five years since Ketchikan physician Dr. Eric Garcia was found dead, the man who was accused of murder is currently on trials in Anchorage. State of Alaska is suing 38-year-old Jordan Joplin of killing Garcia and trying to transport Garcia’s treasures in Washington state. The trial began on this week at Anchorage Superior Court.
Garcia was employed at PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Centre for over a decade before being discovered dead on the 27th of March 2017. Garcia wasn’t expected to arrive to be at work for a while since he was scheduled to be on the road to attend an event.
Ketchikan police claim that Joplin phoned the police telling them they were a close friend of Garcia’s and Garcia had not been seen for 10 days. Joplin stated that he last seen Garcia on March 16. Police claim Joplin has left Ketchikan following receiving the call. Joplin comes from Maple Valley, Washington.
There was no clear reason for the death of Garcia at the time he was found dead in his home. The body was taken away to an autopsy that was standard. In the future, police will request the report of toxicology.
Just a few hours after Garcia was discovered dead, the money began to flow out of his account. Police say they could track the money back to Joplin and later indicted for felony theft.
Garcia’s family also informed him that some of his possessions were missing just upon his demise. Garcia was known to possess collections of costly watches, wines and hard liquor.
According to the police, Joplin had shipped Garcia’s personal items the items to a Washington address. The shipment was seized with the assistance of Washington police.
Joplin is extradited to Washington to Ketchikan for second-degree and first-degree murder charges as well as theft. He’s been detained for five years.
Joplin’s trial has been moved back numerous times and was further delayed due to the epidemic of COVID-19. The trial was originally scheduled from Juneau because of the volume of coverage that was generated by the trial in Ketchikan but was later transferred even further to Anchorage.
An administrator of Anchorage’s court system informed KRBD that the trial was set to last for six weeks. Jurors were selected this week.
Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton is handling the case. Joplin is represented by the Public Advocate Mary Fleming Burnell of Anchorage. Burnell did not respond to any comment Monday.
The trial is streamed live.
