Cold Blooded
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Dr. Garcia!

You've got your gun pulled and you're ready for anything. He just says he's here. Dr. Garcia was deceased on the couch. You know, is this real? How could this be?

have happened. He was the most gentle, kind, wonderful soul you could imagine. This doctor, this paragon of the community, was found dead in his house. He's been robbed. He's not just dead, he's been robbed. There were racks and racks that were empty. There was no gold. There was no silver found. I have so many questions about the case and have hardly any answers.

And you don't know if it's natural causes, if it's self-inflicted, or if someone has murdered him. My life became a true crime show. Who is this guy and where is all this money going to? So what is that relationship? And I said, you can't let that guy go. There's something wrong here. We're on our way to Ketchikan, Alaska, the rock.

To get here, you have to either take a plane or take a boat. And if you take a plane, you still have to take a boat because the airport is located on one island and Ketchikan proper is located here.

It's beautiful enough that it's a place worth coming to. It's remote enough that it's a place worth escaping the place you came from. And it's also the site of an enduring and deep mystery involving one of this town's most respected and well-regarded citizens. It all began with one out-of-the-blue phone call.

On March 18th of 2017, Ketchikan Police Department, we had a welfare check call come in.

This person actually is from the Seattle area. He says he's a friend named Jordan Joplin. He's the general surgeon there. I just want to make sure that he's okay. Okay. We had an officer respond to the doctor's house. What is a welfare check exactly? Basically somebody is concerned about somebody's well-being.

Officer Devin Miller had lived in Alaska since he was three years old, and on that day in 2017, he was on patrol, and he was sent to Dr. Garcia's house. How often would you be asked to do a welfare check by someone who lived a long ways away? I got to tell you, that's the rarity. I responded. I drove up to the residence. There was snow on the ground. I could see that there was no tire tracks.

What did you do when you got here? Made sure that, checked the house, made sure it was secure. We looked for any kind of footprints. Everything was secure. Lights were on at the house. Did you try to get into the house on the 18th? I did check the lock to make sure it was locked. What did that tell you? Looked like typical of what somebody does when they go on vacation. After that, I contacted his office.

The police learn that Dr. Garcia's colleagues, they're aware he has plans to be out of town. He's attending a medical conference in Las Vegas. This is a conference he attended every year about this time. It's about a seven to 10 day trip. So that's that, right? That's that. You don't have to get back in touch with the caller. I do not.

But Dawn Hink, now she manages Dr. Garcia's schedule at the hospital and she's his very good friend. She's not the one who took that initial call from the police. So officers are unaware that she was getting a little concerned that she hadn't heard from Dr. Garcia. Dr. Garcia would send me messages probably 20, 30 times a day when he was on vacation. We were in constant contact where he was, how much fun he was having.

I had sent him a message and didn't receive anything back at all. So it definitely struck me as odd. Any questions or worries about Dr. Garcia would be kind of big news here. Ketchikan is a small town, and he's only one of two general surgeons for the whole area. We don't have a lot of doctors here. It's such a small community. He was often the only one here.

He'd have to take care of an awful lot of things that he might not take care of if he was working in a large metropolitan community. What kind of surgeries was he doing for the most part? Any kind of trauma. Logging accidents. Gallbladders, logging accidents, helicopter crashes. We have tons of different unique situations up here that are unparalleled to anywhere else.

Dr. Garcia had become a beloved presence since moving here to Ketchikan, a town he first discovered the same way so many other people do on an Alaskan cruise. So Alaska is an enormous state. There's also a panhandle that comes quite far down. Ketchikan is the southernmost city in that panhandle. So Ketchikan is the first stop for most cruise ships coming north into Alaska and it's the last stop for cruise ships heading down to the lower 48.

The population of Ketchikan is about 8,000 or so, but that comes with an asterisk because between the months of April and October, Ketchikan is a cruise ship mecca. As many as 15,000 passengers disembark from these massive boats every single day. What is it like when it's busy here? Wall-to-wall folks stumbling over each other. It's good for our economy. They want to see whales. They want to see eagles. They want to see bears, all of which we have.

And of course people come here a lot to catch the fish. We're known for being what we call the salmon capital of the world. Locals and cruise ship tourists, Dr. Garcia treated them all with the help of Don Hink, who later in mid-March 2017 received a troubling call about Dr. Garcia's whereabouts.

I got a phone call from Dr. Garcia's mother and she had asked me to please go to the house and see if I could find out, you know, if he was there because he wasn't responding to anything she was doing. And so I did that. Everything at the house seemed to look pretty normal. The vehicle was not there.

We drove past the airport lot and Eric's truck was there just as if he was going to be going on a vacation. And so everything seemed okay. With signs pointing to Dr. Garcia being out of town, the police say they've followed their standard operating procedures. In order for us to enter a house or to forcibly go inside of the house, we're going to need some kind of an exigent circumstance.

In the case of Dr. Garcia, we didn't have those circumstances. Then, six days after that phone call for a wellness check, Jordan Joplin, the friend from Washington State, calls again. Joplin says that Dr. Garcia did not follow through on those plans, and he's still concerned that something is not right.

- To what degree does that move the needle? - It really didn't move the needle much at all. I don't know that the information had really changed much.

But the next day, Joplin calls for a third time. Nobody's heard from him yet. He gave me a house key and I'm going up there on Monday because I haven't heard anything and I am very worried. I did talk to a lawyer and he said that I could talk to you guys and I can give you guys permission to go in there, but I would have to physically be there. We're more than welcome to go do that for you. Yeah, Joplin? Yeah. Okay.

And so, on the morning of March 27th, it's Joplin showing up to open Dr. Garcia's front door. But police officers keep him outside the house, where he waits with a concerned Don Hink. What happens over the next 90 seconds or so will set off torrents of emotion and unveil a mystery that's filled with sick twists and shocking turns. The police enter the residence with their guns drawn.

And then... Dr. Garcia, police department. Can you make yourself known, sir? This close friend that had been calling the Ketchikan Police Department for the welfare check of Dr. Garcia, Jordan Joplin, called once again and said that he was just arriving from Seattle. You had this guy in town who said he had keys to the house.

and he wanted you to accompany him. - Yeah. We provide a service, and we were gonna provide that service. Sergeant Sheeter and I got there around nine o'clock in the morning. The house looked the same as when I was there before, so we just waited for Mr. Joplin.

