19:11Yes, exactly.
00:19:12The deck door was wide open, propped open by a pillow, and the barbecue was right there with burnt ash in it.
00:19:18A lot of people might barbecue on a deck, but not many people would prop the door open with pillows.
00:19:24Did that strike you with something?
00:19:26No.
00:19:27A lot of people might barbecue on a deck, but not many people would prop the door open with pillows.
00:19:33Did that strike you with something unusual?
00:19:35Very unusual.
00:19:36Around the body, there was actually a pill bottle that had Dr. Garcia's name on it.
00:19:41Next to the doctor was a coffee table that was pushed up close to the couch where he was located.
00:19:48There was an open package of bacon, and there was a partially burned charcoal briquette on the coffee table.
00:20:00Outside the house, grief continues to wash over the friends of Dr. Garcia.
00:20:05But Bobby Jackson is agitated about something.
00:20:08This house needs to be secure.
00:20:10Yeah, we'll take care of it.
00:20:11I mean, alarm needs to be set.
00:20:13What I'm saying is there's stuff in there that needs to be locked up.
00:20:16And when Devin Miller comes downstairs, Jackson pulls the officer aside.
00:20:21And he said, there's a storage area underneath the stairs that is locked.
00:20:26And it has got gold and coins and silver in there and a large collection of collectible alcohol.
00:20:38Dr. Garcia had hundreds of mostly silver.
00:20:42He had some gold, but he collected gold coins and some of the mint coins.
00:20:50And he had a lot.
00:20:51When I moved him from his rental to Dr. Garcia's new house that he purchased, it sagged the back of my car down.
00:20:59He had so much gold and silver in there.
00:21:03When did the coin collecting and the collecting in general begin in earnest, from what you can remember?
00:21:09So we were exposed to that from my dad.
00:21:11He started ordering coins.
00:21:13And, you know, it could be gold coins or silver coins.
00:21:16Then he started buying some gold ingots and stuff like that and silver.
00:21:23He had many, many watches, probably about 20 high-end watches.
00:21:27And every time he'd show me one, he would tell me how much it cost.
00:21:31This one was $1,600.
00:21:32This was $2,400.
00:21:36He also bought a lot of hard liquor.
00:21:38He had this huge liquor collection.
00:21:41Was he much of a drinker?
00:21:43He liked his, you know, here or there, but it was mostly for the having these things.
00:21:50Friends say that he had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold, silver and other valuables.
00:21:57So detectives rushed to open the deadbolted door because they're hoping to confirm Dr. Garcia's prized possessions are still in the house.
00:22:05I contacted Mr. Joplin, and so I had him open the door and looked inside.
00:22:14There was no gold. There was no silver found.
00:22:17There were racks and racks that were empty.
00:22:20I did not see a large collection of alcohol or coins or gold or anything.
00:22:27There was 30 or 40 bottles.
00:22:29Oh, wow.
00:22:31I looked in and I said, everything's gone. It's all gone.
00:22:34There was nothing left.
00:22:38I said, he's been robbed. He's not just dead. He's been robbed.
00:22:41And what's going through your heart at this moment?
00:22:43Oh, it's just utter disbelief. And then, and then it even became some anger.
00:22:47According to Bobby Jackson, Dr. Garcia's close friends had wanted to build Dr. Garcia a more secure place for his treasures.
00:22:55But now they were gone.
00:22:57And oddly so, because the storage door had been locked, just like the front door was.
00:23:03The house was not broken into. There was no forced entry.
00:23:07There were no outward signs. And with the items missing, it meant we had a major theft.
00:23:15Detectives were called and asked to come in and help investigate.
00:23:19But remember, detectives have no idea if any of this is related to Dr. Garcia's death.
00:23:24Because after all, friends said he just loved to give away some of these valuables as gifts to friends, even to patients.
00:23:32What I've learned about Dr. Garcia through the course of the investigation is that he was very generous
00:23:38and shared things often with those that he loved and was close to.
00:23:42He would share portions of that alcohol collection that he had. He would gift gold coins.
00:23:48He would buy things for his co-workers, for his friends.
00:23:52He was very generous. Very generous not only with gifts, but with his time and with his service.
00:24:00I mean, he had no bounds. He just, you know, hey, you like that? Is that cool? Have it.
00:24:05You know, and it's a gold nugget. It's an expensive piece of jewelry.
00:24:09Normal people don't just give to whoever.
00:24:13It struck me as an odd thing. It was like, oh, that could be bad.
00:24:17The randomness of it kind of concerned you. Why exactly?
00:24:20It just throws red flags. You can collect some unsavory people that way.
00:24:25Perhaps there's a very good reason why virtually all of Dr. Garcia's valuables are gone.
00:24:31Maybe he didn't plan on being on Earth much longer.
00:24:37In fact, close friend Jordan Joplin had told police on the phone that he'd feared Garcia might have harmed himself.
00:24:55This is news to friends and family who didn't see any evidence that Dr. Garcia was depressed or suicidal.
00:25:04So as investigators take up this trail of the luxury goods, the question of exactly how Dr. Garcia died becomes even more important.
00:25:12They are now looking at Dr. Garcia's mysterious death in an entirely new light.
00:25:18Knowing that the missing valuables were gone, it really changes things immensely.
00:25:24Cops are intrigued enough by what they found here inside the house, but what else is missing might be more mysterious still.
00:25:31Like, what's all that on the wall?
00:25:34It changes everything.
00:25:51And away we go.
00:25:53Sunny Ketchikan.
00:25:55It looks quite nice today.
00:25:58For police here in Ketchikan, Alaska, like Deputy Chief Eric Madsen,
00:26:02the disappearance of what authorities believe to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury items from the house of Dr. Eric Garcia
00:26:10adds to the mystery in the wake of his sudden and unexplained death.
00:26:17I have so many questions about the case and have hardly any answers.
00:26:21So it's frustrating not knowing.
00:26:24And you don't know if it's natural causes, if it's self-inflicted, or if someone has murdered him.
00:26:31I don't know any of those answers in that moment.
00:26:35And for cops, there's a big riddle in plain sight.
00:26:38All over the walls of the house, what was all that?
00:26:41All those.
00:26:42They look like bases for multiple smoke detectors.
00:26:46Every single place that a smoke detector was located or should have been was just the base,
00:26:52with the wiring harness sticking out.
00:26:54There was not one smoke detector inside that house.
00:26:56They were all missing.
00:26:57That struck Garcia's close friends as extremely odd.
