48-Year-Old Cold Case In Amarillo Officially Solved

It's not very often a cold case gets solved, and Amarillo has more than a few of them open that they're still trying to solve. As of today, they can take one off the list.

At a news conference yesterday, September 12, 2024, Amarillo police announced that a cold case that had been open since 1976 has officially been solved and closed.

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WHAT HAPPENED

It was December 14, 1976, just a week or so before Christmas. It was sadly a Christmas that Barbara Ann Garcia would never get to see or celebrate. She was brutally murdered in her home on N. Magnolia St. that night.

Her family found her body in the backyard of her home, and the cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma. Inside was her 5-month-old daughter Natasha, and thankfully she was found unharmed.

THE CASE

Investigators immediately got to work on trying to figure out what happened that fateful night. Back then, DNA evidence wasn't very prevalent, so they had to build the cases differently. Police began investigating the case by putting together evidence found at the scene, as well as talking to many different people.

The reason for speaking to people wasn't only to see if they saw or heard anything, but they were also trying to find suspects. Unfortunately, police weren't able to gain enough evidence that was provable or witnesses that they could corroborate their story. Because of this, the case went cold.

ENTER THE COLD CASE UNIT

In 2022, the Amarillo Police Department established their Cold Case Unit. This would allow a dedicated group to open back up these cold cases that had sat for decades to try and piece together these cases and gain a resolution.

It was in 2023 that the Texas Ranger Cold Case Unit got involved in this particular case. They resubmitted some evidence to the Texas Department of Public Safety in June to see if they could come up with some new leads. They would be successful.

THE SUSPECT

Last month, August 2024, DNA was found on a pair of shoes and that was officially entered as evidence in the case. Remember, DNA collection wasn't really a thing back in the 70s. They started to work on the DNA sample and ended up with a match.

The suspect was officially named after the match was found. The DNA belonged to 73-year-old Billy Gene Cummings. Officials found that Cummings was living in Tucson, AZ., and began to move in on him.

THE SAD TURN

Officials began to make their move on Cummings to prosecute him for the murder. Unfortunately, as they were working on that, they were notified that Cummings had actually passed away several years ago. He wouldn't face a trial or charges in Amarillo.

However, the interesting twist to it all was Cummings had passed away in a Phoenix, AZ. jail. He had been convicted of murdering another woman there.

CLOSURE

Natasha Garcia has waited her entire life for this moment, a chance to face her mother's killer in court, to receive the closure she so desperately wanted. She won't get that opportunity. After finding out Cummings had already passed away, Garcia said, “I don’t feel closure, I’ll never have closure. I don’t feel justice. What I’m praying for now is peace.”

She went on to say how she wanted to let him know what he did to her life. Natasha never got the chance to know her mother, be nurtured or raised by her mother, or have any kind of relationship at all with her. She said, "unfortunately, that will never happen. I guess now, we just try to move forward and find some peace.”

The 48-year-old case is now considered closed. More details on the case and statements from her daughter are inside the full press conference below.