It was kind of a big house for a single guy like Dr. Eric Garcia, but the only in Alaska views must have suited the 58-year-old surgeon who had arrived here eight years earlier. His latest stop on a journey that began more than 4,000 miles away in Puerto Rico. Which town in Puerto Rico was it? Ponce, which is the southern side of the island.

Our grandmother had a heart defect, so for him to pursue medicine it was important so that he could help the family. I think he knew that to get his specialty that he wanted to, he was going to have to leave. After he finished his residency program, he moved to Eagle Pass.

On the Rio Grande, the border between Texas and Mexico, Eagle Pass has about 30,000 residents. So back in the mid-90s, it's an opportunity for a young surgeon like Eric Garcia to do it all. When you are a general surgeon in a small town, you get to do a lot of things. Did he like the kind of big fish in a small pond aspect? I believe so. He could be more prominent that way, more involved, would have more impact. He loved to travel.

We traveled the world together. We decided to take one of those Alaska crews that took place in September 2004. That was the first time he went to Ketchikan. He really liked Ketchikan. A few years later, a recruit called him to try to get a general surgeon for Ketchikan. I thought, "Oh, of all places, Alaska? I mean, that's pretty far away."

Far away for him, indeed. On paper anyway, Dr. Garcia seemed like a fish out of water. Dr. Kolach from Juno's on line one. We only have one line. Not unlike Dr. Joel Fleischman, played by Rob Morrow in the 1990s TV series Northern Exposure.

But in reality, Dr. Garcia was a huge hit with coworkers and with the townspeople too. They admired both his surgical skill and his personal warmth. I met Dr. Garcia probably a week or so into my work. And he was the most gentle, kind, wonderful soul you could imagine. We were extremely close.

He would come over to our house for family and friend gatherings, most holidays. He was very easy to like. Always pleasant, always fun to be around. You know, sometimes you run into people and you like running into them. He was one of those people.

Bob Jackson had sold Dr. Garcia that house. Their bond was a close one. Now, on the morning of March 27th, 2017, he'd be joining his friend Dawn Hink up there. Just minutes after, she and Jordan Joplin arrived at the site to meet the police. I see two vehicles drive up the driveway.

And one was a red Ford truck, which I knew Dr. Garcia drove a red Ford truck. They said he had a red truck. Is this the truck? Where'd you find that? The officers are recording on body cameras. Let's take a look. That's Mr. Joplin. This is Jordan Joplin using his keys to open the front door. Correct.

Dr. Garcia, police department. What did you expect to find? An empty home. Can you make yourself known, sir? Typical procedure, we'd announce Ketchikan Police Department, let it be known if you're inside. There was no response. Dr. Garcia? Dr. Garcia, Officer Miller, police department. You've got your gun pulled and you're ready for anything. It's standard for how we enter a residence.

We're worrying. We're checking anywhere somebody could hide. We just want to make sure it is secure. We cleared the first floor and started moving up the stairs to the second floor. Hello, Dr. Garcia. That Sergeant Cheatham in front of me, he reached the top of the stairs and he said that he found the deceased. He's here. OK. Dr. Garcia was deceased on the couch.

I think my mind just went, "This doesn't make sense." Just outside the front door, it's Sergeant Cheatham who has to break the news to Dr. Garcia's friends. Jackson had arrived just in time to hear what had happened to his friend, Dr. Garcia.

We were all upset. Everyone there, I was probably briefly in shock. I walked to the opposite side of the house as far away as I could get. Just despair at that point. Dawn Hink is brokenhearted, undone. She is totally distraught. And Garcia's friend from Washington, Jordan Joplin, says he is hurting physically.

Joplin recovers. But as the news spreads around Ketchikan, the entire town goes into shock. What did you think about when you heard that news? I guess kind of panic. Not really wanting to believe that, you know, is this real? How could this have happened?

I didn't believe it at first. No, it can't be. But it was. Garcia's mother had been worried that he was not returning her calls. Now, from thousands of miles away, Dr. Garcia's brother, Saul, is calling the Ketchikan police for an update. My wife and I were in a conference room, and we called. We were both sitting there calling, and I had the officer on speakerphone, and he's telling us this. "Your brother was found dead."

the police start trying to figure out what exactly has happened to dr garcia and they start to learn that the good-hearted doctor actually had some health problems my first impression is like oh maybe you know

There was an event with his heart to the point that now he passed away. We can make theories on how we think somebody dies, but we just won't know until we get the autopsy results back from the state medical examiner. But after police discovered what's behind this locked door, their thinking will totally pivot to matters more criminal.

It's a shocking find. This town's revered surgeon, Dr. Eric Garcia, dead on the couch in his home. But how? Ketchikan, Alaska police, they've got a locked door mystery on their hands. A scene that's filled with clues. And right from the start, something about this scene just doesn't smell right.

Coming up the stairs, it smelled like barbecue briquettes. You're talking like lighter fluid and charcoal briquettes? Yes, exactly. The deck door was wide open, propped open by a pillow, and the barbecue was right there with burnt ash in it. A lot of people might barbecue on a deck, but not many people would prop the door open with pillows. Did that strike you as something unusual? Very unusual. Around the body, there was actually a pill bottle that had Dr. Garcia's name on it.

Next to the doctor was a coffee table that was pushed up close to the couch where he was located. There was an open package of bacon and there was a partially burned charcoal broquette on the coffee table.

Outside the house, grief continues to wash over the friends of Dr. Garcia. But Bobby Jackson is agitated about something. This house needs to be secured. Yeah, we'll take care of it. I mean, alarm needs to be set. What I'm saying is there's stuff in there that needs to be locked up.

And when Devin Miller comes downstairs, Jackson pulls the officer aside. And he said, "There's a storage area underneath the stairs that is locked, and it has got gold and coins and silver in there and a large collection of collectible alcohol."

Dr. Garcia had hundreds of mostly silver. He had some gold, but he collected gold coins and some of the mint coins. And he had a lot. When I moved him from his rental to Dr. Garcia's new house that he purchased, it sagged the back of my car down. He had so much gold and silver in there.