00:27:01Dawn Hinks saying she couldn't imagine Dr. Garcia getting up on a ladder to remove those smoke detectors.
00:27:07And there were other details of how his house was found that day that Dawn says made absolutely no sense.
00:27:14Like that barbecue that was found upstairs reeking of lighter fluid.
00:27:19Well, Dawn says Dr. Garcia was never known to grill.
00:27:24His loved ones describe a man who had difficulty doing anything for himself.
00:27:29A lot of times they called me his work wife, picking up dry cleaning, you know, making and bringing his lunch.
00:27:36He is so committed to this career that he's not doing anything else.
00:27:40So his house could be on fire.
00:27:41He has to call somebody else to go, hey, can you check on that fire and maybe see if you can call the police or something.
00:27:49Given the circumstances and the mystery surrounding his brother's death,
00:27:54Saul Garcia decides to make his way to Ketchikan just hours after getting the heartbreaking news.
00:28:00He's got questions of his own to answer about his older brother,
00:28:04who, according to Saul, rarely shared with him details of his private life.
00:28:10Do you think he was lonely?
00:28:12Yes. And the reason for that is after he died, I went to his house.
00:28:21Alone one night in the house, Dr. Garcia said he loved his brother.
00:28:25Saul is seized by a powerful feeling.
00:28:29I was by myself and it was so lonely there.
00:28:35There's no lights outside. It's so quiet. And inside that house, I just felt the loneliness.
00:28:42I just could not imagine him living in there.
00:28:46So what might such apparent loneliness have driven Dr. Eric Garcia to do?
00:28:52That question reverberating weeks later when the toxicology results are released,
00:28:58revealing what killed Dr. Garcia, an overdose of morphine.
00:29:04But it's curious because there's no morphine located in Dr. Garcia's home by authorities.
00:29:09There was no sign of injection, so it had to have been consumed.
00:29:14So that's noteworthy. Morphine found in his stomach.
00:29:17So that means it was swallowed, not injected.
00:29:21Also, there are traces in his bloodstream of a prescription sedative.
00:29:25Was that the empty bottle by his body?
00:29:27And then there's this. Garcia's blood also had an elevated carbon monoxide level.
00:29:34The toxicology report revealed a 9% value of carbon monoxide.
00:29:40Now that is four times the normal limit.
00:29:44So this raises the attention of police when you consider all the other aspects of this case that they've learned.
00:29:52Remember, cops noted a strong smell of lighter fluid in the house.
00:29:55And the upstairs deck door propped open with a charcoal grill placed right at the door.
00:30:02The deck is on the windward side of the house.
00:30:04That's the southeast side.
00:30:06Southeast side of the house.
00:30:09To Officer Miller, that was one of the oddest details of all.
00:30:12Because everyone in town knew in Ketchikan, you did not mess with the southeast wind.
00:30:19So no one in Ketchikan who was a resident here, in your view, would ever have barbecued on the southeast side of their house.
00:30:26Especially on the second floor, that's going to get some wind.
00:30:28So maybe Dr. Garcia didn't know about the wind.
00:30:31I mean, nobody figured him for the barbecue at home type.
00:30:34Or maybe it was somebody else who'd been manning the grill.
00:30:40And then there are those curious items that turn up on the coffee table next to Dr. Garcia.
00:30:45An open package of bacon.
00:30:47A partially burned charcoal briquette.
00:30:50And as they uncovered the body and examined Dr. Garcia, they noted something else.
00:30:56I could see his left hand was on his abdomen.
00:30:59And there was charcoal on his fingertips that had gone to his white t-shirt.
00:31:05That CO reading on the toxicology report also making the mystery of the smoke detectors ominous indeed.
00:31:12I could see that the smoke detectors were removed so that the fumes from the barbecue wouldn't set it off.
00:31:18At this point, I think we suspected there was foul play.
00:31:24Weeks after Dr. Garcia's passing, Saul Garcia was working remotely from his late brother's home.
00:31:33Throughout this whole time, I always feel like Eric is very close to me.
00:31:38I always talk to him. I said, Eric, you need to help us.
00:31:41We need to get this thing to a resolution.
00:31:44Are we missing something?
00:31:48Saul breaks for lunch and then finds himself strolling a mile or so along a bridge.
00:31:54When suddenly, the whole case takes another dramatic and totally unexpected turn.
00:32:00As I'm walking, I get a ping on my phone and I pull it out.
00:32:04And as I look at my phone, I notice these white dots down below.
00:32:11I took some pictures with the telephoto lens and sure enough, those look like the smoke detectors.
00:32:20Saul immediately calls Ketchikan police.
00:32:23Mattson and other officers recover six smoke detectors in the woods.
00:32:27Authorities then go back to the house and match the smoke detectors with the six empty mounting plates via their serial numbers.
00:32:37It's looking more and more to police like somebody was trying to get rid of evidence.
00:32:42It looks like somebody may have been involved in Dr. Garcia's death.
00:32:48The morphine and the combination of the drugs, all the items being stolen, it just all started adding up.
00:32:55In my gut, this death didn't appear as to what it looked like.
00:32:59And as police continue to dig into the case, the evidence is going to lead them to a very unlikely suspect.
00:33:06Someone you might think was one of the last people who'd ever commit this crime.
00:33:25In the wake of the death of Eric Garcia, the community of Ketchikan is struggling with the loss of their beloved doctor.
00:33:33And as one of only two general surgeons in the area, the death of Dr. Garcia causes a medical crisis.
00:33:40Dr. Garcia's death impacted the community greatly.
00:33:43There were a variety of patients that required his care.
00:33:46And with his specialty as a general surgeon, people just weren't going to get that from him anymore.
00:33:53It was a big blow to the community.
00:33:55We really needed another surgeon, and so we scrambled for a while to continue surgical coverage.
00:34:04Meanwhile, the probe into Dr. Eric Garcia's mysterious death, it's become a criminal investigation.
00:34:10Amid the toxicology results, the missing valuables, that strangely placed barbecue grill, and the absent smoke detectors,
00:34:18it's looking like someone might have had a hand in Dr. Garcia's death.
00:34:23In my gut, this death wasn't what it was as it had appeared.
00:34:27To unravel that mystery, cops dig deep, and they're looking into every aspect of Garcia's life, including his financial records.
00:34:36We want bank records to show where he's got accounts and what banks.
00:34:40And they make a startling discovery.
00:34:43Garcia had made wire transfers to several people, including someone named Logan Cruz.
