Saturday, February 12, 2011

Custody Battle: Father Charged in stabbing deaths of his tow young sons

By George Mathis and Tim Eberly

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/father-charged-with-murder-836349.html

The father of two young boys stabbed to death in their home also stabbed himself and tried to blame the murders on the current boyfriend of the boys' mother, Gwinnett police said Saturday.

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Elvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco, 23, is charged with murder in the stabbing death of his two children.

Gwinnett County jailElvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco, 23, is charged with murder in the stabbing death of his two children.

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On Saturday, Elvis Noe Garcia-Nelasco, 23, was taken into custody and charged with murder in the Wednesday deaths of Bradley Garcia, 3, and Edward Garcia, 1.

Antonio Cardenas-Rico, 28, initially faced murder charges, but had them dropped once police attention shifted to Garcia-Nelasco. However, Cardenas-Rico remained inGwinnett County jail on drug charges. Both men are believed to be in the country illegally.

On Wednesday, police answered a 911 call at 1110 Bridle Path Drive in the Huntington Falls subdivision near Lawrenceville and found the badly wounded boys in a basement. A third boy, Bradley's twin, 3, was in critical condition, and was airlifted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. He remains in critical condition.

Garcia-Nelasco and his former girlfriend were fighting over custody of their three sons, according to police reports obtained Friday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The man, who had not legally established paternity, said he wouldn't return the sons to their mother because of his drug activity concerns involving her and her current boyfriend, Cardenas-Rico.

On Feb. 2, Garcia-Nelasco had approached Gwinnett Countypolice and filed a complaint that indicated Cardenas-Rico had threatened his life.

Following the stabbings, Garcia-Nelasco ran across the street and, referring to Cardenas-Rico, screamed at his neighbor, "He killed my children!" Suffering from stab wounds himself, Garcia-Nelasco was transported by ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center.

The neighbor, Lewon Thomas, said Garcia-Nelasco entered his garage "with a hole in his chest," and talked to a 911 operator on a cellphone.

"He wanted me to go back and see what happened," said Thomas, who went to the house accompanied by another neighbor. "It was horrific."

When reached by phone Saturday, Thomas said he was "shocked" to learn that the man who came to him for help has now been charged with murder.

"Oh wow," he said. "That is so sad."

Thomas added that the news was "just disappointing." He said he never would have guessed that Garcia-Nelasco was lying to him about what happened.

"There was no indication whatsoever," he said. "That was the farthest thing from my thoughts."