Notes Outline Family Plot to Kill Husband, Police Say

Crime lab investigators Wednesday used tweezers to painstakingly piece together wet, torn scraps of paper that, once assembled like a jigsaw puzzle, outlined an ill-fated murder-for-money scheme allegedly hatched by two sisters, police and prosecutors said as their investigation of the bizarre case took several crucial turns.

“I’ll be taking the brunt of the questioning,” authorities say attorney Nicole Garza typed on a personal computer in a series of instructions to her older sibling, Lynette LaFontaine-Trujillo.

Police and prosecutors allege that Nicole Garza was the dominant force in a failed plot in which her sister was to shoot and kill her husband, veteran city prosecutor Jose Garza.

“There’s no reason to look to you,” the note continued. “If I ‘pass muster’ (and I will) the investigation will die.”

Police and prosecutors also discovered evidence of several insurance policies, which they said might support a theory that the motive for attempted murder was profit.

The notes include a diagram of the Garza home and detailed instructions for LaFontaine-Trujillo to follow in ambushing Jose Garza, according to sources close to the investigation. They also offer detailed steps on how to aim and fire a gun, law enforcement sources said.

“We have three computer-generated pages that have been partially assembled,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dale E. Cutler. “Part of these you can read, and part of them you have to fill in the blanks.”

Meanwhile, in a development authorities had been hoping for, Jose Garza took police up on their offer to see for himself the notes that authorities say are powerful evidence of his wife’s plot to murder him for money.

Earlier on Wednesday, police and prosecutors searched the Woodland Hills law office where Nicole Garza worked and disclosed that they have found evidence pertaining to insurance policies on Nicole Garza’s home computer.

The notes, however, remain the crucial pieces of evidence. While they elaborate on the financial motive, they also list incentives for LaFontaine-Trujillo to carry out the plan and suggest that the scheme, once executed, would solve the sisters’ financial problems “in a few tragic seconds,” law enforcement sources said.

Police disclosed that before Nicole Garza’s arrest Friday evening, officers had been assigned to keep watch on the Garzas’ home--both to ensure Jose Garza’s safety and to make sure that Nicole Garza did not flee.

Jose Garza, 50, has refused to comment on the attempted murder and conspiracy charges filed Tuesday against his 32-year-old wife and her 34-year-old sister. He has worked for the city attorney’s office, prosecuting misdemeanors, since 1980 and currently is second in command at the San Fernando office.

Police say he remains a supportive husband and was initially unwilling to believe that his wife would plot his demise.

But late Wednesday, Garza appeared at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill station and accepted homicide detectives’ offer to view the evidence for himself.

“They’re going through all the evidence with him,” said Capt. Ronald Bergmann, who oversees the Foothill station. “I think he should understand what we’re dealing with. . . . It would make the investigation a little easier.”

The three notes, shredded and damp from an apparent attempt to destroy them, were found on the passenger side of LaFontaine-Trujillo’s Ford Explorer shortly after she was shot and wounded the night of Sept. 25 by Jose Garza, who had mistaken her for an intruder in the garage of his Sylmar home.

He’d been sent to the garage by his wife, who requested some ice cream. Once there, he exchanged shots with LaFontaine-Trujillo, who police say wore a black wig over her red hair, goggle-like dark glasses and a sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight over her head. She was armed with a handgun her sister allegedly had given her from Jose Garza’s collection, and fired three times, but Garza was not hit.

Jose Garza shot her with a .45-caliber pistol, which he took from his collection as a precaution after he’d heard the family’s three dogs barking, police said.

LaFontaine-Trujillo remains under police guard in intensive care at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center with a bullet wound to her upper abdomen. Detectives were unable to question her Wednesday as her condition worsened slightly and she was placed back on a respirator.

Nicole Garza remains in custody on $1 million bail.

Police and prosecutor Cutler spent several hours Wednesday morning at the law firm Greenblatt, Linde & Associates, where they scoured Nicole Garza’s computer and desk files. Though police and prosecutors would not discuss the search in detail, they said they had made progress in the investigation.

“We found pieces of the puzzle,” Cutler said as he left the office. “We were just basically looking for personal communication that’s relevant.”

Fredric Greenblatt declined to comment on Nicole Garza’s employment at the firm, where police said she has worked for at least a year. Her embossed business cards remained in a card holder at the front desk.

Police said they found indications of several insurance policies on Nicole Garza’s home computer in a financial planning program. They did not specify the value of the policies, but Bergmann said: “They aren’t an enormous amount of money.”

Police said they also are following up on anonymous tips that are being telephoned in to the Foothill station.

“You see these plots on television,” said Lt. Joe Garcia. “You don’t expect to see them in real life.”