00:34:50Where's all this money going to? Who is Logan Cruz?
00:34:55Turns out police have a pretty good idea of who Logan Cruz is.
00:35:00Nobody's heard from him yet.
00:35:02What's your name?
00:35:03My name's Logan.
00:35:05Oh, my real name is Jordan Joplin, but everybody calls me Logan. Sorry.
00:35:10The caller uses two different names, and we didn't find out until later what that was about.
00:35:17Some of Dr. Garcia's friends had met Jordan Joplin, a.k.a. Logan Cruz,
00:35:22but still, he was a bit of an enigma to the people on the scene that day when Garcia's body was discovered.
00:35:29He was clearly close to the doctor.
00:35:31Remember, he drove up in Garcia's red pickup truck that day from the airport, accompanied by a girlfriend.
00:35:38No one really in town knew him. He doesn't have a history in the town at all.
00:35:43Joplin's demeanor raises a lot of red flags that morning to investigating officers, as well as Dr. Garcia's friends.
00:35:51Mr. Jackson informed me that nobody knows who Jordan Joplin is.
00:35:56To Dr. Garcia's friends, Joplin's behavior seems questionable.
00:36:00But he's also the reason everyone assembled for a welfare check in the first place.
00:36:04Remember, he called the cops. He was raising concerns about Garcia's well-being.
00:36:08He'd been calling the Ketchikan Police Department for the welfare check of Dr. Garcia.
00:36:12When police descended on Eric Garcia's home in Ketchikan for a welfare check,
00:36:16it was Jordan Joplin who'd flown up from Washington State with a key to open the residence.
00:36:22And the sight of those keys in his hand would be a sight Don Hink would never forget.
00:36:28When he pulled out the keys, I knew there's one set of keys, and he has them.
00:36:34I mean, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
00:36:38So what is that relationship? Who is this guy?
00:36:45So after finding the doctor deceased, police have a word or two with the out-of-town.
00:36:51Okay, how did you guys meet? I'm just curious.
00:36:56Jordan Joplin tells police there's a reason why he's got Dr. Garcia's keys, because Dr. Garcia gave them to him.
00:37:03He also said Dr. Garcia gave him power of attorney.
00:37:07You said you have power of attorney?
00:37:16When Joplin is asked about the hundreds of thousands in valuables, he has a quick answer.
00:37:20Two of them, actually. And they contradict each other.
00:37:38Okay. And you're not aware of any high-value items in the house?
00:37:44Okay. I'm asking you about it because you need to be truthful with us.
00:37:52For police, suspicions about Garcia's mysterious friend, they're only deepening as police continue to dig deep with their investigation.
00:38:01One day later, with a warrant, they go through that red pickup truck, Garcia's truck, which Joplin had been driving.
00:38:09There in the glove compartment, they find a vital clue.
00:38:13In the truck, we found a receipt, a waybill.
00:38:17From a barge company that transports goods all through Alaska, along the coast, down to the state of Washington.
00:38:24When we found a receipt in his truck, for me it was something suspicious was going on.
00:38:30Ketchikan police officers rush to the local shipping company.
00:38:33They're hoping they can find out exactly what is being shipped out of state.
00:38:37Detective Purcell and I went to investigate to try and get some kind of video.
00:38:43And what police would spot on surveillance video would take investigators far away from Ketchikan and into the lower 48.
00:38:51On a ticking clock search, the man might be a murderer.
00:38:57But when the private becomes public, deep secrets will be revealed, shocking the people of Ketchikan.
00:39:14He's told me that he wanted to commit suicide from getting raped.
00:39:17This doesn't make sense.
00:39:19Just despairing.
00:39:20Bizarre.
00:39:21This doctor was found dead in his house.
00:39:25For a city like Ketchikan, this infiltrated the entire community.
00:39:29Everyone was talking about it.
00:39:30My life became a true crime show.
00:39:33Police are now looking into every single aspect of Dr. Garcia's life.
00:39:39Do you think there were aspects of his private life that he thought would be difficult to share with your family?
00:39:44Yes.
00:39:54Who exactly is Jordan Joplin?
00:39:59And how did a respected doctor in Alaska become entangled with him?
00:40:05He was two different people.
00:40:07He was very good at manipulating. Very good.
00:40:10How good?
00:40:11Whatever Jordan wanted, Jordan pretty much got.
00:40:15This crime scene just became massive.
00:40:18But nothing in this case is more stunning than the chilling video clip that prosecutors play in court.
00:40:25Oh my God.
00:40:39Ketchikan, Alaska.
00:40:41As beautiful and remote as an international pop star.
00:40:45Inaccessible by car.
00:40:47Abundant fish and wildlife and wondrous vistas that delight the thousands of cruise ship tourists in season.
00:40:54Dr. Eric Garcia took a good look during one of those cruises and left Texas to move here.
00:41:00A kind hearted physician making a lot of friends among the town's 8,000 year rounders.
00:41:06Grateful to have in their midst such a skilled surgeon.
00:41:11Dr. Garcia.
00:41:12Officer Miller.
00:41:15Police Department.
00:41:16But March of 2017, there's trouble in paradise.
00:41:20Big trouble.
00:41:27Cops find the beloved Dr. Garcia dead in his home.
00:41:33He was just the nicest man.
00:41:35Everybody knew him. Everyone wanted to say hello.
00:41:38What a nice guy.
00:41:41Initially, there are questions about his death.
00:41:44Could it be suicide?
00:41:46A heart attack?
00:41:47Or something more sinister?
00:41:50Even after the autopsy was done, the medical examiner did not find any signs of trauma.
00:41:56After that, the toxicology report came back and showed he had actually died of a morphine overdose.
00:42:01But the question is, how did that morphine get in his system?
00:42:05So what or who had taken the life of this trusted physician?
00:42:10And could this scenic hideaway of fewer than 10,000 residents be harboring a murderer?
00:42:20Dr. Garcia's house, a locked door mystery filled with potential clues.
00:42:25A barbecue grill by an open door.
00:42:28A charcoal briquette on a table.
00:42:30Missing smoke detectors discovered tossed into nearby woods.
00:42:35Precious items of value that should be here but aren't anymore.
00:42:43Is your sense that whatever is missing from the house is directly connected to the death of Dr. Garcia?
00:42:51I don't know that we knew that it was directly related to the death.
00:42:55But remember that shipping receipt the cops found inside Dr. Garcia's truck?
00:43:01It's a potentially huge clue.
00:43:06It's that right there.
