Cold Blooded: 'Legion of Lies'

This is Deborah Roberts here with another weekly episode of our latest series from 2020 and ABC Audio, Cold-Blooded Mystery in Alaska.

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After Jordan Joplin was arrested for theft in Washington state in April 2017, He was extradited to Alaska and held on $200,000 bail in the Ketchikan Corrections Center, just 500 yards from Dr.

Garcia's house.

By that summer, investigators were confident that Dr.

Garcia's house was the scene of more than a theft.

They believed Jordan murdered Dr.

Garcia by slipping him morphine.

and then trying to make his death look like a suicide or an accident.

Armed with their evidence and theory of the crime, prosecutors brought their case to a grand jury.

The jury returned an indictment with charges of theft and first and second degree murder.

Jordan pleaded not guilty to all charges, which meant the case would go to trial.

While Jordan awaited trial, investigators stayed on the case.

because there was still a big problem at the heart of it, a problem that could certainly come up at trial.

They didn't know where the morphine that killed Dr.

Garcia came from.

That is until one day in 2019, more than two years after Jordan's arrest, when Sergeant Eric Mattson got a call from a man who lived near Tacoma, Washington.

Ketchiken police told ABC News that the caller was scared of the situation he found himself in, so we are distorting his voice.

So here's a story.

This man said back in 2017, a friend was over at his house and started talking about Dr.

Garcia's death.

By that point, Jordan's indictment had been all over the local news.

He told police the friend said she knew Jordan Joplin had killed Dr.

Garcia.

I said, how do you know this guy even killed this guy?

He goes, she goes, because I gave him the dope.

I'm like, what?

Cause I gave him the media.

The caller didn't believe her at first, but later, he revisited news coverage of Dr.

Garcia's death.

And I'm like, oh,

it is true.

That's exactly how he died, exactly how she said.

Sergeant Mattson assured the man on the other end of the line that investigators would do their due diligence.

This is something definitely worth checking out, so I appreciate you calling.

Investigators wanted to get the caller's friend to admit on tape that she had given Jordan Joplin morphine.

So they obtained what's called a glass warrant in Alaska.

It gave them permission to record a conversation between the woman, Amanda Polreich, and the man who had called in.

Investigators listened in while they spoke for around 15 minutes.

I'm still trying to be your friend and everything, but trying to figure out with the dilemma that this person did this.

I still can't believe that he did that.

Officers Officers said the call didn't give them exactly what they were after.

So the next month, they left Ketchikan for the second time in their investigation and flew again to the Lower 48 to Seattle to interview Amanda in person.

She started the police interview by saying she was shocked at what Jordan had allegedly done.

Stayed over his house.

I took care of his kid when he was out, you know, going to like the grocery store or whatnot.

Like I generally never ever ever would have thought Jordan would have done that at all

Amanda told them what she knew about the relationship between Jordan and Dr.

Garcia it wasn't mysterious to her at all she said it was all about money dr.

Garcia funded Jordan's life he was his sugar daddy he was his financial

everything

Everything he owns is from the doctor, pretty much.

The officers didn't ask Amanda point blank if she gave morphine to Jordan.

Instead, Sergeant Eric Mattson kept things a bit more general.

Have you ever given him anything, any drugs, or has he ever bought drugs from you?

And like I said, I'm not, this is not, we're not here to say, okay, you know, Amanda, hey, we got you for selling whatever.

That's not our intention.

So, um.

Amanda told officers that in 2017, she got morphine from a friend whose spouse had been prescribed the medication.

The friend wanted it out of the house after the spouse had died.

When Amanda thought about who might be interested in the morphine or would know someone who would be, Jordan came to mind.

She said the two of them met about the morphine and Jordan was interested in it.

He was like, you know, if I wanted to be able to just like

off myself one day, like, how much do you think I would need?

And I was like, well, why would you talk like that?

I was like, that doesn't make no sense.

And why, you know, you have a great life, you have lots of stuff, you have your son.

And he was like, well, I'm just saying, like, in general.

And I was like, dude, I don't know.

Like, that's kind of,

it's not a question I asked myself.

And he was just like, okay, well, you know.

And then it was like, nothing, nothing ever happened.

And then he changed the subject.

When did that conversation happen before the doctor was killed?

I gave it to him way before,

like months, probably.

Was there any discussion on how he used the liquid morphine on a doctor?

Nope.