When did the coin collecting and the collecting in general begin in earnest from what you can remember? So we were exposed to that from my dad. He started ordering coins and, you know, it could be gold coins or silver coins. Then he started buying some gold ingots and stuff like that and silver. He had many, many watches, probably about 20 high-end watches. Every time he'd show me one, he would tell me how much it cost.

This one was $1,600. This was $2,400. He also bought a lot of hard liquor. He had this huge liquor collection. Was he much of a drinker? He liked his, you know, here or there, but it was mostly for the having these things.

Friends say that he had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold, silver, and other valuables. So detectives rushed to open the deadbolted door because they're hoping to confirm Dr. Garcia's prized possessions are still in the house. I contacted Mr. Joplin, and so I had him open the door and looked inside.

There was no gold. There was no silver found. There were racks and racks that were empty. I did not see a large collection of alcohol or coins or gold or anything. There was 30 or 40 bottles.

I looked in and I said, "Everything's gone. It's all gone." There was nothing left. I said, "He's been robbed. He's not just dead, he's been robbed." And what's going through your heart at this moment? Oh, it was just utter disbelief. And then it even became some anger. According to Bobby Jackson, Dr. Garcia's close friends had wanted to build Dr. Garcia a more secure place for his treasures,

But now they were gone. And oddly so, because the storage door had been locked, just like the front door was. The house was not broken into. There was no forced entry. There were no outward signs. And with the items missing, it meant we had a major theft. Detectives were called and asked to come in and help investigate. But remember, detectives have no idea if any of this is related to Dr. Garcia's death.

Because after all, friends said he just loved to give away some of these valuables as gifts to friends, even to patients. What I've learned about Dr. Garcia through the course of the investigation is that he was very generous and shared things often with those that he loved and was close to. He would share portions of that alcohol collection that he had.

He would gift gold coins. He would buy things for his co-workers, for his friends. He was very generous. Very generous not only with gifts, but with his time and with his service.

I mean, he had no bounds. He just, you know, "Hey, you like that? Is that cool? Have it." You know? And it's a gold nugget. It's an expensive piece of jewelry. Normal people don't just give to whoever. It struck me as an odd thing. It was like, "Ooh, that could be bad." The randomness of it kind of concerned you. Why exactly? It just throws red flags. You can collect some unsavory people that way.

Perhaps there's a very good reason why virtually all of Dr. Garcia's valuables are gone. Maybe he...

In fact, close friend Jordan Joplin had told police on the phone that he'd feared Garcia might have harmed himself. This is news to friends and family who didn't see any evidence that Dr. Garcia was depressed or suicidal.

So as investigators take up this trail of the luxury goods, the question of exactly how Dr. Garcia died becomes even more important. They are now looking at Dr. Garcia's mysterious death in an entirely new light. Knowing that the missing valuables were gone, it really changes things immensely. Cops are intrigued enough by what they found here inside the house, but what else is missing might be more mysterious still, like

What's all that on the wall? It changes everything.

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And away we go. Sunny Ketchikan. It looks quite nice today. For police here in Ketchikan, Alaska, like Deputy Chief Eric Madsen, the disappearance of what authorities believe to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in luxury items from the house of Dr. Eric Garcia adds to the mystery in the wake of his sudden and unexplained death.

I have so many questions about the case and have hardly any answers. So it's frustrating not knowing. And you don't know if it's natural causes, if it's self-inflicted, or if someone has murdered him. I don't know any of those answers in that moment.

And for cops, there's a big riddle in plain sight all over the walls of the house. What was all that? All those. They look like bases for multiple smoke detectors. Every single place that a smoke detector was located or should have been was just the base with the wiring harness sticking out. There was not one smoke detector inside that house. They were all missing. That struck Garcia's close friends as extremely odd.

Dawn Hink saying she couldn't imagine Dr. Garcia getting up on a ladder to remove those smoke detectors. And there were other details of how his house was found that day that Dawn says made absolutely no sense. Like that barbecue that was found upstairs reeking of lighter fluid. Well, Dawn says Dr. Garcia was never known to grill. His loved ones describe a man who had difficulty doing anything for himself.

A lot of times they called me his work wife, picking up dry cleaning, you know, making and bringing his lunch. He is so committed to this career that he's not doing anything else. So his house could be on fire. He has to call somebody else to go, hey, can you check on that fire and maybe see if you can call the police or something. Given the circumstances and the mystery surrounding his brother's death,

Saul Garcia decides to make his way to Ketchikan just hours after getting the heartbreaking news. He's got questions of his own to answer about his older brother, who according to Saul, rarely shared with him details of his private life. Do you think he was lonely? Yes. And the reason for that is after he died, I went to his house.

Alone one night in the house Dr. Garcia said he loved, his brother Saul is seized by a powerful feeling. I was by myself and it was so lonely there. There's no lights outside, it's so quiet and inside that house I just felt the loneliness. I just could not imagine him living in there. So what might such apparent loneliness have driven Dr. Eric Garcia to do?

That question reverberating weeks later when the toxicology results are released, revealing what killed Dr. Garcia, an overdose of morphine. But it's curious because there's no morphine located in Dr. Garcia's home by authorities. - There was no sign of injection, so it had to have been consumed. - So that's noteworthy. Morphine found in his stomach. So that means it was swallowed, not injected.

Also, there are traces in his bloodstream of a prescription sedative. Was that the empty bottle by his body? And then there's this. Garcia's blood also had an elevated carbon monoxide level.

The toxicology report revealed a 9% value of carbon monoxide. Now that is four times the normal limit. So this raises the attention of police when you consider all the other aspects of this case that they've learned. Remember, cops noted a strong smell of lighter fluid in the house and the upstairs deck door propped open with a charcoal grill placed right at the door.

To Officer Miller, that was one of the oddest details of all because everyone in town knew in Ketchikan, you did not mess with the southeast wind.

So no one in Ketchikan, who is a resident here in your view, would ever have barbecued on the southeast side of their house. Especially on the second floor that's going to get some wind. So maybe Dr. Garcia didn't know about the wind. I mean, nobody figured him for the barbecue-at-home type. Or maybe it was somebody else who'd been manning the grill. And then there are those curious items that turn up on the coffee table next to Dr. Garcia. An open package of bacon, a partially burned charcoal briquette,

And as they uncovered the body and examined Dr. Garcia, they noted something else. I could see his left hand was on his abdomen and there was charcoal on his fingertips that had gone to his white t-shirt. That's CO reading on the toxicology report, also making the mystery of the smoke detectors ominous indeed.

