An 18-year-old man denied Monday that he sent private social-media messages taking credit for the killings of four people in Palm Springs, refuting suggestions made by an attorney for the man on trial for the slayings.
The defense attorney for 22-year-old Jose Larin-Garcia, a Cathedral City man accused of gunning down the four victims in February 2019, has pointed to social media posts and messages allegedly made by John Olvera, suggesting they implicate him in the killings.
Larin-Garcia’s attorney pointed to a private conversation between Olvera and a woman, in which Olvera allegedly said, “Jacob thought I was playin’ he shouldn’t have had a kid female in the car cuz he knew I was gonna get him…” and “I never meant that girl to die…” The message referred to one of the shooting victims, 19-year-old Jacob Montgomery.
But on the stand, Olvera denied ever sending the private messages, claiming that at one point he lost his phone with his social media accounts still logged in, and it could have been someone else. When exactly that happened, Olvera did not specify.
Olvera, during a long day of sometimes rambling testimony that occasionally earned rebukes from the judge, flatly denied any involvement in the killings, saying any social media posts on Facebook and Instragram suggesting anything to the contrary were unfounded boasts. He described himself as a “wannabe” rapper and gangster, and said his posts were “a front.”
He said many of his social media posts were lyrics by rapper Young Boy.
Larin-Garcia, 22, is charged with four counts of murder stemming from the February 2019 shootings in which the victims, ages 17 to 25, were found dead at two separate locations. He also faces a special-circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders, opening him to a possible death sentence if convicted.
According to prosecutors, three of the victims were found in a Toyota Corolla that crashed at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads about 11:40 p.m. Feb. 3, 2019, while the fourth was found 30 minutes later lying in the street about a half-mile away.
Killed inside the car were Jacob Montgomery, 19, Juan Duarte Raya, 18, and Yuliana Garcia, 17, who was pregnant at the time. The fourth victim, who was found in the street, was Carlos Campos Rivera, 25.
During opening statements in November, Larin-Garcia’s attorney, John Dolan, said, “There is nothing that suggests that Larin-Garcia committed this crime.” According to Dolan, only blood spatter on his clothing linked the defendant to the crime scene, and there was no search for the alleged gun the prosecution claims he used in the crime, only bullet casings.
Jonathan Mosley, a police officer dispatched to the scene, testified in December that he saw “a tall, slender” individual leave the scene and requested assistance in locating the person, but ultimately never found the potential suspect. Mosley described the individual as a tall male limping from the scene, but also said he was unsure of the individual’s gender.
Dolan suggested that the “slender person leaving the crime scene” was not properly investigated and could have committed the crime.
Prosecutors contend that bullet casings found inside the Corolla after the shooting match those found during a later search of the defendant’s car. They also claim Larin-Garcia’s jacket and shoes had the victims’ blood on them.
During prosecution testimony, Keven Martinez, who was friends with the defendant and the three victims in the car, testified that he had “hung out” with Larin-Garcia days prior to the killings.
Martinez said Larin-Garcia told him he was “gonna kill someone tonight” unless he found a woman for sex. Larin-Garcia then allegedly pulled a handgun out and placed it on his lap as the two drove around the area, Martinez said. He testified that Larin-Garcia was looking for someone to kill, although Martinez said he didn’t believe that Larin-Garcia would actually kill someone.
Martinez said that after returning from their drive, Larin-Garcia asked him to set up Montgomery to be robbed.
Prosecutors said Larin-Garcia was inside the car with the three victims, and Montgomery was planning to make a drug deal. The defendant allegedly was in the back seat of the Corolla when he fatally shot Rivera, who was standing outside or leaning against the car on Canon Drive south of Theresa Drive.
After the shooting, the driver of the Toyota sped off, but Larin-Garcia fatally shot the three other people in the vehicle, then jumped from the moving car before it crashed into a parked Jeep at Sunny Dunes and El Placer roads, prosecutors contend, saying Larin-Garcia killed the trio because they witnessed the murder of Rivera.
Police testified during a preliminary hearing that Larin-Garcia was found by responding officers hiding under a pickup just blocks from the scene of the crash, and was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center for treatment of various abrasions. At the time he was not in custody.
Larin-Garcia then left the hospital, where police had been questioning him, and ran to the home of a friend, prosecutors said.
Detective Steve Grissom of the Palm Springs Police Department testified during Larin-Garcia’s preliminary hearing that the friend went to the defendant’s mother’s home to retrieve fresh clothing for the suspect and his identification from a wallet. Later in the day, the friend also bought bandages for Larin-Garcia, along with a Greyhound bus ticket to Florida under the name “Joseph Browning,” Grissom testified.
At some point that day, Larin-Garcia shaved his head to change his appearance, then the friend drove him to the Greyhound station in Indio, where he was arrested, Grissom testified.