He never mentioned anything about what he was doing at all.

Amanda said Jordan paid her a couple of hundred dollars in cash for the morphine, and then she didn't really think about it again.

When she heard about what happened to Dr.

Garcia, despite what she said Jordan had asked her months before.

She didn't reach out to the police.

Sergeant Eric Mattson asked her why.

I wanted to, but I just,

this is just.

I'm scared.

Pretty serious.

Yeah,

very serious.

Very serious.

I didn't want to be involved.

Like, this is not my thing.

I didn't want to be involved.

I didn't want, you know, I was in school.

I'm trying to get my life together, my own business.

Like, I'm

once Jordan left, Jordan left, and I

want nothing to do with him.

I can't even believe that you would do that to somebody that you called a friend.

So, I'm looking at it.

Well, what if he would have done that to me?

Well, confession's good for the soul.

Hopefully, Phil.

Hopefully, it can come off your chest a little bit, you know.

And our intention is to gather facts and the information.

I understand.

All right.

I'm going to turn this recorder off off right now

given her cooperation with authorities amanda was not charged officer devin miller said he and other investigators found her to be forthcoming trustworthy and willing to help the investigation in any way she could

miller said her interview was a breakthrough

well we had the smoking gun we had the gun that killed dr Garcia, and

we had that in Jordan's hands.

It's a we got a moment.

I feel tingly just thinking about it again.

It seemed like at last they had the missing puzzle piece they needed to complete the story of Dr.

Garcia's death.

But they would have to wait a few more years for the case to be heard in a courtroom.

And when it finally came time for the trial, they would face a big unknown.

The defense calls Jordan Joplin.

From ABC Audio in 2020, I'm Chris Connolly, and this is Cold Blooded, Mystery in Alaska.

Episode 6:

Legion of Lies.

Jordan's attorneys, who were both public defenders, argued that he could not get a fair trial in Ketchikan because Dr.

Garcia had such a large presence there and because residents had read some of the stories that describe Jordan's criminal record and his past as an actor in adult films.

The judge agreed.

So in May 2023, the trial began over a thousand miles away in Anchorage, Alaska.

Dr.

Garcia's friends and family traveled to Anchorage to watch the trial.

Witnesses flew in from Ketchikan, Washington, and California.

Everyone was far from home and far from the crime scene.

But this was where what happened at that crime scene would finally be litigated.

The opening statements presented the central arguments from both sides.

Prosecutor Mark Clark said Jordan murdered Dr.

Garcia so he could steal from him.

And Clark highlighted key pieces of evidence that he said seemed damning for Jordan, like the disturbing video officers had found on his phone.

The defendant Jordan Joplin took out his cell phone and he took a video of Dr.

Eric Garcia unconscious, gasping for air and close to death.

Clark played the eight-second video for the jury.

Ten days later, on March 27th,

2017, Ketchikan police officers found Dr.

Garcia dead.

In the same position as in the video, wearing the same clothes as he did in the video, Dr.

Garcia died of a fatal dose of morphine.

Clark said in the days before his death, Dr.

Garcia was planning for his annual trip to Las Vegas for a medical conference.

He said Dr.

Garcia believed Jordan planned to join him on the trip and had come up to Ketchiken to meet him, and that Jordan was the last person to see Dr.

Garcia alive.

On the evening of March the 16th, Dr.

Garcia would stop responding to text messages and calls.

Very unusual for him.

But he wouldn't be heard from again.

Clark said Jordan told a, quote, legion of lies to Ketchiken police from the moment they began speaking with him.

And he argued that all those unusual, strange things that investigators found in Dr.

Garcia's house, the thermostat at its lowest setting, the balcony door propped open by a couch pillow, the grill on the deck, they could be tied directly to Jordan.

He set a fire with the charcoal he'd purchased the night before, alone.

And then he took the charcoal

and he rubbed it on Dr.

Garcia's left hand and his shirt.

You'll notice in the video the charcoal is not there.

He ripped out all of the smoke detectors in Dr.

Garcia's home, tossing them down a steep ravine in Ketchikan, where they would later be found by Dr.

Garcia's brother Saul.

He unplugged the modem that interfaced with the alarm system and packed it into a shipping container and sent it to Washington, disabling the alarm system.

Clark ticked through more of Jordan's alleged actions before and after March 17th.

He talked about how Jordan took photos of Dr.