I could see that the smoke detectors were removed so that the fumes from the barbecue wouldn't set it off. At this point, I think we suspected there was foul play. Weeks after Dr. Garcia's passing, Saul Garcia was working remotely from his late brother's home. Throughout this whole time, I always feel like Eric is very close to me. I always talk to him. I said, "Eric, you need to help us. We need to get this thing to a resolution. Are we missing something?"

Saul breaks for lunch and then finds himself strolling a mile or so along a bridge when suddenly the whole case takes another dramatic and totally unexpected turn. As I'm walking, I get a ping on my phone and I pull it out and as I look at my phone, I notice these white dots down below. I took some pictures with the telephoto lens and sure enough, those look like the smoke detectors. Saul immediately calls Ketchikan police

Mattson and other officers recover six smoke detectors in the woods. Authorities then go back to the house and match the smoke detectors with the six empty mounting plates via their serial numbers. It's looking more and more to police like somebody was trying to get rid of evidence. It looks like somebody may have been involved in Dr. Garcia's death.

The morphine and the combination of the drugs, all the items being stolen, it just all started adding up. In my gut, this death did appear as to what it looked like. And as police continue to dig into the case, the evidence is going to lead them to a very unlikely suspect, someone you might think was one of the last people who'd ever commit this crime. ♪♪

In the wake of the death of Eric Garcia, the community of Ketchikan is struggling with the loss of their beloved doctor. And as one of only two general surgeons in the area, the death of Dr. Garcia causes a medical crisis. Dr. Garcia's death impacted the community greatly. There were a variety of patients that required his care and with his specialty as a general surgeon, people just weren't going to get that from him anymore.

It was a big blow to the community. We really needed another surgeon, so we scrambled for a while to continue surgical coverage.

Meanwhile, the probe into Dr. Eric Garcia's mysterious death, it's become a criminal investigation. Amid the toxicology results, the missing valuables, that strangely placed barbecue grill, and the absent smoke detectors, it's looking like someone might have had a hand in Dr. Garcia's death. In my gut, this death wasn't what it was as it had appeared.

To unravel that mystery, cops dig deep and they're looking into every aspect of Garcia's life, including his financial records. We want bank records to show where he's got accounts and what banks. And they make a startling discovery. Garcia had made wire transfers to several people, including someone named Logan Cruz. Where's all this money going to? Who is Logan Cruz?

Turns out police have a pretty good idea of who Logan Cruz is. The caller uses two different names and we didn't find out until later what that was about.

Some of Dr. Garcia's friends had met Jordan Joplin, aka Logan Cruz, but still, he was a bit of an enigma to the people on the scene that day when Garcia's body was discovered. He was clearly close to the doctor. Remember, he drove up in Garcia's red pickup truck that day from the airport, accompanied by a girlfriend. No one really in town knew him. He doesn't have a history in the town at all.

Joplin's demeanor raises a lot of red flags that morning to investigating officers as well as Dr. Garcia's friends. Mr. Jackson informed me that nobody knows who Jordan Joplin is. To Dr. Garcia's friends, Joplin's behavior seems questionable.

But he's also the reason everyone assembled for a welfare check in the first place. Remember, he called the cops. He was raising concerns about Garcia's well-being. He'd been calling the Ketchikan Police Department for the welfare check of Dr. Garcia. When police descended on Eric Garcia's home in Ketchikan for a welfare check, it was Jordan Joplin who'd flown up from Washington State with a key to open the residence. And the site of those keys in his hand would be a site Don Hink,

would never forget. When he pulled out the keys, I knew there's one set of keys and he has them. I mean, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. So what is that relationship? Who is this guy? So we just closed the door and just did some privacy stuff. So after finding the doctor deceased, police have a word or two with the out-of-town. Okay, how did you guys meet? I'm just curious.

Jordan Joplin tells police there's a reason why he's got Dr. Garcia's keys, because Dr. Garcia gave them to him. He also said Dr. Garcia gave him power of attorney. When Joplin is asked about the hundreds of thousands in valuables, he has a quick answer.

Two of them actually, and they contradict each other. Do you know of any high-value items in the house? Anything you think is high? Where do you stay when you're in catch camp? Here. Okay. And you're not aware of any high-value items in the house? Yeah, actually. Okay. I'm asking you about it because you need to be truthful with us.

For police, suspicions about Garcia's mysterious friend, they're only deepening as police continue to dig deep with their investigation. One day later, with a warrant, they go through that red pickup truck, Garcia's truck, which Joplin had been driving. There in the glove compartment,

They find a vital clue. In the truck, we found a receipt, a waybill. From a barge company that transports goods all through Alaska along the coast down to the state of Washington. When we found a receipt in his truck, for me it was something suspicious was going on.

Ketchikan police officers rush to the local shipping company. They're hoping they can find out exactly what is being shipped out of state. Detective Purcell and I went to investigate to try and get some kind of video. And what police would spot on surveillance video would take investigators far away from Ketchikan and into the lower 48. On a ticking clock search, the man might be a murderer.

But when the private becomes public, deep secrets will be revealed, shocking the people of Ketchikan. - He's told me that he wanted to commit suicide from getting raped. - This doesn't make sense. - Just despairing. - Bizarre. - This doctor was found dead in his house. - For a city like Ketchikan, this infiltrated the entire community. Everyone was talking about it. - My life became a true crime show.

Police are now looking into every single aspect of Dr. Garcia's life. - Do you think there were aspects of his private life that he thought would be difficult to share with your family? - Yes. - Is it business related or? - Nope. - Friendship related? - I think it's more friendship. - Who exactly is Jordan Joplin? And how did a respected doctor in Alaska become entangled with him?

He was two different people. He was very good at manipulating. Very good. How good? Whatever Jordan wanted, Jordan pretty much got. This crime scene just became massive. But nothing in this case is more stunning than the chilling video clip that prosecutors play in court. Oh, my God.