00:43:07Yes, sir. This is a close-up of that receipt from AML, Alaska Marine Lines.
00:43:12It's a barge company that ships products to and from Ketchikan.
00:43:16Essentially, it was a receipt that was in the name of Jordan Joplin,
00:43:20listing the doctor's address as a shipper address to Jordan Joplin in Maple Valley, Washington.
00:43:27The container weight was total about 4,400 pounds.
00:43:31Two tons of stuff from Dr. Garcia's place.
00:43:35Headed to the lower 48? Really?
00:43:38Cops need to know more about that shipment's stat.
00:43:41And if the often generous Dr. Garcia knew anything about it.
00:43:45Another discovery starts to offer some answers.
00:43:49I did locate a Walmart receipt that was in the garbage in the kitchen.
00:43:53That Walmart receipt listed several items.
00:43:56Notably, several plastic bins or totes.
00:44:00Things that you would store a variety of items in.
00:44:04Just plastic boxes with lids.
00:44:06We do have a few questions for you.
00:44:09Interestingly, Walmart actually was discussed the first time the cops interviewed Jordan Joplin
00:44:15the day Dr. Garcia's body was discovered.
00:44:18As he's asked about his last visit to Ketchikan.
00:44:22Joplin says the two men went to the store together.
00:44:36So the police follow up.
00:44:38They come here to the only Walmart in Ketchikan.
00:44:41And what they find on the store's surveillance security camera
00:44:46marks a big moment in this investigation.
00:44:49What you see is Jordan Joplin moving about Walmart from various different angles.
00:44:55Walmart has an enormous amount of cameras.
00:44:58And essentially we followed him through the store.
00:45:03It shows him from the side. It shows him from above.
00:45:05It just shows Jordan Joplin checking out with all these stacked plastic bins in his cart.
00:45:12One of the camera angles actually shows Jordan Joplin with a huge grin on his face.
00:45:17He had an employee from Walmart help him with another cart because he had that many bins.
00:45:24So once all those items were loaded back into the truck,
00:45:27Mr. Joplin got back into the truck and departed the parking lot.
00:45:30But what you don't see is Dr. Eric Garcia.
00:45:34He's not in a single shot.
00:45:36I mean, in the very first interview, Joplin says that he went with Dr. Garcia to Walmart together.
00:45:42So it shows a lie.
00:45:44It shows a lie.
00:45:45This raises even more questions for authorities about Jordan's shipment at AML, Alaska Marine Lines.
00:45:53So at the time, Detective Purcell and I went to AML to investigate.
00:45:58And what are those things that you're expecting to see?
00:46:02So we're just trying to find out the logistics and where the physical items are at.
00:46:06That's the point in time where we saw video footage of Dr. Garcia's truck
00:46:11and then Jordan Joplin coming and going from the vehicle and unloading items.
00:46:19Detectives now know Jordan Joplin used those plastic crates they saw him buy at Walmart
00:46:23to load something into shipping containers.
00:46:26The bad news is it all happened 10 days earlier.
00:46:29The containers actually were already gone.
00:46:31They were already on the barge on their way to Seattle.
00:46:33But now that we realize and found that the property was now in transit,
00:46:37this crime scene just became massive.
00:46:39It went from Ketchikan, Alaska down to Seattle, Washington.
00:46:43And what did you know definitively about the stuff you were trying to find?
00:46:48We didn't know anything.
00:46:49Whatever is inside those containers, detectives want to get their hands on it before Jordan Joplin does.
00:46:56They take off for Seattle, and the clock is ticking.
00:47:00I've been involved in a lot of cases, but this one was pretty fast-moving.
00:47:03There was definitely a sense of urgency.
00:47:05The two detectives join their partner, Officer Devin Miller.
00:47:08It is highly unusual for city of Ketchikan police officers to go to the lower 48.
00:47:17They are heading to this facility in the port of Seattle.
00:47:20It's a race against time.
00:47:22The discovery of a shipping receipt in Dr. Garcia's truck with Jordan Joplin's name on it
00:47:37leads investigators to a shipping company in Ketchikan.
00:47:40Only there they discover that two tons of stuff has already left Alaska.
00:47:45The containers that Joplin has had sent have already arrived here in Seattle.
00:47:49They're at the port.
00:47:51So, officers in Ketchikan hop a plane to its suite.
00:47:54We were trying to get those containers before anybody else did.
00:47:59Sergeant Matson, Detective Bursell, and myself got onto a plane and went to Seattle.
00:48:07We went to AML on East Marginal Way in Seattle, Washington, and found the containers.
00:48:13They had already been set aside and secured by AML personnel.
00:48:17We cut the locks that were secured on the containers and started to open them.
00:48:23Oh, my God.
00:48:26There were cases of coins and collectibles, the gold and silver.
00:48:30There were hundreds of bottles.
00:48:33It was a massive collection. These boxes were so full,
00:48:36it almost seemed like they were overspilling when we opened them.
00:48:41His entire life, his computers, personal checks, bank checks in the name of Dr. Garcia,
00:48:48passport in the name of Dr. Garcia.
00:48:51Cops now have thousands of dollars of Dr. Garcia's missing stuff, and it's just the beginning.
00:48:57Next up in their plan, place Jordan Joplin under arrest for theft.
00:49:03For this, Ketchikan cops need the able assistance of King County law enforcement.
00:49:08It's an out-of-state agency. It's their investigation.
00:49:11They've developed a probable cause for the arrest,
00:49:14so they need a local agency with them to both help them make the arrest,
00:49:20draft any search warrants that need to be done.
00:49:25The Seattle cops want to lure Joplin out of his house so that he can be arrested at the port.
00:49:32And it turns out, according to the shipping company,
00:49:35Joplin has been just itching to take possession of that precious cargo.
00:49:43We knew that he had been calling. I think he was a manager.
00:49:46And he talked about, you know, this guy's been calling all the time.
00:49:50I'm like, great, well, have him call. Call him back and tell him to come down here.
00:49:54I gave Jordan a call. He wanted to know if his shipment was in.
00:49:57I said, no, there's a snafu.
00:50:01So this was a ruse.
00:50:03You cooked up to try to get him out of that house and get him in a place
00:50:07where you could get a good look at him, so to speak.
00:50:14And as sure as the rain in Seattle, Joplin shows up at the appointed time.
00:50:20We can park here.
00:50:25Let's hop out here.
00:50:28If I introduce myself, hey, I'm with the sheriff's office.