Garcia's credit card and ID, changed his financial account passwords, transferred over $30,000 to himself, and took Dr.

Garcia's phone and put it in a Faraday bag to block its signal.

He talked about Jordan's trip to Walmart and the shipping containers he bought and stuffed with Dr.

Garcia's valuables.

Valuables, Clark said, appraisers had estimated to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

During this period in March, the defendant searched on his phone the value of many of these items, where and how to sell these items.

After laying all this out, Clark described how Jordan's deception went even deeper.

On March the 9th, Jordan Joplin sent Dr.

Garcia a text message.

He said,

He said that the two most important people in his life were his son and Dr.

Garcia.

They were his everything, he said.

But on March the 18th, when he calls in a welfare check for his everything, Dr.

Garcia, he spells his name wrong.

E-R-I-K, he says.

Dr.

Garcia spelled his name with a C.

The evidence will show that for Dr.

Garcia, this was true love, and for Jordan Joplin, it was a transactional relationship.

In a much shorter opening statement, Defense Attorney Mary Burnell offered the jury their central argument.

The evidence is that Dr.

Garcia, like everyone, had secrets from the other people that were close to him.

That he struggled with pain, that he struggled with anxiety.

And the evidence will show that Dr.

Garcia, like many people in in a situation, when they experience pain and anxiety, sought relief.

And in March of 2017, he sought that relief by making a choice to consume morphine.

The prosecution planned to call 20 witnesses to present their case, many of them people we've heard from in this series.

like Dr.

Garcia's brother, Saul, his coworker and friend, Don Hink, Ketchiken police officers Eric Mattson and Devin Miller, Jordan's former fiancée, Kristen Coles-Nelson, and Amanda Polroy, who had given investigators their smoking gun.

Most of the witness testimony described the evidence that had been gathered against Jordan Joplin for years.

But to counter the defense's claim that Dr.

Garcia took morphine to, quote, seek relief, prosecutors also asked witnesses about the doctor's mental well-being.

His personal physician testified that Dr.

Garcia had no history or symptoms of depression.

Don Hink testified that Dr.

Garcia handled stress extremely well.

Saul Garcia testified that before Eric Garcia died, he had been planning an 80th birthday party for their mother and was excited to see his family.

In their cross-examinations, The defense tried to poke holes in the argument that Dr.

Garcia was emotionally stable.

For instance, Defense Attorney Mary Burnell had Ketchiken Police Officer Eric Mattson read a text from Dr.

Garcia to Jordan.

You don't have to call me if you don't want to, but weekends are always very depressing for me, and it helps me a lot to be able to talk to you.

On redirect, Prosecutor Aaron McCarthy asked whether there were any other texts out of the hundreds Mattson had gone through that mentioned Dr.

Garcia feeling depressed, suicidal, or in pain.

He said he did not recall any others.

When Eric Matson left the stand, the prosecution rested their case after seven full days of testimony.

The defense planned to call just a few witnesses.

All eyes were on one of them.

the defendant himself.

How would Jordan explain what happened on March 17th, 2017,

when a video he recorded seemed to show Dr.

Garcia on the brink of death?

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It's typically a big gamble for defendants to take the stand.

Jordan Joplin could be compelling to the jury, or he could come across as not credible, not likable,

guilty.

Mr.

Joplin, if you'd like to come forward to the witness stand and stand to be sworn, please.

The man who walked to the witness stand was once described as gorgeous.

People said he stood out in catch-a-can for wearing skin-tight clothes and flashy jewelry.

But after spending six years in jail, Jordan had aged.

And in the courtroom, his attire was entirely conventional.

He arrived in a light blue button-down shirt, a navy tie, and gray pants with a belt.

Can you guys hear me?

Okay.

Yep.

Throughout his testimony, Jordan sounded calm and spoke softly.

Defense Attorney Mary Burnell started by asking Jordan some basic questions, where he was from, how old he was, and what he did for a living in 2017.

I was a dancer,

a porn star, and a massage therapist.

Did you know Dr.

Eric Garcia?

Yes, I did.

When did you first meet him?

2012,

maybe 2011.

How did the two of you meet?

Either through massage or they're meeting at the airport.

I can't remember which one came first.

So those are two pretty different scenarios.

Why can't you remember where you met him?

I did a lot of massages and I did a lot of traveling.

Brunel then had Jordan describe photos of him and Dr.

