CULLMAN, Ala. – “You know, in law enforcement, there’s things you can prepare yourself for, and there’s things you can’t prepare yourself for, and this is an incident that you can never prepare for,” said Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry.
Gentry held a press conference Tuesday afternoon, updating the media on the investigation of the horrific murders of two young brothers, 3-year-old Alvaro Garcia and 9-year-old Taylor Garcia, in Baileyton. Gentry said the boys’ mother, Sara Franco Tapia, 32, will be charged with two counts of murder.
The incident happened at the family’s home along the 4000 block of County Road 1718 Saturday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2019.
“I want to say how proud I am proud of the deputies and first responders that arrived on the scene, and even though what they saw was horrific, they kept the mission on hand and were able to get a perimeter set up,” said Gentry. “When deputies arrived, we set up a perimeter, and in that perimeter search we deployed our K-9. Our K-9 led us through an open field that adjoined the house, there’s some neighboring farms, in the field we were able to locate one Sara Tapia, which is the mother of the children and the person that we have in custody. We did locate a knife and there were multiple self-inflicted wounds on her.”
Gentry said investigators “were able to identify she was the offender in this crime.”
The sheriff said he is focusing on the boys and their memories.
“One of the things I think that we ought to do is honor their memory. The SRO at their school texted me over the weekend and we talked about how good these children were, about how Taylor wanted to be a police officer. And that’s really what we look at in tragedy, is the good things that we can focus on in the tragedy, and that’s what we want to do.”
Tapia remains in the ICU of a local hospital, where she is now listed in stable condition.
“She’s in a hospital. We have investigators and deputies that are with her 24 hours a day,” said Gentry. “The moment that she is physically able, we will then bring her to the Cullman County Detention Center, where she will be charged with two counts of murder.”
Gentry said he said he hopes to have Tapia in the detention center within a week.
Asked whether there was a history of calls to the family’s residence, he said, “There had been no contact or issues that were known to us, by her, or that address.”
He spoke of how emergency responders are handling what they witnessed upon entering the home.
“One of the programs that we have here at the sheriff’s office is the chaplain program. We had a sheriff’s chaplain out there that day, we had a Catholic priest for the family, they’re Catholic,” he said. “We will go a step further and set up a meeting with first responders so they can decompress and talk about it, because it is horrific for those first responders. You prepare yourself in law enforcement for certain things, but children is something you can never prepare yourself for.”
When asked how the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) determined Tapia was the suspect in the murders, Gentry said there is evidence, but because of the nature of the crime and the ongoing investigation, he would not release those details.
“Because of the nature of the crime, the children, I’m not going to go over those details,” Gentry said. “What we like to focus on in our community is the positive. And that’s the great memory of those children, so we’re not going to talk about those horrific details.”
Gentry said his office will petition Cullman County District Attorney Wilson Blaylock for no bail in the case.
He said capital murder charges are possible.
“That is not off the table. We are in the process of working with the District Attorney’s Office, so that will be the District Attorney’s decision,” he said. “When we bring her to the facility, there could be capital murder warrants obtained at that time.”
The father was away from the residence at the time of the murders, said Gentry, and he was quickly ruled out as a suspect.
He said the family has other children, but he did not say how many.
As to comments made that Tapia may have suffered from some form of mental illness or breakdown in the days prior to the murders, Gentry said, “At no time through our investigation, talking to people, have any mental health issues been brought up. You just can’t cover up mean and evil.”
He continued, “Today, this is 2019, almost 2020, we’ve become immune to the evils of the world. We see it on media all day long every day. But I have an internal policy, that there’s certain things that babies and ladies and people don’t need to hear about, and that’s one of the things. What we can talk about is the good things that law enforcement did that day with the first responders. We had something bad happen, but you had deputies that stayed focused, that did their job, and we have the offender. That’s really the most important thing that we can talk about, is giving not only the family peace and the community peace, too.”
As to motive, right now, Gentry said, it is unknown.
“We are still working with the family to get an understanding of any motives, things, that would give us a reason why this would happen.”
CCSO Victim Services Capt. Edward Potter is working with the family to provide support and make funeral arrangements for the boys.
Gentry addressed the community as a whole, saying, “If you see something in the community, report it. We have a great relationship with our community…. We have a victims’ services deputy that goes and works with the courts, that works with the judges, that works with the victims every day, and that personally goes out and does those things. If you know something or you see something, let us know, because we’re going to be there to help you. We’re going to be there to fight for the victims. Just like I know that there’s a lot of questions that you want to ask and I know that I will not answer those, but it’s because we believe in our victims so much here.”
He praised the emergency responders and the community for their reaction following the tragedy.
“We have such a great community,” he said. “I’m next door talking to a neighbor, and they’re so distraught, but they’re worried about us also…that’s the kind of community that we live in. Even though you have a horrific incident, a horrific tragedy, that is unspeakable, with unspeakable amounts of evil, our community comes together to support each other. That’s what I like to look at, and that’s what I like to focus on.”
As for how Parkside School in Baileyton, where Taylor Garcia was a student, is coping with the tragedy, Gentry said he spoke to Cullman County Schools Superintendent Dr. Shane Barnette that day. He said the school system, along with the school’s school resource deputy, is working to support the school, faculty, staff and students.
Barnette provided the following statement to The Tribune Monday afternoon:
“It’s never a good day when we lose one of our students, but at this point right now, where we’re at, we’re trying to love on our students and love on the faculty and staff out at Parkside, and support that family as much as we can so everybody can recover from this. But, while we won’t ever understand why bad things happen to young children, we’re going to be there to support our schools and support our kids.”
The county system sent staff to Parkside from the central office Monday, along with the system’s three full-time social workers and counselors from other schools, to provide support for students and staff, and Barnette told The Tribune that those resources will continue to be provided as needed in coming days.
For those who wish to help the victims’ family, a fund is being set up at Albertville Funeral Home to cover the boys’ funeral expenses. To give or for more information, visit www.albertvillefuneralhome.com.
Funeral services will be Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 at 1 p.m. at Capilla de la Santa Cruz/Chapel of the Holy Cross in Albertville, Alabama with burial to follow in Memory Hill Cemetery.
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