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HOUSTON - Officials said a man who was covered in blood after strangling his wife to death in their northwest Harris County apartment was sentenced to more than 30 years.
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According to the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Arnold S. Garcia, 32, pleaded guilty in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence a day before a jury was to be selected for his trial.
Arnold Garcia (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office)
Garcia reportedly called 911 in September 2020 saying he killed his wife, Elizabeth Hernandez, 30. When responding constable deputies with Harris Co. Pct. 4 arrived at their apartment in the 14600 block of Philippine St., they noted he had "blood on his face from a bloody nose, scratches on his neck, a rug burn on his elbow and blood on his hands."
Elizabeth Hernandez (Photo courtesy of Harris County District Attorney's Office)
Investigators also noted the apartment "was in disarray." Garcia told officers he shot Hernandez three hours before "in self-defense" and prior to calling authorities, he called his parents to come pick up the children. When they came, he sent the children out but refused to let them in, the DA claimed.
Friends and family told officers the 30-year-old mother had two children with Garcia, and three others from a previous relationship but was trying to leave him "because he was abusive."
"This was a wife and mother who was well-loved by friends and family and who was killed while trying to get out of an abusive relationship," DA Kim Ogg said in a press statement. "It is far too common to see domestic violence escalate into a murder, especially when a victim is trying to get out."