Garcia, photos of them wearing matching pajamas, ziplining, and going on a camping trip.

They seemed to depict a happy relationship.

Eric was family.

Do you think that he loved you?

Absolutely.

Did you love him?

Yes.

So we've heard a lot of evidence over the last two weeks that you were engaged to a woman at the time that Eric died and at least in some level seeing at least one other woman.

Is that true?

Yes, it is.

Why were you involved in this relationship with Eric on top of those things?

Eric, who was the one person, knew everything about me.

So he knew about the girls.

In the complicated situation that I put in with between two females.

Brunel shifted to a different aspect of Jordan's relationship with Dr.

Garcia, all the gifts and financial support.

She had Jordan read through records of $400,

$500,

$1,000 transfers from Dr.

Garcia's bank account to his, and receipts from Dr.

Garcia's Amazon account, mostly supplies for Jordan's marijuana growing.

Jordan said Dr.

Garcia even gave him $10,000 for a down payment on his house.

Why

was Eric giving you so much money?

He liked to give gifts.

I know he was trying to help me out financially so I wouldn't have to work other things and work on the babies more.

When you say the babies, what do you mean by that?

Pot plants, marijuana plants.

So all of these screenshots and the transfers we've been hearing about, Mr.

Joplin, are these all the times that Eric Garcia transferred money to you?

No.

Do you think it's half?

No, not even close.

Jordan said these gifts were a pretty normal part of the relationship.

According to him, Dr.

Garcia's struggle with depression was another constant in their relationship.

When do you think the depression started?

Before I met him.

Would it vary or was it steady?

I mean, it was steady, but there was times that were worse than others.

Holidays, birthdays,

weekends.

What made you think that he was depressed at those times?

He would tell me.

Jordan's testimony then turned to what had brought everyone into the courtroom, the events of March 2017.

No one knew what he would say.

about the final moments of Dr.

Garcia's life.

Jordan testified that when he went up to Quechuan on March 15th, he believed he was there to pack up and ship Dr.

Garcia's belongings so he could retire to Washington State.

This directly contradicted Saul Garcia, who testified that Dr.

Garcia wanted to retire to Portugal in the next few years.

Saul said, His brother even visited one city in particular to scout it out as a retirement location and often sent links around to his family about why Portugal was such a great place to retire.

According to Saint Garcia, his brother never mentioned retiring to Washington.

But Jordan went on to claim that from the moment he arrived in Quechikan to allegedly help Dr.

Garcia move, Dr.

Garcia seemed off.

Eric seemed kind of emotional.

I know he started crying shortly after we got, either right before we got in the house or right after we got in the house.

What was he talking about?

That

either somebody passed away or somebody was about to die and he couldn't do anything about it.

According to Jordan, they stayed up all night talking and Dr.

Garcia went to work the next day.

When Dr.

Garcia came home, Jordan said he seemed to be in better spirits.

So he broke some tough news to him.

He couldn't join Dr.

Garcia on his upcoming trip trip to Las Vegas.

And what did you tell him about why that was, what was happening?

Because

it sounded like I was getting my son and I didn't have anybody to watch the babies.

And how'd he take it?

Not very well.

After that, Jordan said Dr.

Garcia sent him to Walmart to get charcoal and moving supplies.

He said Dr.

Garcia wanted to grill something for dinner and that he put the grill on the deck himself.

Jordan said that before he left for that Walmart trip, Dr.

Garcia poured them both shots and started taking a nap.

Jordan testified that when he got back to Dr.

Garcia's house, Dr.

Garcia was still napping.

Was he still there when you went to bed that night?

Yes.

In the morning, Jordan said the shipping containers had arrived.

So he loaded them up with the things he claimed Dr.

Garcia wanted him to move.

When Jordan was done and had to catch his plane back to Washington, he said he checked on Dr.

Garcia again.

According to Jordan, he was still sleeping.

At some point, did you take a video of him on the couch?

I did.

Why did you do that?

Jordan testified his ex-girlfriend asked him to take the video.

Here, he added a new detail to his story.

He said he'd told his ex that Dr.

Garcia was drinking and taking pills the evening of the 16th.

Jordan said his ex became worried and asked for the video.

He said she told him to call 911,

but he did not.

What were you afraid would happen if you called 911?

He was going to lose his retirement from work and get in trouble with work.

Looking back, should you have called for help?

Yes.

