By Julia Urquizo
RIVERSIDE, CA – Jose Larin Garcia’s murder trial reconvened Tuesday at the Riverside County Superior Court, and featured the testimony of a dispatch supervisor with the Palm Springs Police Department.
Larin Garcia is accused of murdering three teenagers and another adult male victim on the night of Feb. 3, 2019 in Palm Springs. The teenage boys and one girl were found shot dead in a green Toyota Corolla that crashed into a parked vehicle down El Placer Road. Less than a mile away on Canon Drive, the adult male was found shot in the head.
Larin Garcia now faces death penalty for the crimes.
A Desert Sun article titled, “Clues in Palm Springs quadruple killing: An aborted robbery plot, an uncollected debt, and a barbecue” covers what is known so far about the case.
A then 19-year-old Larin Garcia had accompanied the teenagers to collect money owed to one of the male victims shortly before gunshots were heard.
There were other reports of Facebook posts and Instagram messages sent from a juvenile outside the trial claiming they had wanted Juan Raya and Jacob Montgomery, the two teenage male victims, dead. The messages were not found in the juvenile’s cellphone by the time authorities came in for questioning.
Previously in court, Larin Garcia’s defense attorney John Dolan has asked on behalf of the accused for showering privileges and for a housing transfer to Indio so that Larin Garcia does not have to wake up at 2 a.m. to go to trial.
An associate of Larin Garcia in 2019 reported during his testimony that a few days before the crime took place Larin Garcia had asked the witness if he could “set up” Montgomery because the two had unsettled disputes years before.
Heather Topliff, the dispatch supervisor with the Palm Springs Police Department, came in to testify Tuesday since she had signed off on digital recordings of 911 calls from the night of the crime.
“Anything that pertains to violence or could cause potential harm to anyone in the public is higher in priority,” said Topliff.
There were multiple dispatches relaying information relating to the quadruple murder on Feb. 3, 2019, Topliff said, noting dispatches logged any time an officer on the scene that night saw a camera – as well as even the possibility of a camera being present.
One of the officers on the scene relayed information to dispatches noting, “Blood all over him (Larin Garcia), uncooperative, advising something about a shooting.”
The witness is subject to recall as the jury trial progresses.
