Suspected 'serial killer' doctor had earlier issues

Jill Disis and Kristine Guerra | The Indianapolis Star

Show Caption Hide Caption Indiana doctor arrested for university killings An Indiana doctor has been arrested in the unsolved deaths of four people linked to the Nebraska medical school he attended before being fired. (July 16)

Anthony Garcia is being held in connection with four slayings in Nebraska

Garcia had been fired from two medical residencies years before killings

Victims were all linked in some way to Garcia%27s termination

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- An Indiana doctor being held in connection with four slayings in Nebraska had encountered a series of professional setbacks, beginning with his firing from a New York medical residency in 1999.

Omaha police said the killings, two in 2008 and two this May, stemmed from Anthony Garcia's anger over another setback two years later — his firing from a pathology residency at the Creighton University medical school.

Records obtained by The Indianapolis Star from the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency on Tuesday revealed that behavioral issues and outbursts were behind two of Garcia's residency firings. In a letter to the licensing agency, Garcia wrote that he was "essentially fired" from St. Elizabeth Family Practice Residency in Albany, N.Y., because he "yelled at a radiology technician."

Garcia was fired from his Creighton residency, he wrote, because he "called a pathology resident and told him his vacation was not approved." The Creighton letter detailing his termination says the phone call "resulted in considerable anxiety and distress for the wife and resident."

Garcia's Creighton termination letter was signed in part by doctors Roger Brumback and William Hunter, high-ranking members of the Nebraska school's pathology department at the time.

Brumback was shot to death in May at his Omaha home; his wife, Mary, was stabbed to death. Omaha police say they think Garcia broke into the home and committed the killings.

Garcia also is a suspect in the 2008 fatal stabbings of Hunter's 11-year-old son and Hunter's housekeeper in an affluent Omaha neighborhood, just blocks from the home of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

A task force of local, state and federal law enforcement officials in Nebraska was established to determine whether the killings were related.

"At this time, and every member of the task force feels this, but he does fit the elements of a serial killer, yes," Omaha Police Deputy Chief Todd Schmaderer said Tuesday.

While Garcia eventually was granted medical licenses in California and Illinois, his Indiana applications describe the difficulties he had practicing elsewhere.

After leaving Omaha in 2001, he became a pathology resident at the University of Illinois in Chicago, but eventually left for medical reasons.

Garcia then moved several times to homes in Chicago; Terre Haute; Walnut, Calif.; and Shreveport, La., according to public records. While in Shreveport, he was fired from a psychiatry residency because he didn't have a medical license to practice there.

Worked at penitentiary

He appeared to have been living in Terre Haute since at least 2010 and had a temporary Indiana medical permit that expired in January of this year. It's not known where he practiced or worked while he lived in Terre Haute, but U.S. Penitentiary spokeswoman Michelle Edge said Garcia was employed doing contract work at the high-security federal prison from May to July 2010.

Edge said she could not disclose any other information about Garcia's employment.

The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency wrote to Garcia both times he applied for a license, telling him he would be denied; the agency later allowed him to withdraw his applications, which he did.

During his latest attempt to apply for a license in November 2012, he wrote: "I feel my actions do not rise to the level of a denial of my Medical Licensure Application. I have been aggrieved and adversely affected by not being able to work as a physician in the state of Indiana."

Police declined to discuss evidence used to build the case against Garcia and released few other details about the suspected killer.

Home in Terre Haute

For at least the past year, Garcia lived in the Village Quarter, a middle-class, park-like community on the east side of Terre Haute. His residence is one of the first houses on a cul-de-sac lined with manicured lawns and stone-walled homes.

His house at 5279 Greywing Court, which was raided by police Monday, stands out. Unlike his neighbors', some of the plants outside Garcia's house had died. A black Ferrari F355 was parked outside.

A few neighbors said they hardly ever saw Garcia except when he picked up his mail. Others declined to comment.

Illinois authorities are holding Garcia on suspicion of four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of using a weapon to commit a felony, Schmaderer said. Garcia appeared to be intoxicated and was in possession of a .45-caliber handgun when he was arrested, following a traffic stop near Jonesboro, authorities said.

An Illinois State Police official declined to discuss details of Garcia's arrest or detention.

One of the Brumbacks' three children, Darryl, said the family had no comment about the arrest. The Hunter family didn't respond to a phone message seeking comment.

Contributing: The Associated Press