Court Hears Recorded Pleas of Child Who Saw Mother Killed

“Grandpa’s dead and mommy can’t wake up, she can’t wake up!” the shaken 3-year-old boy cried to the fire dispatcher. “Can you help? . . . Please come.”

Played in court Friday, that chilling 911 tape helped persuade Ventura County Municipal Court Judge Rebecca S. Riley to order a murder trial for the man accused of shooting the boy’s mother and ailing grandfather to death.

Miguel Hugo Garcia, a 43-year-old La Crescenta furniture merchant, could face the death penalty if convicted in the double slaying of Helen Giardina, 42, and Albert “Jim” Alexander, 83, at his home in Upper Ojai.

But the tape also could be used by the defense, which alleges that Garcia was insane because he said he believed he had slain “the devil” and “a demon” to protect a 3-year-old “savior.”

Garcia clearly admits on the tape that he shot the pair to death at Alexander’s house after sharing dinner with the family, defense attorney James Farley said after the hearing.

Garcia, who owns property in Upper Ojai, had gone that night to eat sushi with the family and to take a case of wine to Alexander, a friend stricken with cancer, Farley said.

But the tape shows just as clearly that Garcia was “engaged in bizarre behavior and out of touch with reality,” said Farley, who has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity for his client.

Animals barking outside appeared to trigger Garcia to believe that he heard the sounds of a thundering train and something growling inside the house, Farley said. Garcia told the lawyer he then grabbed a pistol that he carried and backed into a corner. And when Giardina tried to take it, he saw the face of a demon and shot her to death.

“Mr. Garcia has reported to me he saw the face of the devil, and he saw a forked tail behind [Alexander], and he was frightened and he shot him,” Farley said. “He thought he was killing the devil.”

Garcia claims in the 911 call that he is a Muslim--which he is not--and admits that he put a photograph of some of his ancestors on the slain Alexander’s face, where deputies found it later, Farley said.

Farley said he will try to determine whether prescription or illegal drugs or alcohol contributed to Garcia’s mental problems. The man had been undergoing treatment with Prozac, Zoloft and possibly other medications for psychiatric troubles in recent months, he said.

“There’s no question about the fact that Mr. Garcia killed those two people,” Farley added. “The question is, was he sane at the time he did it?”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Calvert said prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty because Garcia killed two people at once. His Superior Court arraignment is set for July 11.

During Friday’s hearing, Calvert cited a coroner’s report that said Giardina was shot 12 times and Alexander six.

Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Arnold testified that when he and other deputies pulled up to the house, Garcia was holding young Jimmy Alexander by the hand, waving a white towel, and proclaiming, “Our savior has arrived.” The boy was pulled to safety and Garcia arrested without a fight.

The harrowing 911 tape took up the bulk of Friday’s hearing.

County fire dispatcher Colleen Harrison took the call.

On the tape, she works calmly with Garcia, trying to keep him on the phone long enough to find out what happened--then to keep the situation cool until sheriff’s deputies arrive.

The first sound is Jimmy Alexander, screaming: “Wake up, mom! Mommy!”

“He’s OK, he’s screaming. Should I take him away from the dead bodies?” Garcia asks the dispatcher. “His mother’s dead. He’s on top of her. His grandfather is dead. I’m, I’m Muslim. My name is Rashi Ali.”

“What happened?” Harrison says. “Tell him to stop screaming.”

Garcia puts the boy on the phone, and she says, “Calm down, tell me what happened.”

“Let me tell you something,” says the boy, voice quivering uncontrollably. “Mike killed mommy and grandpa. Can you help? . . . I’m scared.”

Garcia grabs the phone back and tells her to send someone. “The lights will be on. I’m not armed. Break the gate. Ram the gate.”

“I need to understand what’s going on here,” she demands.

“I shot Mrs. Helen Alexander [and] Jim Alexander,” Garcia replies.

“Sir, where is the gun now?” she asks.

He replies, “The guns are empty, OK. And you’re the one that . . . I cannot find any more ammunition. I’m out of ammunition, send someone right away.”

As Harrison tries to find out the location of the gun, Jimmy keeps screaming.

“He’s very smart,” Garcia says of the boy. “He’s going to lead us into the 21st century. He’s a Muslim. . . . What’s your name, son?”

“Jimmy Alexander,” the boy sniffs.

“Jimmy. The Jimmy. You’re the Jimmy. Talk to her, Jimmy.”

“Please come,” the boy pleads. “Grandpa’s dead and mommy can’t wake up. She can’t wake up.”

Garcia gets back on, and Harrison presses him for information about the gun.

“I got rid of it. I am friend not foe,” he says. “God told me to tell you, I’m friend not foe. . . . Would you like me to run to the road?”

No, she says, stay on the phone.

“Are you the devil or are you God?” he demands, several times.

“Sir, I’m not going to answer that question,” Harrison says.

“OK, thank you, ma’am. You God. You God. You God. You’re the good people. Jimmy, tell her thank you.”

“Thank you,” sobs Jimmy.

They keep talking, and Garcia says Giardina has been seducing him: “I told her I was a white hat,” he says. “I told her that I would be a Muslim at 50, my name would be Rashi Ali, the rifle one.”

Harrison asks, “You said they’re dead, you shot them. Where?”

“Everywhere, only in the head,” he replies. “As many bullets as there were, on the right side of the head behind the ear. And I put a picture of some ancestors of mine on the face of the old man.”

Alexander tried to move at one point, but Garcia shot him again, he says.

A few seconds later, Garcia puts Jimmy back on the phone: “Tell her how smart you are, Jimmy.”

Haltingly, he says, “I’m very smart.”

“Tell her you’re the smartest man in the world.”

“I’m the smartest man in the world,” the boy says, sounding terrified and weary.

“He’s the smartest man in the world,” Garcia says. “He’s leading us into the 21st century. And it’s going to be a century of peace, and it’s going to be a century of happiness. I have to remain anonymous, my name is Miguel Hugo. Are you recording this?”

“Yes, sir.”

“God says we cannot say we killed the devil.”

Jimmy pleads again, “Come, can you come, please?”

Harrison assures him, “We’ll be right there.”

A few seconds later, the boy pleads, “Mike, please, please don’t shoot me.”

“I won’t shoot him,” Garcia promises. “You’re my son. You belong to me, right?”

The tape ends abruptly a few seconds later.

Jimmy Alexander is living with his father in the Los Angeles area, Calvert said after the hearing.

Garcia is being held in the Ventura County Jail without bail.