00:50:31I need to speak with you. I gotta go talk to these guys.
00:50:35And I stopped him and said, no, no, you need to stay here.
00:50:38These are detectives from Alaska.
00:50:40To which his response was something along the lines of,
00:50:43I don't want to talk to any of you guys. You can just talk to my attorney.
00:50:46And it's at that point that I said, well, you are under arrest.
00:50:50He was treating you like the help.
00:50:52Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was very dismissive.
00:50:55With Joplin in custody, it's now time for part B of the plan.
00:50:59Are you in the lead car as you do this?
00:51:01Yes.
00:51:03That's executing a search warrant at his residence.
00:51:06But while Joplin is no longer at home, there is someone there to answer the door.
00:51:11I was his fiancee.
00:51:13At first, I looked out our bedroom door.
00:51:16There was a bunch of unmarked cars, police officers with bulletproof vests on.
00:51:22And I'm like completely naked.
00:51:24I'd just gotten out of the shower and I was like.
00:51:27For investigators, it's just one of many surprises they're going to uncover with Joplin.
00:51:32Remember, that day he had showed up at Dr. Garcia's house,
00:51:35he was with another woman he identified as his girlfriend.
00:51:40I did have concerns that he was then maybe cheating on me with her.
00:51:43But at that point, I wasn't 100 percent sure.
00:51:47It wasn't until after our house got raided that I found out.
00:51:51Kristen may have suspected Jordan was cheating, but she was adamant she knew nothing.
00:51:55about what had brought this small armada of police to her doorstep.
00:51:59I stood outside of my house for six hours.
00:52:01I took my phone to call my electronics because the warrant was on my name as well.
00:52:07She asked where Jordan was.
00:52:08And I said, well, he's talking to some detectives from Alaska right now.
00:52:12What do you know about Jordan's relationship with Dr. Garcia?
00:52:15What about some of this property that's here?
00:52:17They were like, we are not interested in you.
00:52:19We are just interested in Jordan.
00:52:21She was aware of everything coming in from the doctor over a period of time.
00:52:25But according to her, from Jordan, this was all just a gift from the doctor.
00:52:29I was just trying to process where I missed these flags.
00:52:32The women who accompanied Joplin to Ketchikan and Kristen were both cleared by law enforcement.
00:52:39Meanwhile, cops swarm the site and all the evidence they retrieve is sent to Ketchikan police.
00:52:45Notably during that search warrant, detectives had found a Faraday bag that contained the doctor's cell phones.
00:52:54A Faraday bag is essentially an electronic blocking bag or device.
00:52:59Once it's placed in there, it's cut off from that communication and hides the signals.
00:53:03We also found in another location Dr. Garcia's wallet with his ID.
00:53:09Jordan Joplin was charged with theft in the first degree.
00:53:15Joplin would plead not guilty.
00:53:17But really his arrest is just the start of unraveling this big mystery.
00:53:22And the more investigators dig into his background, the more they wonder who exactly is Jordan Joplin?
00:53:29And how did a respected doctor in Alaska become entangled with him?
00:53:36A mass manipulator.
00:53:37He was two different people.
00:53:39Out to get whatever he needs at that moment and then to move on like a tornado.
00:53:46You
00:53:51That police raid in Maple Valley, Washington, during late March 2017,
00:53:56would mark the beginning of what she describes as one big wake-up call for Joplin's fiancée, Kristen Coles Nelson.
00:54:04My life became a true crime show.
00:54:09When they showed up my house and they first announced that they were cops and stuff,
00:54:14they say we're the Washington County Sheriff Department.
00:54:17And then the guy behind him said, I am a sheriff from Ketchikan.
00:54:22And I looked at them puzzled.
00:54:25I think I said, does this have to do with Eric?
00:54:28And then they asked me why I thought that.
00:54:30And I was like, well, he just passed away and I know that he was terminally ill.
00:54:36But of course, Dr. Eric Garcia was never terminally ill.
00:54:40Kristen says she immediately realized that was just a lie Joplin had told her
00:54:45to explain his increasingly frequent trips to Alaska.
00:54:49My world turned upside down and inside out.
00:54:51He did have two sides.
00:54:53He had this facade that he put out that he was a great person
00:54:56and that he didn't like liars, but he was one himself.
00:55:01I didn't know what to believe, what was the truth.
00:55:05The truth could be a rude awakening for those who knew Jordan Joplin.
00:55:08And as investigators were discovering,
00:55:11Joplin's trouble in Alaska was not his first brush with the law.
00:55:17Jordan Joplin had grown up here in Forks, Washington,
00:55:20the town made famous in the Twilight films.
00:55:23In the state of Washington, under a near constant cover of clouds and rain,
00:55:27there's a small town named Forks.
00:55:30Population, 3,120 people.
00:55:34Jordan's dream was just to take care of everybody.
00:55:36Aunt Sandy, I'm going to get rich and I'm going to take care of all of you.
00:55:40Sandy Flores and her husband were raising three boys in Forks
00:55:43when her younger sister Debbie moved to town after a divorce.
00:55:47Her youngest, Jordan, was just a year and a half.
00:55:50He was very impulsive, I think is the word to use.
00:55:54Instead of thinking about it, he would just do something.
00:55:57And then go, oh wow, that was fun, let's do it again.
00:56:00Jordan Joplin was all grown up by the time this young woman
00:56:03encountered him in the summertime of 2010.
00:56:07He was very high energy, and so that positivity was kind of infectious.
00:56:15Jessica Everton met Jordan Joplin in Bonney Lake, Washington.
00:56:18That's near Tacoma.
00:56:20While they were each working at a food bank that was run by her father.
00:56:24Jessica knew Jordan was there for community service.
00:56:27Jessica knew Jordan was there for community service.
00:56:30And here's what the young single mother says she did not know.
00:56:34That it was ordered after he was convicted of two felonies.
00:56:37After abandoning his car and then claiming it had been stolen.
00:56:41Investigators became suspicious when they noticed he had filed an insurance claim
00:56:46three hours before reporting he'd left the vehicle on the side of the road.
00:56:51Oh, those impulses.
00:56:53He was very kind, he listened.
00:56:56Once my dad got hurt, Jordan kind of took over what my dad's duties were.
00:57:02Anything that my dad needed, Jordan was on top of doing.
00:57:06And that's when you started going out with him.
00:57:08That's essentially, yes.
00:57:11He was intoxicating, he really was.
00:57:14And then he used that to manipulate.
00:57:17He was very good at manipulating.
