Antonio Cardenas-Rico knew little about the man with whom his girlfriend had three children.
He’s had a lot of time to think about Elvis Garcia, though, during his last 10 days in jail.
Cardenas-Rico, 27, was falsely accused Feb. 10 of stabbing his girlfriend’s three young boys, killing two, because the other man pointed the finger at him.
Now Cardenas-Rico, a married father of two from Las Vegas, remains behind bars at the Gwinnett jail on unrelated drug charges. Garcia is locked up there, too, on the murder charges that police say he initially tried to pin on Cardenas-Rico.
Garcia’s attorney declined to comment about the case last week.
“It is just too sensitive and high profile and we can’t afford a misstep in any statements at this time,” said defense lawyer Christopher Taylor.
In a jailhouse interview Wednesday, Cardenas-Rico opened up about the events that put him there. He says it all started with an extramarital affair he began three months ago.
Cardenas-Rico, a mover, met Yuri Bolano on a trip from his home in Las Vegas to Atlanta for work. He never asked, and didn’t really want to know, much about her ex-boyfriend or family.
He knew the estranged couple still lived together and shared custody of their children in the basement of Bolano’s sister’s house near Lawrenceville, Cardenas-Rico said.
And he knew that they argued.
There were phone calls where Garcia could be heard screaming at his ex-girlfriend in the background. There were days when Cardenas-Rico saw bruises on her face and neck.
And Bolano showed him a now-haunting threat that Garcia is alleged to have made one day on Facebook: “If you leave me, I am going to kill your family.”
Cardenas-Rico was with Bolano on Feb. 9, the day that the children’s father is now charged with making good on those threats.
While they were running errands at the post office, an ATM and a Shell gas station, Garcia was allegedly stabbing the 1-year-old, the 3-year-old twins and himself.
“I think he was planning to do what he did for a long time,” Cardenas-Rico said.
By the time first responders arrived at the family’s basement home in Lawrenceville, Edward, 1, and Bradley, 3, were dead. Joshua remained in critical condition Thursday at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
The wounded father told them that his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend did it.
Bolano, who was with Cardenas-Rico in Lawrenceville, checked her Facebook account that night and saw a message that her kids had been killed. In a panic, she telephoned her parents in Honduras, who confirmed the news.
“She cried, she didn’t know what to do,” Cardenas-Rico said. “I just grabbed her and tried to help her calm down.”
Cardenas-Rico said he was planning to drive her to the hospital when police descended on the home where he was staying and arrested him.
“They were asking me questions like, ‘Do you know what happened? Do you know why you’re here?’” Cardenas-Rico said. “The detective was like, ‘Help me to understand.’”
Cardenas-Rico said detectives didn’t believe he was ignorant about the slayings. The day after the murders, police filed murder charges against him.
Matt Crosby, a former prosecutor who is now a defense attorney, was appointed to represent him. He took one look at Cardenas-Rico and realized the facts didn’t add up.
“He didn’t have a scratch on him,” Crosby said. “People that are stabbing are going to have cuts on their hands from when the knife slips.”
What’s more, Cardenas-Rico provided a “fairly convincing” and detailed account of where he was that evening, Crosby said.
It was enough to convince Crosby to approach his old boss, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, and press for further investigation.
For his part, Porter said authorities had some misgivings about Garcia’s account from the very beginning.
“As early as Wednesday [Feb. 10], there was some suspicion by medical personnel that the wounds may be self-inflicted,” Porter said.
As authorities began to pore over evidence from the crime scene, it seemed to contradict Garcia’s story. Ultimately, they obtained surveillance videos from the ATM and gas station that showed Cardenas-Rico was elsewhere on the night of the slayings, Porter said.
On Feb. 12, Cardenas-Rico was exonerated and Garcia was arrested.
Cardenas-Rico doesn’t fault the police for arresting him based on the evidence they had at the time. He is thankful they continued to search for the truth even after they had a suspect behind bars.
Crosby continues to represent Cardenas-Rico on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police say he had the dope in his possession when he was arrested on the murder charge. A federal immigration hold also has been placed on Cardenas-Rico, who is married to an American woman but still in the process of obtaining a visa. He could face deportation and has hired an attorney to help him stay in the country.
Bolano responded to a reporter’s message on Facebook, but said she did not want to comment for the story.
Garcia’s family issued a statement through Taylor, his defense attorney, on Feb. 12.
“As the facts of this situation unravel, the family is suffering on two fronts, for the loss of the children and for the fact that their brother is the suspect in this case,” the statement said. “The family continues to support the investigation and is appreciative to the Gwinnett Police for the professionalism, sensitivity and respect shown to the family.”
Cardenas-Rico said he wants to patch things up with his wife in Las Vegas, who did not return calls to her home. But before he leaves, there is one more thing he needs to do.
“I want to say good-bye to Yuri and see where the kids are buried before I go,” Cardenas-Rico said. “And that’s it. I’ve got to get back my life. I just don’t want to hurt my family anymore.”
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