Solved mystery draws NY Times to Kentucky

Landmark News Service

A nine-year-old mystery — solved this week by authorities — has reportedly lured a New York Times reporter to Kentucky to recount the story.

Henry County Coroner Jimmy Pollard said he would meet with a representative from the nation's largest paper today in Frankfort, to discuss the case.

It involves the identity of a murder victim, who was reportedly beaten and shot on an eastern Jefferson County farm in 1998, after a cocaine deal went wrong.

The victim, Miguel Angel Garcia, was apparently dumped in a Henry County ditch. His body was found by hunters in February of 1999, although his identity remained unknown for nine years.

Investigators were able to identify Garcia this week after matching DNA evidence to his skeletal remains. A medical database confirmed the identity of Garcia, who had been reported missing by a relative in southern Texas.

"We had DNA and dental records, but neither of those are any good unless you have something to match it to," Pollard said. "The major breakthrough was this database."

Three people, Patrick W. Meeks, Michael Anthony "Tony" Peak and Leann Bearden, all in their 30s, were convicted of the murder after each testified they tried to rob the man of cocaine stashes.

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