00:57:20Very good.
00:57:22Summer ended and so had Jordan's community service.
00:57:25Joplin telling Jessica he was working as a personal trainer.
00:57:29She never saw any clients.
00:57:31He was, however, spending plenty of time at the gym.
00:57:34He was an aspiring stripper.
00:57:37How did he look with his shirt off?
00:57:41Gorgeous.
00:57:44Jessica says her relationship with Joplin took a dramatic turn
00:57:48after a Christmas shopping trip in 2010.
00:57:51We were shopping at Walmart.
00:57:53As we walked out, we got swarmed.
00:57:57They're accusing me of stealing.
00:57:59I'm flabbergasted.
00:58:01Walmart security accused the couple of shoplifting
00:58:04a number of GPS units from the store.
00:58:07The police showed up and we were arrested.
00:58:10And we were both placed in the same squad car.
00:58:13Could you ever have imagined in your life
00:58:15you would end up in the back of a squad car?
00:58:17No.
00:58:19He was standing next to me saying, please don't leave me.
00:58:22Please don't leave me.
00:58:24The police report noted that Jessica and Jordan
00:58:27said the theft was his idea.
00:58:29They were both charged.
00:58:31And what happened to the charges against you?
00:58:33They ended up getting deferred
00:58:35because I wanted the whole thing over behind me.
00:58:38I wanted no part of any of it.
00:58:41I said I'll do my community service.
00:58:43I won't commit this crime again.
00:58:46Jordan, on the other hand, pled guilty to theft.
00:58:49He received a suspended jail sentence.
00:58:51And you'll never believe this, more community service.
00:58:55But Jessica says Jordan Joplin
00:58:57refused to go quietly into the night.
00:59:00Jordan's not very nice when he's angry.
00:59:03His text messages and all of that stuff.
00:59:06And what are those messages saying that you're getting?
00:59:09At one point it was, if I can't have you, nobody can.
00:59:12And he started threatening my family.
00:59:15Jessica took action to get Jordan Joplin out of her life.
00:59:20I get a restraining order against him.
00:59:22Joplin disputed Jessica's claim in court papers,
00:59:25saying he'd moved on with his life and had a new girlfriend.
00:59:29What happened after you got the restraining order?
00:59:31He stopped.
00:59:34But some speak in glowing terms about the Joplin they knew.
00:59:39I never expected somebody like that to be in my life, you know?
00:59:44Crescenta Lawrence had hit rock bottom in 2012, she says,
00:59:48before Joplin's attentions pulled her out of a hellish spiral.
00:59:53Jordan made certain to be there.
00:59:57Helped me with the bills when I didn't even ask for it.
01:00:00He babysat the kids so I could go to the hospital.
01:00:03He was an angel.
01:00:07I was just happy to be a piece of furniture in his life.
01:00:11He radiated such energy about him
01:00:15that anybody would want to be around him.
01:00:18And anybody occasionally meant just about everybody.
01:00:24He'd have two, three girlfriends at the same time,
01:00:27as a matter of fact, in the same truck, showing up at my house.
01:00:31One of the girls, she goes,
01:00:33I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to stay away from him.
01:00:37Later, I had a few connections that I got him into the adult industry.
01:00:44He was a dancer for a while, and then he became a model
01:00:48and an adult entertainer.
01:00:50He was doing movies.
01:00:52My name's Logan, I'm here to see the house.
01:00:54Do you want my ad online? Yes, sir.
01:00:56Jordan Joplin worked in adult films under the stage name Logan Cruz.
01:01:01Remember, that's the name he used
01:01:03when he made that welfare check call for Dr. Garcia.
01:01:06My name's Logan.
01:01:08What's your last name?
01:01:10My real name is Jordan Joplin, but everybody calls me Logan.
01:01:14So just how did Logan Cruz from Washington state
01:01:19come to cross paths with a surgeon from Alaska?
01:01:24That was the big question was,
01:01:26the police described him as a close friend,
01:01:28so what is that relationship?
01:01:30In life, Eric Garcia was able to closely guard his privacy.
01:01:34With his sudden death, that control was gone.
01:01:37As questions are answered, secrets are revealed.
01:01:40Did keeping those secrets cost Dr. Eric Garcia his life?
01:01:55The home of Dr. Eric Garcia in Ketchikan, Alaska,
01:01:58had become a crime scene.
01:02:00But was it just the latest location
01:02:02for the alleged deceit and deceptions of Jordan Joplin?
01:02:08His friends back in Washington state
01:02:10knew Joplin could be a smooth-talking playa,
01:02:13an occasional bad boy,
01:02:15but Dr. Eric Garcia's focus had been on medicine,
01:02:18and that always left little room
01:02:20for any kind of well-rounded life away from the hospital.
01:02:25I know that he dated when he was young,
01:02:28and mostly I know this from my sister,
01:02:30because my sister actually got more into his business than I did.
01:02:34So I think I left those topics alone.
01:02:38According to his family, they were left to wonder
01:02:40if Dr. Garcia's lack of experience in dating
01:02:44might have made him easy prey
01:02:46for the alleged manipulations of a Jordan Joplin,
01:02:49especially after a life-changing operation in Seattle
01:02:53kind of opened up a chasm inside the surgeon
01:02:57who had always put his work first.
01:03:01You talked about how you felt this triple bypass
01:03:04was kind of a turning point in his life.
01:03:09Well, I mean, he kind of fell into
01:03:11a little bit of a depression right after,
01:03:13which is not uncommon from having cardiac surgery,
01:03:16and he re-evaluated his life,
01:03:19and he started also thinking,
01:03:21well, maybe it's time for me to enjoy my life some more.
01:03:25It was around that time that Joplin
01:03:27was working as a massage therapist in Washington state.
01:03:30Joplin would say Garcia paid $500
01:03:33the first time he gave him a massage,
01:03:36and that that's how their relationship began.
01:03:38Why do you think he didn't want to talk to people
01:03:41about his relationship with him?
01:03:44I just think that certain people
01:03:47have a really hard time accepting who they are.
01:03:52In Ketchikan, with his many patients,
01:03:54the decisions of Dr. Eric Garcia saved lives.
01:03:58With Jordan Joplin, did Eric Garcia's decisions
01:04:01cost the doctor his own life?
01:04:04To all but his closest friends,
01:04:06he never shared intimate details of his private life,
01:04:09not in Alaska and not in his family.
01:04:12Do you think there were aspects of his private life
01:04:15that he thought would be difficult to share with your family?