Ketchikan, Alaska. As beautiful and remote as an international pop star. Inaccessible by car. Abundant fish and wildlife and wondrous vistas that delight the thousands of cruise ship tourists in season. Dr. Eric Garcia took a good look during one of those cruises and left Texas to move here.

The kind-hearted physician making a lot of friends among the town's 8,000-year-rounders, grateful to have in their midst such a skilled surgeon. Dr. Garcia, Officer Miller, Police Department. But March of 2017, there's trouble in paradise. Big trouble. When cops find the beloved Dr. Garcia dead in his home.

He was just the nicest man. Everybody knew him. Everyone wanted to say hello. What a nice guy. Initially, there are questions about his death. Could it be suicide, a heart attack, or something more sinister?

Even after the autopsy was done, the medical examiner did not find any signs of trauma. After that, the toxicology report came back and showed he had actually died of a morphine overdose. But the question is, how did that morphine get in his system? So what or who had taken the life of this trusted physician? And could this scenic hideaway of fewer than 10,000 residents be harboring a murderer?

Dr. Garcia's house, a locked door mystery filled with potential clues. A barbecue grill by an open door, a charcoal briquette on a table, missing smoke detectors discovered tossed into nearby woods. Precious items of value that should be here but aren't anymore. Is your sense that

Whatever is missing from the house is directly connected to the death of Dr. Garcia? I don't know that we knew that it was directly related to the death. But remember that shipping receipt the cops found inside Dr. Garcia's truck? It's a potentially huge clue. It's that right there. Yes, sir. This is a close-up of that receipt from AML, Alaska Marine Lines. It's a barge company that ships products to and from Ketchikan.

Essentially, it was a receipt that was in the name of Jordan Joplin listing the doctor's address as a shipper address to Jordan Joplin in Maple Valley, Washington. The container weight was total about 4,400 pounds. Two tons of stuff from Dr. Garcia's place headed to the lower 48? Really? Cops need to know more about that shipment's stat and if the often generous Dr. Garcia knew anything about it.

another discovery starts to offer some answers. - I did locate a Walmart receipt that was in the garbage in the kitchen. - That Walmart receipt listed several items, notably several plastic bins or totes, things that you would store a variety of items in, just plastic boxes with lids. - Would you have a few questions for you?

Interestingly, Walmart actually was discussed the first time the cops interviewed Jordan Joplin the day Dr. Garcia's body was discovered. As he's asked about his last visit to Ketchikan, Joplin says the two men went to the store together. - I think it was 'cause he's 16th is when I used his truck. - Okay, 'cause you'd have to return the truck to him. - Well, he was with me. - So? - He went to Walmart.

So the police follow up. They come here to the only Walmart in Ketchikan, and what they find on the store's surveillance security camera marks a big moment in this investigation. What you see is Jordan Joplin moving about Walmart from various different angles. Walmart has an enormous amount of cameras, and essentially we've followed him through the store. It shows him from the side. It shows him from above. It just shows...

Jordan Joplin checking out with all these stacked plastic bins in his cart. One of the camera angles actually shows Jordan Joplin with a huge grin on his face. He had an employee from Walmart help him with another cart because he had that many bins. So once all those items were loaded back into the truck, Mr. Joplin got back into the truck and departed the parking lot.

But what you don't see is Dr. Eric Garcia. He's not in a single shot. I mean, in the very first interview, Joplin says that he went with Dr. Garcia to Walmart together. So it shows a lie. This raises even more questions for authorities about Jordan's shipment at AML, Alaska Marine Lines.

So at the time, Detective Purcell and I went to AML to investigate. And what are those things that you're expecting to see? So we're just trying to find out the logistics and where the physical items are at. That's the point in time where we saw video footage of Dr. Garcia's truck and then Jordan Joplin coming and going from the vehicle and unloading items.

Detectives now know Jordan Joplin used those plastic crates they saw him buy at Walmart to load something into shipping containers. The bad news, it had all happened 10 days earlier. The containers actually were already gone. They were already on the barge on their way to Seattle. But now that we realized and found that the property was now in transit, this crime scene just became massive. It went from Ketchikan, Alaska down to Seattle, Washington. And what did you know definitively about the stuff you were trying to find?

We didn't know anything. Whatever is inside those containers, detectives want to get their hands on it before Jordan Joplin does. They take off for Seattle, and the clock is ticking. I've been involved in a lot of cases, but this one was pretty fast moving. There was definitely a sense of urgency. The two detectives join their partner, Officer Devin Miller. It is highly unusual for detectives

city of Ketchikan police officers to go to the lower 48. They are heading to this facility in the Port of Seattle. It's a race against time.

The discovery of a shipping receipt in Dr. Garcia's truck with Jordan Joplin's name on it leads investigators to a shipping company in Ketchikan. Only there they discover that two tons of stuff has already left Alaska. The containers that Joplin has had sent have already arrived here in Seattle, there at the port. So officers in Ketchikan hop a plane to Tzuit. We were trying.

to get those containers before anybody else did. Sergeant Mattson, Detective Purcell and myself got onto a plane and went to Seattle. We went to AML on East Marginal Way in Seattle, Washington and found the containers. They had already been set aside and secured by AML personnel. We cut the locks that were secured on the containers and started to open them. Oh my God.

There were cases of coins and collectibles, the gold and silver. There were hundreds of bottles. It was a massive collection. These boxes were so full, it almost seemed like they were overspilling when we opened them. His entire life, his computers, personal checks, bank checks in the name of Dr. Garcia, passport in the name of Dr. Garcia.

Cops now have thousands of dollars of Dr. Garcia's missing stuff. And it's just the beginning. Next up in their plan: place Jordan Joplin under arrest for theft

For this, Ketchikan cops need the able assistance of King County law enforcement. It's an out-of-state agency. It's their investigation. They've developed a probable cause for the arrest. So they need a local agency with them to both help them make the arrest, draft any search warrants that need to be done. The Seattle cops want to lure Joplin out of his house so that he can be arrested at the port.

And it turns out, according to the shipping company, Joplin has been just itching to take possession of that precious cargo. We knew that he had been calling. I think he was a manager. And he talked about, you know, this guy's been calling all the time. Like, great, well, have him call. Call him back and tell him to come down here. I gave Jordan a call. He wanted to know if his shipment was in. I said, no, there's a snafu.

