Woman charged in 'love triangle' slaying

The Boston Herald ^ | 29 Aug 2002 | Laurel J. Sweet

[Hemingway's Ghost]

An East Boston mother who became ``the other woman'' in a torrid lesbian love triangle was savagely stabbed to death in a highway hotel room by the lover prosecutors said may have wanted to end their affair once and for all.

Deysi Carias' pint-sized body was folded into a small black duffel bag by her alleged killer and ``literally wheeled out the hotel room, down the elevator and through the lobby'' of a Holiday Inn two miles from her home last Saturday before being hurled onto a trash heap in Revere destined for recycling in the Midwest, prosecutors said yesterday.

``This was a love triangle gone awry,'' said David Meier, chief of homicide for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

All three women involved met working at food stands at Logan International Airport. Carias made coffee at Starbucks. Two of the women were legally wed in a civil union last June in Vermont, the only state to recognize gay marriage.

The woman accused of hacking Carias to death, Katiuskha Garcia, 26, of Roxbury, was held without bail yesterday after pleading innocent in East Boston District Court.

Public documents regarding her arrest Tuesday night claim Garcia, a former pre-med student and native of the Dominican Republic, has already confessed to killing Carias, whom prosecutors said was previously married to a man. Before the couple separated, they had a 7-year-old daughter.

The tattooed Garcia, her dark hair shorn into a crewcut, strode into Judge Paul Mahoney's courtroom yesterday struggling with court officers.

Garcia's life partner, Patricia Tollen, 27, and Garcia's mother, Josephine Vasquez, sobbed upon seeing her.

The Vermont Department of Public Health confirmed yesterday Garcia and Tollen were married in Bennington, Vt., last June 7.

Meier said Garcia and Carias had been involved for the past four months and that Tollen learned of their continuing relationship prior to the murder.

Garcia, he said, rented a room at the Holiday Inn on Route 1A last Saturday to discuss the problem with Carias, a petite Guatemalan whose apparent intense affection for her married lover was worrying Garcia's family, Meier said.

Carias agreed to meet Garcia before continuing on to a friend's house in Lynn. She never made it to the North Shore.

According to Meier, the couple fought and Garcia, who outweighed Carias by 67 pounds, plunged a knife ``three to four inches deep'' into Carias' neck, chest and stomach.

``One of those stab wounds pierced her heart and aorta,'' Meier said.

While Carias bled to death on a bed, Garcia allegedly went home to her Mission Hill townhouse, collected a duffel bag and returned to the hotel to dispose of Carias.

Meier said she stuffed blood-soaked sheets, pillow cases and towels into a plastic bag and disposed of them in a Dumpster ``near the hotel.'' The murder weapon and Carias' purse were tossed into a second Dumpster.

She then allegedly loaded the duffel bag into the trunk of a Ford Taurus Carias had bought her and threw the bag into a Dumpster in Revere, where it was hauled to Providence, R.I., to be shipped to a Midwest recycling facility.

The body was discovered Monday morning in Providence. The other evidence, including the knife, are missing.

Although forensic experts found blood spattered throughout the hotel room during a search Tuesday night, Meier said it apparently went unnoticed by hotel staff, who had already been in and cleaned.

Garcia's court-appointed lawyer, Scott Harris, said, ``Once (the facts) get out in the open and this goes to trial, Miss Garcia will be vindicated. There's more to this.''

Carias' family said she recently had a falling out with a woman ``friend'' over a booze-cruise date that fell through. They declined comment yesterday.

Kevin Rothstein and Susan O'Neill contributed to this report.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yes, I find that extrememly troubling. Thats exactly why I stay the hell out of hotel rooms.

Renting a room and a bed never appealed to me. I would rather sleep in my suburban...

[Joe Hadenuf]

Extremely troubling, too..

[Hemingway's Ghost]

More from the Providence Journal:

BOSTON / 11:10 a.m. -- A Boston woman has been arrested in connection with the stabbing death of a 25-year-old woman whose body was found at a Providence recycling plant.

Katiuskha Garcia, 26, faces a murder charge after her arrest early yesterday in the death of Deysi Carias, 25, whose body was found Monday morning with a heap of scrap metal at the Coastal Resources recycling plant just off Interstate 95 on Atwells Avenue.