01:04:18Yes. I personally suspected that,
01:04:21so I never really questioned him,
01:04:24but certainly it would have been
01:04:27something hard to discuss with my mom or my dad.
01:04:33Yet among those in Washington who knew Joplin,
01:04:36Eric Garcia was no secret.
01:04:39Amanda Polreich was a close friend of Joplin's.
01:04:42When cops got a tip she had important information about him,
01:04:45they tracked her down in Washington state.
01:04:49All I knew that he was his sugar daddy.
01:04:51That the doctor was Jordan's sugar daddy?
01:04:53Yes. He would send him money.
01:04:55He would ship him things.
01:04:59Whatever Jordan wanted, Jordan pretty much got, honestly.
01:05:07Inside Garcia's home, police find a letter he received from Joplin.
01:05:19I love you and I hope you never forget that.
01:05:23The letter from Joplin to Dr. Garcia began,
01:05:26ending with the words, love always, Jordan.
01:05:32In the search of Joplin's home in Washington,
01:05:35a card he had received from Eric Garcia
01:05:38with a darkly ironic message.
01:05:41We located a Valentine's Day card.
01:05:45It was dated February 14th, 2017, addressed to Jordan from Eric.
01:05:50I paraphrased what I read in that.
01:05:53You are my first and only love.
01:05:56Not kidding, you will probably kill me,
01:05:59but know that I will never let you down.
01:06:04Your brother was Dr. Eric Garcia.
01:06:07He showed great judgment every time he entered an operating room
01:06:11or spoke to a patient.
01:06:13Why did he remain in Joplin's life?
01:06:19Well, in these types of domestic types of relationship,
01:06:25these things happen where people control somebody else.
01:06:29As they seek to link Joplin to the morphine,
01:06:32cops are also working to connect Joplin to a detail
01:06:35found in the toxicology report.
01:06:37Remember, Dr. Garcia's elevated levels of carbon monoxide.
01:06:41All that odd barbecue evidence.
01:06:44And that raised the question,
01:06:46was the entire scenario with the charcoal grill
01:06:49staged by Joplin to make it look like Dr. Garcia killed himself
01:06:54via inhaling carbon monoxide from the smoke from the barbecue?
01:06:58And did Joplin remove those smoke detectors
01:07:01to prevent them from going off and alerting authorities?
01:07:05Cops go back to that video of Joplin from Walmart
01:07:09where they knew he bought all those packing crates.
01:07:13Well, the evidence also showed that's not all he bought.
01:07:17He also bought a bag of charcoal.
01:07:20It was the one other thing other than all these plastic bins
01:07:23that Jordan Joplin purchased that day at Walmart.
01:07:26There it is. It's listed right on that receipt.
01:07:28So was this Jordan Joplin gathering the elements he needed
01:07:33to make it appear as if a depressed Dr. Garcia wanted to end it all?
01:07:38Then, one more shocking piece of evidence
01:07:41that's found on Jordan Joplin's iPhone.
01:07:44It's evidence that might just seal his fate.
01:07:57In Ketchikan, Alaska, Jordan Joplin sits in jail on a theft charge
01:08:02as authorities are seeking to tie him to the murder of Dr. Eric Garcia.
01:08:09The results of the autopsy in this case couldn't say
01:08:12whether Dr. Garcia had purposely ingested this morphine
01:08:16or whether someone had given it to him.
01:08:18They could only say what the cause of death was.
01:08:22There was still the question out there is where did the morphine come from?
01:08:26Everything's starting to come together
01:08:28as police learn about that friend of Joplin's, Amanda Polreich.
01:08:32Polreich tells police that she had gotten morphine
01:08:36from a friend whose spouse had been prescribed the medication
01:08:40and that Joplin had asked her just how much morphine would be fatal.
01:08:45It was like, you know, if I wanted to be able just to like
01:08:48off myself one day, like how much do you think I would need it?
01:08:52Like how much would it take to either, you know, get high on it or slip away?
01:08:56When did that conversation happen before the doctor was killed?
01:08:59I gave it to him way before, like months probably.
01:09:03What Ms. Polreich was able to do was show that Mr. Joplin
01:09:08was the one who procured the morphine to eventually kill Dr. Garcia.
01:09:12Was there any discussion on how he used the liquid morphine on the doctor?
01:09:17Nope. He never mentioned anything about what he was doing at all.
01:09:25Here's the police theory.
01:09:27Joplin gave Garcia that fatal dose of morphine
01:09:30during his March 2017 visit.
01:09:33Then Joplin left the state and then called in the welfare check
01:09:38so that he would have the perfect alibi.
01:09:43So Mr. Joplin was charged with murder in the first degree
01:09:47and also theft in the first degree.
01:09:49Joplin pleads not guilty to all charges.
01:09:55For a city like Ketchikan, this was just unheard of crime.
01:09:59So it really kind of infiltrated the entire community.
01:10:02Everyone was talking about it.
01:10:04So much so that the case was actually moved from being tried in Ketchikan
01:10:08to being tried in Anchorage.
01:10:15I tried in my opening statement to present this clear picture
01:10:19of why Mr. Joplin is guilty beyond reasonable doubt of all of these charges.
01:10:26The prosecution methodically lays out before the jury
01:10:30a timeline of what they say is Joplin's involvement in the case.
01:10:35And they bring Amanda Polright to the stand
01:10:38to put the morphine in his hands before Dr. Garcia's death.
01:10:42They put police on the stand to testify about their investigation.
01:10:47The fact that when Mr. Joplin called in the fake welfare check,
01:10:53he told them to call Dr. Garcia's cell phone,
01:10:56but he had that cell phone with him in Washington in a Faraday bag
01:11:02was also particularly damning evidence.
01:11:07But nothing in this case is more stunning than the disturbing video clip
01:11:11obtained by police from Joplin's phone that prosecutors play in court.
01:11:17On March 17, 2017, the defendant, Jordan Joplin, took out his cell phone
01:11:26and he took a video of Dr. Eric Garcia unconscious,
01:11:32gasping for air, and close to death.
01:11:37Ten days later, on March 27, 2017,
01:11:42Ketchikan police officers found Dr. Garcia dead,
01:11:46in the same position as in the video,
01:11:49wearing the same clothes as he did in the video.
01:11:54Yet in Joplin's video, there's no charcoal visible on Dr. Garcia's hands,
01:11:59showing, prosecutors say in their summation,
01:12:02all the barbecue stuff happened afterwards,
01:12:05after that fatal dose of morphine.
