Trial continues for man accused in 2015 slaying of 81-year-old Newport Beach man

After delays due to exposures to COVID-19 while in custody, the retrial of Carson City man Anthony Thomas Garcia resumed at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana on Monday afternoon.

Garcia, 62, is charged with murder and a special circumstances allegation of murder for financial gain in the death of Newport Beach resident Abelardo “Abby” Estacion, 81, in 2015. If convicted, Garcia could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Estacion was found dead on April 11, 2015. Investigators said someone entered his 16th Street home early in the morning and killed Estacion in his bedroom while his live-in caretaker slept upstairs. The caretaker went downstairs in the morning to make breakfast and discovered Estacion’s body in bed with a bloodied face.

His wife, Dortha Lamb, was staying with her family out of town at the time, per a court-granted conservatorship.

Last July, Orange County Superior Court Judge Sheila Hanson declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked on Garcia’s guilt.

The retrial of the case began earlier this year.

Testimony so far this week came from Estacion’s daughter-in-law, Sharon Morgan, and Lamb’s granddaughter, Nancy Riley. Estacion married Lamb weeks before his death in April that year.

Lamb was wealthy and owned properties in Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, San Clemente and San Bernardino County.

Relations between Estacion and his in-laws were tense, with Lamb’s family accusing Estacion of mistreating and stealing from her for years. Lamb had dementia and terminal cancer and Morgan secured the conservatorship at around the time of the marriage between Lamb and Estacion.

Lamb’s relatives also unsuccessfully tried to get a protective order to remove him from the Newport Heights home. Morgan was her mother’s sole heir, but Estacion and his wife amended Lamb’s trust, diminishing her inheritance, according to investigators.

Lamb died in June 2015 at the age of 94.

Questions in the courtroom Monday and Tuesday focused on if Garcia knew of any changes made regarding Lamb’s trust; if Morgan previously knew of any threats made to Estacion’s safety by Garcia; how and if the two traveled together to Newport Beach from Carson City, Nev.; and verifying what Morgan said of Garcia to investigators in 2015. It also focused on Riley’s relationship with Garcia, who was her longtime partner.

Continuance of the trial was nearly delayed by another two weeks Monday morning when Garcia was mistakenly thought to have been exposed to COVID-19 again. It was later determined to be an issue with an automated software program used to track exposures to the coronavirus in inmates, according to court officials.

Garcia is scheduled to return to the Central Justice Center on Wednesday. He remains in custody without bail.

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