Del Valle man accused of asking people to kill his neighbor for thousands

DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) — A Del Valle man is accused of soliciting offers to kill his neighbor to multiple people, an Austin Police Department arrest affidavit says.

Jose Luis Garcia, 59, is charged with criminal solicitation of capital murder, a first-degree felony, after he offered two people $3,000-$5,000 to kill his neighbor over past disagreements, the affidavit says.

The affidavit goes into detail about conversations between Garcia and a man he bought scrap metal from. During one of the exchanges, Garcia said he needed his neighbor "taken care of" and asked if the man would do it for money.

Garcia even offered to buy the man a "throw down" weapon, or a gun that could be easily discarded after use, on top of the amount promised for the job, the affidavit says. Garcia said he'd pay the man half of the money up front, and then once the man proved he killed the neighbor, Garcia would pay the other half, the affidavit says.

When police investigated the tip, they found five previous calls to police between Garcia and his neighbor. Three of them were verbal arguments, and the other two involved accusations of destruction of property, the affidavit says.

When police went to do a welfare check on the neighbor, the neighbor said things were fine and he didn't have any concerns about his safety, the affidavit says.

Conversations between Garcia and another man that police referred to as a "confidential informant" in the affidavit matched the initial story from the scrap metal dealer, and police used the informant to sell Garcia copper wire under the pretense that the wire was stolen, the affidavit says. Once the informant sold Garcia the wire for $30.10, police issued an arrest warrant for Garcia with a theft of metal charge, and they executed a search warrant of his home, the affidavit says.

The informant and Garcia also had conversations about killing his neighbor, the affidavit says. Garcia said the problem was "forever" with his neighbor, according to the informant. He offered the informant money to kill his neighbor, as well, the affidavit says.

When police arrested Garcia and searched his home Nov. 2, they found a loaded .357 caliber revolver under a pillow in a bedroom, the affidavit says.

Garcia initially told police he was joking about wanting to pay someone to kill his neighbor, the affidavit says, but when police asked Garcia if a person he talked to believes they'll be paid to kill his neighbor because Garcia told him, Garcia replied, "I think so, yeah yeah."

Jail records indicate Garcia is in custody in the Travis County Jail.