So this was a ruse you cooked up to try to get him out of that house and get him in a place where you could get a good look at him, so to speak. And as sure as the rain in Seattle, Joplin shows up at the appointed time. We can park here. Let's hop out here.

I introduced myself, "Hey, I'm with the sheriff's office. I need to speak with you. I gotta go talk to these guys." And I stopped him and said, "No, no, you need to stay here. These are detectives from Alaska." To which his response was something along the lines of, "I don't want to talk to any of you guys. You can just talk to my attorney." And it's at that point that I said, "Well, you are under arrest." He was treating you like the help. Yeah, oh yeah, he was very dismissive.

With Joplin in custody, it's now time for part B of the plan. Are you in the lead car as you do this? Yes, I am.

That's executing a search warrant at his residence. But while Joplin is no longer at home, there is someone there to answer the door. I was his fiance. At first, I looked out our bedroom door. There was a bunch of unmarked cars. Police officers with bulletproof vests on. And I'm like completely naked. I'd just gotten out of the shower and I was like...

For investigators, it's just one of many surprises they're going to uncover with Joplin. Remember, that day he had showed up at Dr. Garcia's house, he was with another woman he identified as his girlfriend. I did have concerns that he was then maybe cheating on me with her, but at that point, I wasn't 100% sure. It wasn't until after our house got raided that I found out.

Kristen may have suspected Jordan was cheating, but she was adamant she knew nothing about what had brought this small armada of police to her doorstep. I stood outside of my house for six hours. They took my phone, took all my electronics because the warrant was on my name as well.

She asked where Jordan was, and I said, well, he's talking to some detectives from Alaska right now. What do you know about Jordan's relationship with Dr. Garcia? What about some of this property that's here? They were like, we are not interested in you. We are just interested in Jordan. She was aware of everything coming in from the doctor over a period of time. But according to her, from Jordan, this was all just a gift from the doctor.

I was just trying to process where I missed these flags. The women who accompanied Joplin to Ketchikan and Kristen were both cleared by law enforcement. Meanwhile, cops swarm the site and all the evidence they retrieve is sent to Ketchikan police. Notably during that search warrant, detectives had found a Faraday bag that contained the doctor's cell phones.

A Faraday bag is essentially an electronic blocking bag or device. Once it's placed in there, it's cut off from that communication and hides the signals. We also found in another location Dr. Garcia's wallet with his ID. Jordan Joplin was charged with theft in the first degree. Joplin would plead not guilty, but really his arrest is just the start of unraveling this big mystery. And the more investigators dig into his background,

the more they wonder who exactly is Jordan Joplin and how did a respected doctor in Alaska become entangled with him? - A mass manipulator. - He was two different people. - Out to get whatever he needs at that moment and then to move on like a tornado.

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That police raid in Maple Valley, Washington during late March 2017 would mark the beginning of what she describes as one big wake-up call for Joplin's fiancé, Kristen Coles Nelson. My life became a true crime show. When they showed up at my house and they first announced that they were cops and stuff, they say it were the Washington County Sheriff's Department. And then the guy behind him said, "I am a sheriff from Ketchikan."

And I looked at them puzzled. I think I said, "Does this have to do with Eric?" And then they asked me why I thought that and I was like, "Well, he just passed away and I know that he was terminally ill." But of course, Dr. Eric Garcia was never terminally ill.

Kristen says she immediately realized that was just a lie Joplin had told her to explain his increasingly frequent trips to Alaska. My world turned upside down and inside out. He did have two sides. He had this facade that he put out that he was a great person and that he didn't like liars, but he was one himself. I didn't know what to believe, what was the truth. The truth could be a rude awakening for those who knew Jordan Joplin.

And as investigators were discovering, Joplin's trouble in Alaska was not his first brush with the law. Jordan Joplin had grown up here in Forks, Washington, the town made famous in the Twilight films. In the state of Washington, under near constant cover of clouds and rain, there's a small town named Forks. 3,120 people.

Jordan's dream was just to take care of everybody. Aunt Sandy, I'm going to get rich and I'm going to take care of all of you. Sandy Flores and her husband were raising three boys in Forks when her younger sister, Debbie, moved to town after a divorce. Her youngest, Jordan, was just a year and a half. He was very impulsive, I think is the word to use. Instead of thinking about it, he would just do something and then go, "Oh wow, that was fun. Let's do it again."

Jordan Joplin was all grown up by the time this young woman encountered him in the summertime of 2010. He was very high energy and so that positivity was kind of infectious. Jessica Everton met Jordan Joplin in Bonney Lake, Washington, that's near Tacoma, while they were each working at a food bank that was run by her father.

Jessica knew Jordan was there for community service. And here's what the young single mother says she did not know: that it was ordered after he was convicted of two felonies, after abandoning his car and then claiming it had been stolen. Investigators became suspicious when they noticed he had filed an insurance claim three hours before reporting he'd left the vehicle on the side of the road. Oh, those impulses. He was very kind. He listened.

Once my dad got hurt, Jordan kind of took over what my dad's duties were. Anything that my dad needed, Jordan was on top of doing. And that's when you started going out with him? That's essentially, yes. He was intoxicating. He really was. And then he used that to manipulate. He was very good at manipulating. Very good.

Summer ended and so had Jordan's community service. Joplin telling Jessica he was working as a personal trainer. She never saw any clients. He was, however, spending plenty of time at the gym. He was an aspiring stripper. How did he look with his shirt on? Gorgeous. Jessica says her relationship with Joplin took a dramatic turn after a Christmas shopping trip in 2010. We were shopping at Walmart. As we walked out, we got swarmed.

They're accusing me of stealing. I'm flabbergasted. Walmart security accused the couple of shoplifting a number of GPS units from the store. The police showed up and we were arrested and we were both placed in the same squad car. Could you ever have imagined in your life you would end up in the back of a squad car? No. Or with somebody next to me saying, please don't leave me. Please don't leave me.

The police report noted that Jessica and Jordan said the theft was his idea. They were both charged. And what happened to the charges against you? They ended up getting deferred because I wanted the whole thing over behind me. I wanted no part of any of it. I said I'll do my community service.

won't commit this crime again. - Jordan, on the other hand, pled guilty to theft. He received a suspended jail sentence and, you'll never believe this, more community service. But Jessica says Jordan Joplin refused to go quietly into the night.

