Police recover gun near scene of Edinburg slaying

EDINBURG — Police recovered a handgun Monday that may have fired the bullets that killed a local business owner last year.

Detectives found a loaded 9 mm handgun buried in a mound of soil at the Iron Cactus Works property near the intersection of Monte Cristo Road and U.S. Highway 281, where business owner Antonio Manuel Garcia was found dead Nov. 21, said Edinburg police Chief Quirino Muñoz.

Police say Garcia's wife, Mirna Matiana Garcia, confessed last month to her role in a plot to kill her husband, who owned the welding business.

Her boyfriend, Jose Manuel Lopez, allegedly shot Garcia to death so the two could carry on their relationship out in the open.

Instead, both were put behind bars Dec. 12 after they were arrested and charged with murder.

"In any murder investigation it makes your case stronger when you're able to establish a motive and recover the weapon used to commit the crime," Muñoz said.

Detectives believe Antonio Garcia was fatally shot in the head several times with a gun that fires 9 mm rounds, the police chief said. Investigators combed the property Monday searching for the weapon used in the killing.

The corroded 9 mm pistol was found with a loaded magazine and a bullet in the chamber, Muñoz said. The weapon was cocked and ready to fire when it was recovered about 4 p.m. Monday, he said.

The pistol is expected to be sent to a crime lab for analysis that should reveal whether it was the weapon used in Garcia's slaying.

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Jared Taylor covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4439.