01:12:09When it's the defense team's turn, Joplin's attorney says
01:12:13that the prosecution's case is entirely circumstantial
01:12:17and that Dr. Garcia himself administered the morphine that took his life.
01:12:23And as for that video, well, the defense acknowledges
01:12:27that Joplin may not have reacted appropriately,
01:12:30claiming it was out of fear for Dr. Garcia's job,
01:12:34but it doesn't mean he's guilty.
01:12:37The defense calls Jordan Joplin.
01:12:39To testify in his own defense, Jordan Joplin takes the stand.
01:12:44Did you know Dr. Eric Garcia?
01:12:47Yes, I did.
01:12:48Did you love him?
01:12:50Yes.
01:12:51He characterized it as a romantic relationship.
01:12:54He's very kind, emotionally supportive.
01:12:57He offered a number of alternatives for what he said was happening.
01:13:02And the shipping containers with his belongings?
01:13:05Well, Joplin tells the jury that Dr. Garcia
01:13:09was planning on retiring and moving to Washington.
01:13:13He was giving me a bunch of stuff,
01:13:15and then also I was under the impression that
01:13:18he either bought a house or was in the process of buying a house.
01:13:23He was supposed to retire in the spring of 2017.
01:13:28Prosecutors later say there is no evidence,
01:13:32other than Joplin's own word,
01:13:34to suggest that Dr. Garcia ever planned on retiring
01:13:38and moving to Washington.
01:13:43Choosing to testify on his own behalf
01:13:46leaves Joplin wide open for cross-examination.
01:13:50Mr. Joplin, you started to plan killing Dr. Garcia
01:13:55much before March of 2017, right?
01:13:58I didn't try or kill or plan to kill anybody.
01:14:03What really stood out was the different stories
01:14:07throughout even his own testimony.
01:14:10You didn't try to wake him up at any point?
01:14:15I did.
01:14:16Okay, that's new today, too. When did you do that?
01:14:19Either sometime on the 17th.
01:14:24I didn't shake him really hard
01:14:25because I wasn't trying to startle him.
01:14:27He seemed to be sleeping hard, so I just left him alone.
01:14:33On the 14th day of this emotional trial,
01:14:36the defense rests.
01:14:38So after we finish closing arguments,
01:14:40then the case goes to the jury,
01:14:42and ultimately the case is in their hands.
01:14:46Also in the jury's hands, the fate of Jordan Joplin.
01:14:51You just don't know what a jury's going to do.
01:14:53It's excruciating to not know what's going to happen.
01:15:09Seven years after Dr. Eric Garcia's death,
01:15:13testimony in the murder trial of Jordan Joplin is over.
01:15:18Then, on day three of deliberations,
01:15:21jurors say they've reached a verdict.
01:15:24I think the most excruciating part
01:15:26is when the jury has come in
01:15:28and we're just waiting for the words to be said.
01:15:32We, the jury, find the defendant, Jordan Joplin,
01:15:36guilty of murder in the first degree.
01:15:40Guilty of all charges.
01:15:42He was found guilty of murder in the first degree
01:15:44and theft in the first degree.
01:15:45The second we got the guilty verdict,
01:15:48I was amazed, but elation.
01:15:53I was so excited that this can't happen again to another person.
01:16:02On April 9th, 2024, Jordan Joplin was brought back here
01:16:07to Ketchikan for sentencing.
01:16:14Eric Garcia's brother, Saul,
01:16:16made the roughly six-hour flight from L.A. to Ketchikan,
01:16:19plus that ferry from the airport,
01:16:21just so he could deliver a victim impact statement.
01:16:26In your address to the court,
01:16:29you spoke directly to Joplin.
01:16:32What did you want him to hear from your mouth?
01:16:34So, essentially that the one person that cared for you
01:16:38and he essentially gambled your life away.
01:16:42I mean, because you thought you could get away with it?
01:16:49The court preferred the victim's statements to go first
01:16:52and then the state's argument?
01:16:54Yes, please.
01:16:55Just state your full name for the record.
01:16:57I'll be glad to hear from you.
01:17:00Our hope is that the court gives the strongest consideration possible
01:17:05to all victim's statements today
01:17:09and arrives at the maximum sentence possible for Joplin.
01:17:15This was intentional, significantly premeditated,
01:17:19brazen, craven conduct,
01:17:22and it calls for a significant sentence.
01:17:26For murder in the first degree,
01:17:28the sentence will be 99 years with none suspended.
01:17:34I feel like justice was served.
01:17:36Jordan got 99 years in prison.
01:17:39Alaska does not allow the death penalty,
01:17:42so that's about the maximum that you can get.
01:17:48I was pleased.
01:17:50It's not because I have this vengeance in my heart
01:17:54that he wants to pay.
01:17:56No, I don't see it that way.
01:17:59I was very glad that this is not going to happen to anybody else.
01:18:06In Ketchikan, the love and affection for Dr. Garcia lives on in so many ways.
01:18:13We heard from everyone in Ketchikan
01:18:15how they like to remember your brother, Dr. Eric Garcia.
01:18:20How would you like us to remember him?
01:18:28I think Eric's legacy is about compassion and caring,
01:18:34but he helped so many people along the way
01:18:38with medicine or just being friends with people
01:18:41and connecting with them.
01:18:46At the hospital where he worked,
01:18:48a memorial tree planted during a beautiful ceremony,
01:18:51a lasting tribute to someone who was once an outsider
01:18:55who was embraced by the townsfolk here as one of their own.
01:19:00Part of the ceremony was,
01:19:02everybody would pick a stone that would remind him of Eric.
01:19:07Love, happiness, friendliness.
01:19:10One by one, everybody would lay a stone
01:19:13in a circular fashion around the tree.
01:19:19Now you can see how big the tree is seven years later.
01:19:25The tree blooms every year, and it's beautiful.
01:19:29It's a beautiful way to commemorate a beautiful man.
01:19:39And we should point out tonight that Jordan Joplin
01:19:41has now filed an appeal of his conviction.
01:19:43David, if his appeal is denied,
01:19:45the earliest he'll be eligible for parole
01:19:47is in the year 2050, when he'll be 64.
01:19:50That's our program for tonight,
01:19:52and here's to a great new season of 2020.
01:19:55I'm Deborah Roberts.
01:19:56And I'm David Muir.
01:19:57Incredible stories coming your way.
01:19:59This is just the start.
01:20:00From all of us at 2020 and ABC News, good night.