By Trey Rusk
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Trey Rusk (L) with the editor of BarkGrowlBite in 2015
In Matagorda County in the early 80's there were three investigators to cover 2500 square miles. I was one of them. Every third week one investigator was on call for the entire county. Things were pretty simple back then. You did your job with the knowledge and tools that were available.
One
case that I worked on involved a Mexican killer who worked at cotton
gins across Texas. I had a decomposed body found in a drainage ditch
outside of Palacios. The crime scene took several days of back breaking
work in the South Texas heat. I would pick up a trusty and shovels at
the jail so the dirt could be sifted through screens. There was no
crime scene unit. Bones had been scattered by scavengers. I took the 35
mm photographs and had them processed at a local drug store. We found a
.22 bullet in the dirt near the skull. The skull was intact with a
small hole in the top/rear. Hay bailing wire was found nearby. I took
it to the DPS crime lab in Austin for facial reconstruction.
The
romantic ride. I stopped by my home and asked Denise if she wanted to
go to Austin, spend the night and have dinner on the counties dime? She
took our two kids to her mother's house and when she returned, I picked
her up in a marked county pickup truck. About halfway there, I stopped
for gas. She needed to go into the store. I pumped the gas. When she
returned, I asked her to stay with the truck and the body while I was
inside. "Body?" Well, I can tell you she had a lot to say when I
returned. Overall, though, it was a nice trip.
Tests
came back nearly a year later, and it was confirmed that he had been
killed by a bullet in the back of the head, execution style. I placed
the pictures of the reconstructed face of the dead man around the stores
in Palacios.
I should
point out that there was no internet or DNA data base available to
assist investigators. However, The Texas DPS produced a bulletin and
would allow individual agencies to post cases. The bulletin was mailed
out to each law enforcement agency in the state.
Shortly
after putting up the victim's picture from the crime lab, Hispanic
Constable Freddy Garcia from Palacios called me and identified the man
as being Juan Martin (Marteen) through co-workers. Constable Garcia
wrote a letter for me to the family to let them know we were working on
the case. The dead man was a young illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Race
played a factor in law enforcement 40 years ago. The Hispanic
community would not contact me a white investigator directly. They would
only contact their Hispanic Constable, Freddy Garcia. It was the same
with Blacks. The Sheriff had a couple of Black deputies that would deal
with the Black Community.
I
had a suspect. Witnesses had seen an older Mexican man yelling and
beating the young man near the cotton gin and then shortly after the
assault the young man disappeared. My suspect was an older Mexican man
that worked as a foreman at cotton gins across the state. He had a
tell-tale handicap of a stiff finger on his left-hand index finger.
This finger was made fun of by other workers on a job. Consequently,
his alias was "Stiff Finger." I sent out an update on The DPS Crime
Bulletin.
I got a hit.
It turns out that "Stiff Finger" had several Hispanic aliases and to be
honest, back then nobody really paid much attention to a Mexican
Wet-Back Laborer. He said his given name was Jose Garza. He was doing
time for murder out of Mexia.
George Beto Unit
It's
a small world. Without the internet cases could drag on for lack of
information. So, it was a couple of months later that I received a call
from Warden Joe Walker. He had an inmate at the George Beto Unit
outside of Palestine that went by the alias, "Stiff Finger." It turns
out that I had worked for Warden Walker in 1975 as a C/O in Huntsville.
Warden Joe Waker ran a tight ship. Interestingly enough, he was also
the son in law of "Walking George Beto." Warden Joe Walker mailed me a
picture and all the information that TDC had on "Stiff Finger."
I
took the picture of "Stiff Finger" to the Palacios Constable Freddy
Garcia and we had a solid match from the cotton gin owner and two
employees.
Nearly two
years after getting the on-call case, I went to the Sheriff and told him
about the lead and I needed a little traveling money to go to
Palestine. The next day, I was on my way.
Palestine
is a beautiful area of the state. Lots of history of Comanche Raids
and early Texas justice. I checked into a Motel not far from the Beto
Unit.
The next day I was
having early coffee with Joe Walker. Joe was just as I remembered him.
Starched jeans, Ostrich Quill Boots and TDC Leather Belt. We talked
about Wynne Farm in Huntsville and the escape.
The
escape had to do with typing pool. Before computers, inmates typed all
the vehicle registrations. They were marched from the prison on a
quarter mile 8' high fenced sidewalk with razor wire on both sides.
There was no way you could scale that fence without a foot hold. Shift
change at the typing pool came at 2pm and day shift left the building
and was racked up, then the evening shift began the walk. The typing
pool worked 24 hours a day. Joe Walker had always told us to look for
things out of place because convicts thought about getting out 24 hours a
day and C/O's worked 8 hour shifts. At 2:15 pm just before the last
convict was in the typing pool door, a convict jumped on the door knob
and because he was wearing a winter state issued coat, sort of rolled
over the razor wire without a scratch. C/O's were hollering but number 1
picket wasn't paying attention because he thought they were all
inside. By the time he opened fire the convict had covered 80 yards of
plowed field running toward the highway and a waiting vehicle. The C/O
shot 10 rounds and didn't even hit the car. Joe Walker came storming
out of his office and yelled, "You're fired!" The convict was found in
New Orleans a week later. What I learned was the C/O's father, a
retired C/O called Joe Walker and gave him a sob story about his son
being a good boy with a wife and 4 kids. I heard Joe Walker put him
back to work at night watching livestock with trusties. That meant
mainly Hogs probably until he could retire. I'm really surprised that
Big Boss, W.J. Estelle let him stay on.
Anyway, Warden Joe Walker sent for Jose "Stiff Finger" Garza to be placed in a non-camera interrogation room.
I entered the room and asked the convict, Jose "Stiff Finger" Garza if he knew why I was there. He refused to speak to me.
I
asked for a C/O to come into the room and I pulled a 35mm camera from
my brief case. The C/O was a huge man. I took a couple of head shots.
Jose "Stiff Finger" Garza became uncooperative. Upon my request, the
C/O stripped him down naked and I began taking pictures of him. This
was a long humiliating process. At one point, I said, "There it is!"
then took 5 shots. Then I took photos of the bottoms of his feet and
told the C/O, I got what I needed. "Stiff Finger" stared at me with
hatred in his eyes. I told him that he would be hearing from the
State's Attorney soon. I left him standing naked.
I stopped and thanked Warden Joe Walker for his help.
Jose
"Stiff Finger" Garza was found less than a month later dead in his
cell. In my opinion, he took his own life. We will never know because
back then, just like in all Texas Penitentiaries a Justice of the Peace
is called and without any indicators of foil play the convict is
pronounced dead of natural causes.
It
is my opinion that Jose "Stiff Finger" Garza was a Serial Killer.
Preying on young Mexican Laborers. I will never know how many people he
killed, but I know he won't kill anyone else.
Case Cleared.
Matagorda County Sheriff's Office
Constable
Freddy Garcia wrote the family of Juan Martin and told them the case
had been solved and the number one suspect was dead.
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