Defense Attorney Mary Brunel asked Jordan about many other things prosecutors had brought up.

Jordan offered a litany of explanations.

Putting Dr.

Garcia's phone in a Faraday bag, Jordan said he forgot he had the phone and put it in the bag because it was, quote, making noises, and he was worried he'd be accused of stealing the phone.

The tens of thousands of dollars he transferred to himself from Dr.

Garcia's bank account?

Jordan said Dr.

Garcia got it as a bonus and wanted him to have it as an early birthday gift.

Telling people Dr.

Garcia had cancer?

Why would you say that?

Depending on who I said it to, to get sympathy from him.

Did you ever tell Eric that you had cancer?

Yeah, I don't know if it was cancer or tumor or if it was two separate issues.

Did you ever tell Eric you had a medical problem that you knew you didn't have?

Yes.

Why?

To get sympathy from him.

Jordan's nearly two-hour testimony was full of denials.

Jordan denied rubbing charcoal on Dr.

Garcia and removing his smoke detectors.

He said Dr.

Garcia must have gotten up at some point to do that himself.

Jordan denied stealing from Dr.

Garcia.

He denied obtaining morphine.

He denied killing Dr.

Garcia.

Jordan's cross-examination went on for twice as long as his direct and stretched over two days.

Prosecutor Mark Clark aimed right at those denials.

Mr.

Joplin, you started to plan killing Dr.

Garcia

much before March of 2017, right?

I didn't try or kill or plan to kill anybody.

Now, you testified to a lot of lies, right?

No.

Jordan said no.

Clark pointed out that he admitted to lying to his fiancé and ex-girlfriend about his relationships with them.

And were you honest with them about

Eric?

No, not 100%.

The defense wanted jurors to see reasonable doubt that Jordan was guilty.

But Mark Clark tried to show that there was nothing reasonable about Jordan's version of events.

He zeroed in on what he called the epic nap Jordan claimed Dr.

Garcia took took from March 16th to March 17th.

Jordan had testified that when he got back from Walmart, the grill was lit and the deck door was open.

But Dr.

Garcia was asleep.

You didn't try to wake him up to say, are we having dinner?

What are we doing with the grill?

You just let him sleep.

Which time?

We're talking about on the 16th.

I know.

When you got back from Walmart.

No, I didn't wake him up.

Okay.

And the girl was still lit.

Yeah.

Mark Clark returned to the nap during day two of Jordan's cross-examination.

But Jordan's story started to shift.

He now said he did try to wake up Dr.

Garcia.

When did you do that?

Either

sometime on the 17th.

I didn't shake him really hard because I wasn't trying to start alone.

But he seemed to be sleeping hard, so I just left him alone.

Was this before you took the video or after you took the video?

It would be before.

Okay.

So before you took the video, you tried to wake him up and you could not wake him up.

No, I mean, I just...

It wasn't something big.

I wasn't trying to, like, hey.

It was just moving his arm a little bit and he seemed like he was sleeping.

You don't.

startle someone or try to scare them awake or anything like that.

If someone's sleeping, especially when he tells you if he goes to sleep, leave him alone let him sleep

oh he told you that yeah okay that's new today too

mark clark seemed to be getting what he wanted jordan could not keep his story straight

mr joplin you have two options

did you think that dr garcia's health was in jeopardy when you left but didn't call 911 because you were concerned that his job might be impacted?

or did you think that he was fine?

You cannot have both.

Which one?

I didn't think his health or anything like that was in jeopardy.

I didn't think his life was in jeopardy.

None of that.

Clark ended the cross-examination the way he began it, pointing out that Jordan had admitted to many lies.

You've testified over the last couple of days that you

lied to Kristen Nelson, to Amanda Polreich, to police officers, to UPAC reps, to Don Hink, to Bobby Jackson, to Eric Garcia.

Correct?

To Eric?

Oh.

That is correct.

You testified that you lie to get sympathy, correct?

I have lied to get sympathy, that's correct.

You lie when it is helpful to you, right?

No, not necessarily.

I don't have any further questions for you, Mr.

Chaplin.

On redirect, Defense Attorney Mary Burnell had Jordan focus again on his relationship with Dr.

Garcia and on the events of March 16th and 17th.

Did you know at that time that that was going to end up being the most significant two days of your life?

No.

Do you know that now?

Yeah.

And why is that?

I guess Eric's no longer with us.

Once Jordan was off the stand, the defense rested.