Jordan's not very nice when he's angry. His text messages and all of that stuff. And what are those messages saying that you're getting? At one point it was, if I can't have you, nobody can. And he started threatening my family. Jessica took action to get Jordan Joplin out of her life.

I get a restraining order against him. Joplin disputed Jessica's claim in court papers, saying he'd moved on with his life and had a new girlfriend. What happened after you got the restraining order? He stopped.

but some speak in glowing terms about the joplin they knew i never expected somebody like that to be in my life you know chris santa lawrence had hit rock bottom in 2012 she says before joplin's attentions pulled her out of a hellish spiral jordan made certain to

To be there helped me with the bills when I didn't even ask for it. He babysit the kids so I could go to the hospital. He was an angel. I was just happy to be a piece of furniture in his life. He radiated such energy about him that anybody would want to be around him. And anybody occasionally meant just about everybody.

He'd have two, three girlfriends at the same time, as a matter of fact, in the same truck, showing up at my house. One of the girls, she goes, I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to stay away from him. Later, I had a few connections that I got him into the adult industry. He was a dancer for a while, and then he became a model and an adult entertainer.

He was doing movies. - My name's Logan, here to see the house. - Do you want my ad online? - Yes, sir. - Jordan Joplin worked in adult films under the stage name Logan Cruz. Remember, that's the name he used when he made that welfare check call for Dr. Garcia. - My name's Logan. - What's your last name? - Oh, my real name is Jordan Joplin, but everybody calls me Logan. - So just how did Logan Cruz from Washington State

come to cross paths with a surgeon from Alaska. -That was the big question, was, "The police described him as a close friend, so what is that relationship?" -In life, Eric Garcia was able to closely guard his privacy. With his sudden death, that control was gone. As questions are answered, secrets are revealed. Did keeping those secrets cost Dr. Eric Garcia his life?

The home of Dr. Eric Garcia in Ketchikan, Alaska, had become a crime scene. But was it just the latest location for the alleged deceit and deceptions of Jordan Joplin?

His friends back in Washington state knew Joplin could be a smooth talking playa, an occasional bad boy, but Dr. Eric Garcia's focus had been on medicine. And that always left little room for any kind of well-rounded life away from the hospital. I know that he dated when he was young and mostly I know this from my sister because my sister actually got more into his business than I did. So I think I left those topics alone.

According to his family, they were left to wonder if Dr. Garcia's lack of experience and dating might have made him easy prey for the alleged manipulations of a Jordan Joplin, especially after a life-changing operation in Seattle kind of opened up a chasm inside the surgeon who had always put his work first. You talked about how you felt this triple bypass was kind of a turning point in his life.

Well, I mean, he kind of fell into a little bit of a depression right after it, which is not uncommon from having cardiac surgery. And he re-evaluated his life and he started also thinking, "Well, maybe it's time for me to enjoy my life some more." It was around that time that Joplin was working as a massage therapist in Washington state. Joplin would say Garcia paid $500 the first time he gave him a massage and that that's how their relationship began.

Why do you think he didn't want to talk to people about his relationship with him? I just think that certain people have a really hard time accepting

who they are. In Ketchikan, with his many patients, the decisions of Dr. Eric Garcia saved lives. With Jordan Joplin, did Eric Garcia's decisions cost the doctor his own life? To all but his closest friends, he never shared intimate details of his private life, not in Alaska and not in his family.

Do you think there were aspects of his private life that he thought would be difficult to share with your family? Yes. I personally suspected that, so I never really questioned him. But certainly it would have been something hard to discuss with my mom or my dad. Yet among those in Washington who knew Joplin, Eric Garcia was no secret.

Amanda Polreich was a close friend of Joplin's. When cops got a tip she had important information about him, they tracked her down in Washington state. All I knew that he was his sugar daddy. That the doctor was Jordan's sugar daddy? Yes. He would send him money. He would ship him things. Whatever Jordan wanted, Jordan pretty much got.

Inside Garcia's home, police find a letter he received from Joplin. I love you and I hope you never forget that. The letter from Joplin to Dr. Garcia began, ending with the words, love always, Jordan.

In the search of Joplin's home in Washington, a card he had received from Eric Garcia with a darkly ironic message. We located a Valentine's Day card. It was dated February 14, 2017, addressed to Jordan from Eric. I paraphrase what I read in that. You are my first and only love. Not kidding, you will probably kill me, but know that I will never let you down.

Your brother was Dr. Eric Garcia. He showed great judgment every time he entered an operating room or spoke to a patient. Why did he remain in Joplin's life? Well, in these types of domestic types of relationship, these things happen where people control somebody else.

as they seek to link Joplin to the morphine. Cops are also working to connect Joplin to a detail found in the toxicology report. Remember, Dr. Garcia's elevated levels of carbon monoxide. All that odd barbecue evidence.

And that raised the question, was the entire scenario with the charcoal grill staged by Joplin to make it look like Dr. Garcia killed himself via inhaling carbon monoxide from the smoke from the barbecue? And did Joplin remove those smoke detectors to prevent them from going off and alerting authorities? Cops go back to that video of Joplin from Walmart where they knew he bought all those packing crates.

Well, the evidence also showed that's not all he bought. He also bought a bag of charcoal. It was the one other thing other than all these plastic bins that Jordan Joplin purchased that day at Walmart. There it is. It's listed right on that receipt. So was this Jordan Joplin gathering the elements he needed to make it appear as if a depressed Dr. Garcia wanted to end it all?

Then, one more shocking piece of evidence that's found on Jordan Joplin's iPhone. It's evidence that might just seal his fate.

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In Ketchikan, Alaska, Jordan Joplin sits in jail on a theft charge as authorities are seeking to tie him to the murder of Dr. Eric Garcia. The results of the autopsy in this case couldn't say whether Dr. Garcia had purposely ingested this morphine or whether someone had given it to him. They could only say what the cause of death was.

there was still the question out there is where did the morphine come from everything's starting to come together as police learn about that friend of joplin's amanda polreich polreich tells police that she had gotten morphine from a friend whose spouse had been prescribed the medication and that joplin had asked her just how much morphine would be fatal he was like you know if i wanted to be able just like

What Ms. Polreich was able to do was show that Mr. Joplin was the one who procured the morphine to eventually kill Dr. Garcia.

