In January of 2004, a 23-year-old man was gunned down in front of a liquor store in Los Angeles. Police believed it was a gang-related shooting, but they were never able to find the murderer, and the case went cold.

Now, seven years later, the L.A.P.D. has finally solved the case, almost entirely by accident.

They arrested 25-year-old Anthony Garcia for driving with a suspended license. When he was being booked, the cops followed their standard procedure and took photographs of all his tattoos.

A homicide investigator named Kevin Lloyd was flipping through the book of tattoos, and he saw Garcia's. And he realized that Garcia was basically confessing to the liquor store murder...because he had THE ENTIRE CRIME SCENE tattooed on his chest.

It even had tiny details: Christmas lights from the liquor store roof, the victim's body on the ground just like the cops had found it, a street sign and an image of a helicopter shooting the victim, which was a reference to Garcia's nickname, Chopper.

In the tattoo, the victim was drawn like Mr. Peanut. Apparently in gang terms, someone from a rival gang is called a "peanut."

Garcia was arrested and put in a cell with an undercover cop. The cop got him talking, and Garcia confessed to the murder. He's looking at 65 years to life in prison. (Courtesy: Los Angeles Times)