The next day, prosecutor Erin McCarthy delivered her closing argument.

She played the video of Dr.

Garcia dying once again.

I know these photos and this video are hard to look at.

We ask that you look at them carefully because 10 days later on March 27th, Dr.

Garcia is found in the exact same position as that video.

Meanwhile,

Mr.

Joplin kept packing.

She said Jordan did not call 911

because he did not want Dr.

Garcia to get help.

Anyone would be concerned.

If you went to visit your friend, especially a 58-year-old man with a heart condition, and he laid down for a nap one day and didn't get up, except maybe to get a blanket within 24 hours, and was breathing like that,

anyone would be concerned.

Not Mr.

Joplin.

Lars Johnson gave the closing argument for the defense.

He argued that many of the details in the case, like the seemingly out-of-place grill and missing smoke detectors, were red herrings, not evidence that proved Jordan killed Dr.

Garcia.

He said investigators did not verify Amanda's testimony about how she got the morphine.

And he suggested it would be possible for a doctor, even in a closely monitored hospital, to sneak away some morphine for himself.

Say you gave a patient all of it, but don't.

Johnson spent a lot of his closing argument reminding jurors of the theory the defense had started with, that Dr.

Garcia was lonely and depressed.

The state is asking you to ignore the very real possibility that Dr.

Garcia,

a man hyper-focused on doing all of his job, on making sure that his coworkers perceived him as a successful stoic surgeon,

a man who was extremely private, who, as we learned whether he was clinically depressed or not, he was sad at times, he was depressed at times, heard that in his own words.

The state is asking you to ignore the idea that in a moment of sadness and frustration, Dr.

Garcia secreted morphine from the hospital and then took too much.

In her rebuttal, prosecutor Erin McCarthy took on the defense's claims directly.

She said that one of the defense's own witnesses, a pharmacist at the Ketchiken Hospital, explained how hard it would be for a doctor to steal morphine and that there would be a record of the missing morphine.

The only evidence of someone getting their hands on morphine in this case is the testimony of Amanda Polreich, which Erin McCarthy said was forthcoming and consistent.

She has nothing to gain by her testimony.

She had no motive whatsoever to lie.

And McCarthy said those red herrings the defense referred to were all pieces of a large body of evidence that proved Jordan's guilt.

She said, if every element of the case really was a coincidence.

You must believe that Jordan Joplin is the unluckiest person in the world.

That all of these coincidences, these devastating coincidences, converged upon him at the same time to make him look like he meticulously planned to murder a man and steal his fortune.

Once the closing statements were over, the jurors went off to deliberate.

They'd been carefully selected before the trial.

More than 200 people were interviewed before the final 12 jurors were chosen.

On the third day of deliberations, the judge received a note from the jury at 9:40 a.m.

They had arrived at a decision on all three counts.

The courtroom was silent as the jury returned.

He may be seated and the record should reflect that the jury panel is in the courtroom and seated.

Good morning, folks.

It's good to see all of you again.

The most excruciating part is sitting in the courtroom, in a quiet courtroom, when the jury has come in and they're sitting there and we're just waiting for the words to be be said.

We, the jury, find the defendant Jordan Joplin guilty of murder in the first degree as charged in Count Two?

Jordan was found guilty on all counts, theft, first degree murder, and second degree murder.

The jurors had weighed the evidence, Jordan's testimony, all of the facts that had been presented, and in the end, They came away convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Jordan Joplin had killed killed Dr.

Eric Garcia, and that he'd stolen from him, too.

But Joplin still had to be sentenced.

Prosecutors argued that that should be done back in Ketchikan, so that more of Dr.

Garcia's community could be there, and the judge agreed.

The sentencing happened nearly a year after the trial, a full seven years after Dr.

Garcia's death.

By that point, Saul Garcia had suffered another loss in his family.

His mother had died.

Eric was her firstborn, and

you know, her son.

And obviously, no parent wants to lose a child.

So

this

caused a lot of heartache for her in the later years that I think led to her death.

So

now we had to bring justice for Eric and for my mom.

The courtroom was full of rows and rows of Dr.

Garcia's friends, family, former patients, and the Ketchiken police officers who had worked the case, like Devin Miller.

I wanted to see the family.

I wanted to

see Joplin again.

I wanted to see his reaction.

And I just wanted to be there.

Jordan Joplin was handcuffed and wore a yellow prison jumpsuit.

