Philadelphia man whose murder conviction overturned now suspect in two new homicides, say police
A Philadelphia man whose previous murder conviction was overturned in 2021 is now the suspect in two more homicides, authorities have said.
Arkel Garcia was arrested by police on Sunday after being involved in another violent incident in which he was stabbed and struck by a bullet after attempting to shoot another man, according to the U.S. Marshall’s Service.
Garcia was found by responding officers in a nearby parking lot and was taken to the hospital, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. As of Tuesday, he was waiting to be arraigned on murder charges.
The 32-year-old was being sought by authorities in both Pennsylvania and Florida following two killings in November, one in Philadelphia’s Germantown and another over a death in St Lucie County.
According to police, Garcia had been on the run since the first incident, when he allegedly beat an elderly acquaintance to death inside an apartment complex. The crime had been described as a robbery, but an arrest warrant was issued for Garcia on murder charges.
Weeks later, St Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said they were seeking Garcia over the death of a victim who had also died as a result of blunt force trauma.
The sheriff’s department added that the victim, who was not identified, had also suffered from smoke inhalation after their residence had been intentionally set on fire following the attack.
Florida police noted that Garcia was wanted for a parole violation stemming from his release from prison in 2024 and had become a person of interest “based on evidence recovered at the crime scene and witness interviews.”
It comes around a year after Garcia was released from prison, after having a 2015 murder conviction overturned.
Garcia was convicted of fatally shooting Christian Massey, a 21-year-old man with special needs, who was killed over a pair of Beats by Dre headphones. He was sentenced to life in prison for the crime.
However, four years later, the office of District Attorney of Philadelphia Larry Krasner charged Philip Nordo, one of the homicide detectives on the case, with raping and sexually assaulting male witnesses he met on the job.
Prosecutors uncovered emails and phone calls showing secret sexual relationships between Nordo and key witnesses during the investigation.
A judge overturned Garcia’s murder conviction in 2021 in the Massey case, and the DA’s office later declined to retry him.
However, he was not released from prison immediately after fighting with a sheriff’s deputy in the courtroom and being convicted of aggravated assault. Garcia was sentenced to five to 10 years and was paroled in October of 2024.