Garcia is accused of killing Carias in East Boston on Saturday, then placing the body in a Revere waste bin that was transported to Providence, said David Procopio, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

The women had a "personal" relationship, Procopio said, though he declined to be more specific.

Police were led to Garcia after speaking with family members of Carias, Procopio said. They arrested Garcia shortly after questioning her, he said.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

More from the ProJo:

Woman accused of dumping lover's body
A Boston woman pleads innocent to first-degree murder in the slaying of a woman found at a Providence recycling plant.

08/29/2002

BY BIPASHA RAY
Associated Press

BOSTON -- A lovers' quarrel turned fatal when one of the women stabbed the other and dumped her body, which was found in a Providence recycling plant, prosecutors said yesterday at the arraignment of the alleged killer.

Katiuskha Garcia, 26, of Boston's Mission Hill, pleaded innocent to first-degree murder in the death of Deysi Carias, 25, of East Boston. She is being held without bail in Suffolk County Jail.

Garcia met Carias in an East Boston hotel room Saturday to discuss the status of their relationship, and a fight ensued, prosecutors said.

"Evidence suggests that the defendant stabbed the victim at least three times -- in the abdomen, in the chest puncturing the heart, and the neck," said David Procopio, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Garcia then went home to get a duffel bag, leaving the body in the hotel room, Procopio said. She allegedly returned to the hotel, put Carias' body in the bag and dumped the bag in a Revere waste bin.

The waste bin was trucked to the Coastal Resources recycling plant in Providence, where the body was found in a heap of scrap metal early Monday, authorities said.

Garcia has been in a domestic relationship with another woman, whom she lived with in Mission Hill. The two had a civil union agreement in Vermont, Procopio said, adding, "the relationship between the defendant and the victim was an extramarital relationship, of sorts."

Garcia and Carias allegedly met at work. Carias worked at a Starbucks at Logan International Airport, and Garcia was employed by a concessions company that serves Logan businesses. They were dating for about four months. On Saturday, Carias left home saying she was visiting a friend in Lynn.

Police were led to Garcia after speaking with Carias's family, Procopio said. They arrested Garcia shortly after questioning her, he said.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

What the hell kind of name is Katiushka Garcia? The Russian Hispanic Lesbian strikes again!

Her "wife's" name means "Mad One" in German. Or at least that's what Babelfish tells me. This is a true international lesbian murder mystery. As Howie Carr would say, "Ahh, diversity."

[Hemingway's Ghost]

The best reporting on this story was done by the Globe's Emily Ramshaw.

Katiuskha Garcia at her arraignment yesterday on charges of fatally stabbing Deysi Carias. (Globe Pool Photo)

Woman held on charges of slaying female lover

By Emily Ramshaw, Globe Correspondent, 8/29/2002

In a courtroom taut with emotion, prosecutors described yesterday how a Mission Hill woman fatally stabbed her lover in a hotel room, shoved her 5-foot-tall, 87-pound body into a duffel bag, then rolled the bag out of the building and tossed it into a Dumpster.

Katiuskha Garcia, 26, was ordered held without bail yesterday on charges of murdering Deysi Carias, 25, of East Boston, in what investigators called a ''love triangle gone awry'' involving three women.

Garcia met with Carias in a room at the Holiday Inn near Logan Airport Saturday afternoon to try to call off their relationship, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney David Meier, because Garcia's longstanding partner, Patricia Tollen, was unhappy about the affair. The three women had worked at the airport Starbucks, Meier said.

Scott Curtis, Garcia's lawyer, said prosecutors have failed to provide a motive for the killing, and he entered a plea of not guilty for his client at her arraignment in East Boston District Court.

In the courtroom, Carias's siblings huddled and wept as Tollen mouthed words to a visibly shaken Garcia, trying at the same time to keep her partner's mother from running to the defendant's side.

Meier said that in the weeks before the slaying, both Tollen and Carias's relatives had expressed disapproval of Garcia and Carias's relationship. But the homicide prosecutor declined to say exactly what prompted Garcia to allegedly kill the woman with whom she started a romantic affair.

''The relationship between Garcia and Carias started three to four months ago, and it was personal - just between them,'' Meier said. ''The defendant's partner became aware of the relationship, and this led to the meeting at the Holiday Inn. But we're not going to speculate on the specifics of their disagreement.''