He kept his head down and his hands folded on the table in front of him throughout the hearing.

Dr.

Garcia's brothers, Ubaldo and Saul, flew to Ketchikan to deliver victim impact statements.

And prosecutor Mark Clark read a statement from his sister.

In his statement, Saul Garcia called Jordan a gambler.

Some of the things he gambled on

were

that there would be no investigation, that Eric was lonely and had no friends.

He gambled that he could get possession of Eric's home by

mentioning he had a power of attorney.

To this day, I have no idea how that lie was gonna even work out exactly.

Saul turned briefly to look at Jordan.

Maybe you can explain it to me someday.

He continued listing Jordan's gambles.

That no autopsy would be performed, that the death would be ruled as of natural causes.

During trial, he gambled again on the power of his intelligence and personal charm to get him

a non-guilty verdict.

Is Joplin even capable of remorse?

Unfortunately for Joblin, he's not.

It takes a special type of bad person.

No way around it.

It was dumb, stupid, sadistic, and unforgivable on his part.

Joblin,

you've made your decision.

You have chosen your fate.

I'm here today to seek justice for Eric and collect

on all your failed gambles

to ensure your wish, your unconscious wish of becoming imprisoned for life becomes a reality.

Let's do a favor to society.

Let's not gamble that he can be rehabilitated.

After Dr.

Garcia's family spoke, Jordan's defense attorney asked Jordan's half-brother some questions about Jordan's character.

And knowing Jordan, does it fit your character to imagine that he could kill someone?

Absolutely not.

Jordan did not speak at all.

Instead, his attorney gave a brief statement on his behalf.

Jordan asked me to note that he acknowledges Dr.

Garcia's death, the effect it had on the family, Dr.

Garcia's friends, and the community of Tetchkam, that he maintains his innocence.

once all the statements from both sides were over the judge who had also overseen the trial itself called jordan's actions mind-boggling and inexplicable in 40 years of doing this this case

simply stands out

by how brazen and how craven the action was

The judge said he agreed with the prosecution's argument that Jordan was among the worst offenders and as such deserved a significant sentence.

For murder in the first degree, the sentence will be 99 years with none suspended.

That is the highest sentence someone can receive in Alaska.

I knew Eric was there

in that room the day of the sentencing.

I could feel it.

I could imagine it, and

I know that he saw that

justice was

served.

So after that,

I talked to him in my own thoughts and say, thank you, Eric.

We have justice because of you,

and now you may rest in peace.

Today, Jordan Joplin is incarcerated in a detention center near Anchorage.

He is appealing his conviction.

In Ketchikan, Dr.

Garcia left behind a legacy.

He had taken care of so many people in the town, saved lives, built friendships.

To honor him, his friend Don Hink dedicated a tree in his name.

in the Tongass National Forest.

The forest is 150 miles away and a couple of long ferry rides north of Ketchikan.

The tree grows in a 17 million acre wilderness that showcases all the beauty of the place Dr.

Garcia chose to make his home.

The tree has become a comforting meeting place for Dr.

Garcia's loved ones.

And we just bring friends and family up there and we sit and have a little fire and we sled around it and

decorate it

with things from around the environment and little notes and little things.

And you know, it just

helps me kind of cope with the fact that it's not him sitting there next to the fire with us, but it can represent the life he lived and show the growth of the forest and why we live here.

But Dr.

Garcia's legacy extends all the way to to his first home in Puerto Rico.

That is where he was ultimately laid to rest.

His friend of 30 years, Carlos Gonzalez, visits as much as he can and reflects on what he learned from Eric Garcia.

Every time he was planning a trip and I would say, no, I

better not, or

I should save this money for this other thing.

He said, Carlos, life is short.

Carlos, you have to enjoy life the days now.

Cold-Blooded Mystery in Alaska is a production of ABC Audio and 2020.

Hosted by me, Chris Connolly.

Produced by Camille Peterson, Shane McKeon, and Kiara Powell.

Edited by Gianna Palmer.

Our supervising producer is Susie Liu.

Music and Mixing by Evan Viola.

Special thanks to Liz Alessi, Katie Dendas, Janice Johnston, Joseph Reed, Gary Wynn, Xander Samaris, Chris Donovan, Michelle Margulis, Tom Berman, Sandy Evans, and Pat Lalan.

Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming.

Laura Mayer is our executive producer.

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