Tony Garcia of Oxnard arrested and charged for the 1981 murders of two women
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. – Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko announced Thursday that two counts of first-degree murder have been filed against Tony Garcia, 68, of Oxnard, for the 1981 cold case murders of Rachel Zendejas, 20, and Lisa Gondek, 21.
Garcia is charged with committing the January 18, 1981 murder, rape, and kidnapping of Camarillo resident Rachel Zendejas and the December 12, 1981 murder of Oxnard resident Lisa Gondek, according to the DA.
Garcia was arrested on Feb. 7, 2023 following a five-year joint investigation between the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, Ventura District Attorney Office Investigations Bureau, and the Oxnard Police Department.
Zendejas was found dead in a carport in Camarillo in January 1981, while Gondek's body was found in an apartment fire in Oxnard nearly a year later in December.
The bodies of both women were discovered in 1981 as homicide victims and investigated until the case went cold.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Forensic Lab connected both cases to the same suspect via DNA in 2004, but had no matches in the system.
In December 2019, Ventura County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit reopened the homicide cases identifying Tony Garcia as a potential person of interest.
DNA evidence later confirmed Garcia as the main suspect in both crimes.
Law enforcement arrested and charged Garcia 42 years later in February 2023 for two counts of murder.
“After more than four decades, justice is finally coming to the families of Rachel Zendejas and Lisa Gondek,” said Erik Nasarenko, Ventura County District Attorney. “As this case demonstrates, murder charges can be brought at any time and there is no statute of limitations for homicides. We thank the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation, and the Oxnard Police Department for never giving up on finding Rachel and Lisa’s killer.”
The 68-year-old was booked with bail set a $2 million.
Anyone with information on Garcia can call the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Bureau at 805-383-8704 or email coldcase@ventura.org.