Garcia arranged to meet Carias at the Holiday Inn to discuss their relationship, Meier said, and after an argument Garcia allegedly stabbed Carias at least three times in the neck, abdomen, and chest. An autopsy revealed Carias's knife wounds were at least 3 inches deep and pierced her heart and aorta. She also had what appeared to be defensive knife wounds on her hands, Meier said.

After the assault, Meier said, Garcia left Carias on the hotel bed and went across town to the Mission Hill home she shares with Tollen to pick up some luggage. When she returned, she placed Carias's body in a wheeled duffel bag, then rolled the bag out of the hotel and into her car. She then drove to Revere and dropped the bag into a Dumpster and returned to the hotel to clean the room and dispose of the bloodied sheets, Carias's purse, and the knife, Meier said.

An around-the-clock investigation began Monday morning, Meier said, after Carias's fully-clothed body was found in a Providence Dumpster at Coastal Recycling on Allens Avenue, headed for a landfill in the Midwest. Investigators tracked the dumpster back to Revere, and then to the Holiday Inn, where traces of blood were found splattered around the hotel room. Carias's and Garcia's cars were also recovered; Meier said the Ford Taurus Garcia drove was purchased for her by Carias.

Meier said Tollen, who he said is not a suspect in the case, and the victim's family, which includes Carias's 7-year-old daughter and her boyfriend, have been very cooperative with authorities.

''We followed our evidence all the way to Providence, R.I., where it was on a railway car on its way to the Midwest,'' Meier said, referring to the dumpster of scrap metal in which Carias's body was found. ''This evidence paints a compelling picture of guilt.''

Carias's relatives said through tears yesterday that they had no comment. Tuesday, Carias's brother William told investigators his sister had said Saturday she was going to get her hair done before meeting a friend in Lynn, Meier said.

Garcia also said nothing to reporters and kept her head down for much of the arraignment. Meier said the defendant initially denied having any involvement in Carias's death but later made incriminating statements to investigators.

But Curtis said it's unlikely Garcia was involved. He said this is the first time she has been in jail, and she has no criminal record except for a few motor vehicle violations, including an incident in which she drove under the influence of alcohol.

''Ms. Garcia is very distressed, as these are very serious charges,'' Curtis said. ''So far, only one side of the story has been heard.''

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 8/29/2002.

[Myrnick]

My thoughts exactly!!!

[RonPaulLives]

...and folks, remember this week's guaranteed winner: always bet on the Russian Hispanic Lesbians when they are the visiting team.

[Kermit]

"...``the other woman'' in a torrid lesbian love triangle was savagely stabbed to death in a highway hotel room by the lover prosecutors said may have wanted to end their affair once and for all."

Aaahh, shall I mark this down as a success?;^)

[shiva]

She'll have fun in prison!!!!

[Billthedrill]

I guess it's "profiling," but there are some folks who make your twitch toward your sidearm on sight...

[dighton]

Hmmm...makes one wonder what else the cleaning staff misses?

Corpses under the bed. Eventually they'll make their presence known, no matter how lackadaisical the staff.

[Mudboy Slim]

Does this qualify as a "Hate Crime"?

Seriously...MUD

[pabianice]

“Violence is never the answer... If someone comes at you with a knife or gun, say, ‘I know you’re upset.’ We all want to be valued as human beings.”

-------------------------------------

Jessica Flag, spokeswoman for the 4% of a Million Mom March, Washington, DC, May, 2000, Gore-for-President Rally

[pabianice]

Non-judgmental, multi-cultural, valuing the difference, moral equivalence alert!

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I can't see how it wouldn't. In fact, it's almost a triple hate crime: a lesbian . . . a minority lesbian. If only the deceased had been an elderly minority lesbian, you'd have had the Triple Crown.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

I guess that's not an adequate defense against rabid, crew-cutted bulldykes...

[HanneyBean]

...Lesbianism is a religion of Peace (or would that be piece??)

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Garcia's court-appointed lawyer, Scott Harris, said, ``Once (the facts) get out in the open and this goes to trial, Miss Garcia will be vindicated. There's more to this.''

Obviously this was a suicide. It's all so perfectly clear, and she got into her girlfriend's dufflebag and threw herself into a dumpter to frame Garcia.

[habs4ever]

You live for stories like this ;-) Gee, what a happy face on our "victim" too? If only she'd used Bare Essentials....