Was there any discussion on how he used the liquid morphine? Nope. He never mentioned anything about what he was doing at all. Here's the police theory. Joplin gave Garcia that fatal dose of morphine during his March 2017 visit. Then Joplin left the state and then called in the welfare check so that he would have the perfect alibi.

So Mr. Joplin was charged with murder in the first degree and also theft in the first degree. Joplin pleads not guilty to all charges. For a city like Ketchikan, this was just an unheard of crime. And so it really kind of infiltrated the entire community. Everyone was talking about it. So much so that the case was actually moved from being tried in Ketchikan to being tried in Anchorage. I tried in my opening statement.

to present this clear picture of why Mr. Joplin is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of all of these charges.

The prosecution methodically lays out before the jury a timeline of what they say is Joplin's involvement in the case. And they bring Amanda Polright to the stand to put the morphine in his hands before Dr. Garcia's death. They put police on the stand to testify about their investigation. The fact that when Mr. Joplin called in the fake welfare check, he told them to call Dr. Garcia's cell phone

But he had that cell phone with him in Washington in a Faraday bag was also particularly damning evidence. But nothing in this case is more stunning than the disturbing video clip obtained by police from Joplin's phone that prosecutors play in court. On March 17th, 2017, the defendant, Jordan Joplin, took out his cell phone and he took a video of Dr. Eric Garcia

unconscious, gasping for air, and close to death. Ten days later, on March 27th, 2017, Ketchikan police officers found Dr. Garcia dead. In the same position as in the video, wearing the same clothes as he did in the video.

Yet in Joplin's video, there's no charcoal visible on Dr. Garcia's hands, showing prosecutors say in their summation all the barbecue stuff happened afterwards, after that fatal dose of morphine. When it's the defense team's turn, Joplin's attorney says that the prosecution's case is entirely circumstantial and that Dr. Garcia himself administered the morphine that took his life.

And as for that video, well, the defense acknowledges that Joplin may not have reacted appropriately, claiming it was out of fear for Dr. Garcia's job, but it doesn't mean he's guilty. The defense calls Jordan Joplin. To testify in his own defense, Jordan Joplin takes the stand. Did you know Dr. Eric Garcia? Yes, I did. Did you love him? Yes. He characterized it as a romantic relationship. He's very kind.

emotionally supportive. He offered a number of alternatives for what he said was happening. And the shipping containers with his belongings? Well, Joplin tells the jury that Dr. Garcia was planning on retiring and moving to Washington. He was giving me a bunch of stuff. And then also I was under the impression that he either bought a house or

Prosecutors later say there is no evidence other than Joplin's own word to suggest that Dr. Garcia ever planned on retiring and moving to Washington.

Choosing to testify on his own behalf leaves Joplin wide open for cross-examination. Mr. Joplin, you started to plan killing Dr. Garcia much before March of 2017, right? I didn't try or kill or plan to kill anybody. What really stood out was the different stories throughout even his own testimony. You didn't try to wake him up at any point? I did.

Okay, so that's new to day two. When did you do that? Either sometime on the 17th. I didn't shake him really hard because I wasn't trying to startle him. He seemed to be sleeping hard, so I just left him alone. On the 14th day of this emotional trial, the defense rests.

So after we finish closing arguments, then the case goes to the jury and ultimately the case is in their hands. Also in the jury's hands, the fate of Jordan Joplin. You just don't know what a jury's going to do. It's excruciating to not know what's going to happen. Seven years after Dr. Eric Garcia's death, testimony in the murder trial of Jordan Joplin is over.

Then, on day three of deliberations, jurors say they've reached a verdict. I think the most excruciating part is when the jury has come in and we're just waiting for the words to be said. We, the jury, find the defendant, Jordan Joplin, guilty of murder in the first degree. Guilty of all charges. He was found guilty of murder in the first degree and theft in the first degree. The second we got the guilty verdict, I was...

But elation, I was so excited that this can't happen again to another person. On April 9th, 2024, Jordan Joplin was brought back here to Ketchikan for sentencing. Eric Garcia's brother Saul made the roughly six-hour flight from L.A. to Ketchikan, plus that ferry from the airport, just so he could deliver a victim impact statement.

In your address to the court, you spoke directly to Joplin. What did you want him to hear from your mouth? So essentially that the one person that cared for you and he just essentially gambled your life away. I mean, because you thought you could get away with it. The court preferred the victim's statements to go first and then the state's argument? Yes, please.

Just state your full name for the record. I'll be glad to hear from you. Our hope is that the court gives the strongest consideration possible to all victims' statements today and arrives at the maximum sentence possible for Joplin. This was intentional, significantly premeditated, brazen, craven conduct. And it calls for a significant change.

sentence for murder in the first degree. The sentence will be 99 years with none suspended. I feel like justice was served. Jordan got 99 years in prison. Alaska does not allow the death penalty. So that's about the maximum that you can get. I was pleased. It's not because I have this vengeance in my heart that he wants to pay. No, it's

I don't see it that way. I was very glad that this is not going to happen to anybody else. In Ketchikan, the love and affection for Dr. Garcia lives on in so many ways. We heard from everyone in Ketchikan how they like to remember your brother, Dr. Eric Garcia. How would you like us to remember him? I think Eric's legacy is about compassion and caring, but

He helped so many people along the way with medicine or just being friends with people and connecting with them. At the hospital where he worked, a memorial tree planted during a beautiful ceremony. A lasting tribute to someone who was once an outsider, but was embraced by the townsfolk here as one of their own. Part of the ceremony was everybody would pick a stone that would remind him of Eric. Love, happiness, friendliness.

One by one, everybody would lay a stone in a circular fashion around the tree. Now you can see how big the tree is seven years later. The tree blooms every year and it's beautiful. It's a beautiful way to commemorate a beautiful man.

And we should point out tonight that Jordan Joplin has now filed an appeal of his conviction. David, if his appeal is denied, the earliest he'll be eligible for parole is in the year 2050, when he'll be 64. That's our program for tonight. And here's to a great new season of 2020. I'm Deborah Roberts. And I'm David Muir. Incredible stories coming your way. This is just the start from all of us at 2020 and ABC News. Good night.

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