15-year-old claims killer came to her defense and that Jeff
Garner’s death was accidental
Gilroy – This is what Lydia Mollett remembers most about the night her boyfriend died: His bashed and bloodied face in her arms. The killer, standing over his victim, a metal bar in his hand, looking shocked and confused.
The two men had been friends, drinking buddies who loved rap music and knew too much about the seedy side of Gilroy life. They became violent when they drank and regretted it later. Last Saturday night, Rogelio “Roy” Garcia Jr. did something he can’t take back. He clubbed Jeff Garner on the head with a metal pipe until his friend was dead.
“They sounded like gunshots, I thought it was a BB gun,” Mollett said. “I only heard three, but there were probably more. His face was pretty bad. I have the image of his face in arms. His teeth were falling out. I was trying to help him breathe if there was any breath left in his body.”
Mollett, who is just 15, met Garner the summer before the eighth grade, when he was 23. At first they were just friends; Garner would buy her alcohol. But she fell in love with Garner, and lying to her mother about it, Mollett became his girlfriend.
They had a tumultuous 18 months, puppy-love marred by the typical teenage freakouts and Garner’s serious drug and alcohol problems that led to violent outbursts and had him in and out of trouble – and jail – many times.
“We had a lot of problems,” Mollett said. “He drank a lot. He hit me a lot. But I knew that wasn’t Jeff. That was the alcohol monster. I loved him so much. I loved him to death. We used to take a lot of trips to the beach. We had these moments, we would just totally connect on a spiritual level.”
Lydia’s mother, Lynda Gomes, tolerated Garner’s presence because she wanted to believe that he was just her daughter’s friend, and she also saw the good in him. Often, Garner would accompany her to volunteer in the food pantry at St. Joseph’s Family Center.
Jacqui Merriman, who runs the food pantry there, couldn’t believe that the Jeff Garner she knew was so well was known to the Gilroy police.
“He was absolutely just the nicest person,” Merriman said. “I’m shocked that’s him. He was just a lovely person.”
Garner was also known for acts of heroism, helping a woman who was being attacked near his apartment and saving a homeless man from a fire. He once helped the police solve a triple homicide. But by all accounts, Garner was a different man when he drank.
Mollett said she never reported him when he went after her because she figured he had enough problems. They broke up in April, but continued to call each other and started going out again “because we wanted to make sure the love was still there.”
The day Garner died, he got together with Mollett about three in the afternoon. They went to his mother’s apartment where they could be alone and drink beer.
“Everything was going good,” Mollett said. “His attitude was good. We were flirting around a little.”
About 10 o’clock that night Garcia dropped by with his brother, Nick, and another friend called Doss. They all drove to the Garcia’s house, stopping at Taco Bell on the way, completing a couple of what Mollett called business deals.
The Garcia property spreads out over 9.5 acres of hillside just east of town on Duke Drive. Rogelio Garcia spent most of his time in the barn, where he kept a loft apartment. He took the group there that night. They listened to music and drank Bacardi and Sprite. At some point, Nick left to go to the main house. As the night dragged on, Mollett said, Garner started showing signs of jealousy, getting suspicious about her and the two other men in the room. He got upset when Mollett wouldn’t hold his hand.
“Jeff started taking hints from the conversation, getting really jealous, putting it all together,” she said. “Jeff likes to think that there’s a grand plan behind everything. I already had the feeling from the look in his eyes that something was going to happen.”
Mollett had been drinking beer and “chugging” her rum drinks, but said she wasn’t drunk. She isn’t, though, clear about how all the trouble started. She said she was telling Garner, “calm down dude, we’re having a good time. Just be chill,” and he started yelling at her. Somehow, she said, he got the other two men out of the room and went after her.
“He was dragging me, biting me, throwing me around,” Mollett said, showing off scars and bruises on her arms. “He told me I was going to die and I believed him. He had me pinned down on the bed and I screamed, ‘Roy (Garcia), help me. He’s going to kill me.'”
Garcia ran into the room with a long metal pipe and started swinging at Garner. When Garner was dead, Garcia “had this really shocked, confused and hurt look on his face. He said he didn’t know what to do. I told him, ‘Roy, you need to call the cops.’ I told him it was going to be all right.”
Mollett said she then ran to Garner and turned him over and tried to give him CPR, but it was too late. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Jeff told me once that he wanted to die in my arms,” Mollett said. “Maybe he died where he wanted to be. He had so many problems.”
Garner’s family doesn’t believe Mollett’s story. They’re convinced she lured him up to the barn that night knowing what was about to happen, that she wanted Garner to suffer because he wasn’t interested in their relationship anymore.
“They think it’s my fault because I didn’t keep to my word and not hang out with him,” she said. “If he hadn’t hung out with me that night, he would be alive. I tried to help him. Not only when he was bleeding on the floor, but through the whole relationship. I loved him.”
Mollett, however, doesn’t think Garcia deserves to face a murder charge.
“He doesn’t deserve to get off scot-free, but I could have died just as well,” she said. “Roy didn’t mean to kill him. He just came to my defense.”
Garcia was arraigned Thursday and charged with one count of homicide. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 22. The Garner family is requesting donations to help pay for Jeff Garner’s funeral.
