Muscatine in Muscatine County
The body of Eugenio Garcia, 36, was found near the Dougherty Bridge on County Road F-70 about seven miles northwest of Muscatine, Iowa at 7 a.m. on Father’s Day, June 21, 1992.
Sgt. Greg Orr of the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Department reported Garcia had been strangled.
At 11 o’clock that evening, cousins Vicente Rosales, 30, and Pedro Rosales, 18, were arrested in connection with Garcia’s death and charged with one count each of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.
The Dougherty Bridge near where Eugenio Garcia’s body was found Father’s Day in 1992.
If convicted, both charges carried mandatory life sentences.
According to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article dated June 23, 1992, the Rosales men were accused of forcing Garcia into a vehicle and killing him before dumping his body near the bridge sometime late Saturday or early Sunday morning.
Muscatine County Attorney Bill Creasey told the Gazette the Rosales cousins knew Garcia. The motive for the murder allegedly involved a fight over a relationship with a woman.
Courtesy Cedar Rapids Gazette
“We got them identified quickly,” Orr stated in a Gazette article dated June 24, 1992. “We were fortunate in getting some good witnesses right off the bat. The pieces started falling into place pretty well.”
Though officials felt strongly about their case against the Morales cousins, the two eventually were released and the case went cold.
Courtesy Wittich Funeral HomeOrr went on to become Muscatine County Sheriff, and retired in 2008. He passed away in September 2011.
Eugenio Garcia was born in Mexico on June 2, 1955. He was survived by his wife, Janice Lynn (Lake) Garcia, and the couple’s child.
If you have any information regarding Eugenio Garcia’s death, please contact the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office at 563-263-6055.
I pray for someone to come forward. Justice needs to be served for the family.
We need answers. He deserves justice… what I want to know is how they got away with murder. We know who did it, we’ve always known.
Everyone knew then as well as now who did it. Many of us were very close to the perpetrators, including Muscatine Police Officers & the Hispanic community in Muscatine. Not to mention those that actually sat in the bars on Mulberry Ave. watching “Primo” being abducted that night. TOO SCARED OF THOSE THAT WERE INVOLVED!!
I was just wondering if it was a mistake
he was born in 1955
Sarah Rushton, where did it say 1955.
Wait. Did this happen in 1955, or 1992?
surely, but they are never forgotten
It must be hard to leave cold cases behind.