DNA, video, tire tracks link Dallas man to women’s stabbing deaths, police say

The man accused in the stabbing deaths of three women in Dallas was identified as the suspect after DNA gathered through sexual-assault kits connected two victims, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit obtained Thursday.

Oscar Sanchez-Garcia, 25, faces three murder charges in connection with the killings, which occurred over the span of about three months in east and north Oak Cliff, police said. Police wrote in the affidavit that detectives saw his truck in surveillance footage and searched his cellphone records, which revealed he was in the same area as two victims when they died.

It was unclear whether he had an attorney. He remained Thursday in the Dallas County jail with bail set at $4 million for two murder charges. His bail for the third murder charge was not yet listed as of Thursday afternoon.

Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said Thursday that detectives were still probing whether the three homicides were connected when the department sent out a news release Tuesday saying the investigation determined two of the women had possible ties to prostitution.

Sanchez-Garcia was arrested the next day.

“We had noticed a trend, which was the background of the first two victims,” Lowman said. “So that led us to want to put out that — just in the interest of public safety — putting that message out to make sure that community was aware of what was going on.”

The third woman, who is unidentified, was found Saturday near the Trinity River. Lowman confirmed the third woman was also stabbed to death.

Sanchez-Garcia’s arrest comes about two weeks after multiple social media posts went viral alleging a killer in Dallas was targeting people near Harry Hines Boulevard. One TikTok video that garnered over a million views referenced the 200 block of Santa Fe and several potential victims. One of the victims listed was a woman Sanchez-Garcia is accused of killing.

Numerous agencies define a serial murder as three or more killings by the same offender. Lowman said police do not use the term “serial killer” in their reports. Asked whether DPD is checking with other area police departments to determine whether any similar killings occurred there, she said the department routinely shares intelligence with other agencies.

On June 24, a witness was driving on a gravel road in the 200 block of Santa Fe Avenue to go fishing in the Trinity River, police said in the arrest-warrant affidavit, when the vehicle struck an object on the ground.

The witness found the partially nude body of a woman later identified as 25-year-old Cherish Gibson, lying in the grass next to the gravel road and called the police.

Officers responded about 8 a.m., and Gibson was pronounced dead. According to the affidavit, detectives learned that 60-year-old Kimberly Robinson was found about 200 yards away from Gibson’s body on April 22, in a grassy area under a DART light-rail bridge nearby. Robinson’s body was found nude with similar injuries, police said in the affidavit.

Both Gibson and Robinson were stabbed to death, according to police reports.

According to the affidavit, a family member of Gibson’s sent detectives a screenshot of her cellphone’s last known location. Gibson’s cellphone was found in a field about two miles away from where her body was discovered on the other side of Interstate 35 East.

Gibson’s cellphone was located near the intersection of East Jefferson Boulevard and Brazos Street, according to the affidavit. Police have previously said the third unidentified woman’s body was found nearby, in the 800 block of Brazos Street.

Authorities said detectives identified a dark navy-blue pick-up truck believed to have left the area near Gibson’s body at about 6:10 a.m using surveillance footage at a nearby business and tire marks.

Investigators believe Gibson was last seen on Harry Hines Boulevard the night before she died. The Harry Hines area has long been regarded by police as one of the city’s main corridors for prostitution.

Using FLOCK cameras, which read license plates, police located the same navy-blue pick-up truck on Harry Hines Boulevard about 4:45 a.m. June 24, just hours before Gibson’s body was found. Police said they believe Sanchez-Garcia picked Gibson up on Harry Hines Boulevard and brought her to the field near Santa Fe Avenue.

The vehicle was registered to Sanchez-Garcia, who lives about 10 minutes from where Gibson and Robinson’s bodies were found.

Results from DNA testing obtained through sexual assault kits connected the women to the same suspect, police said in the affidavit. Police did not explicitly state the DNA was linked to Sanchez-Garcia, but included the sexual-assault kit testing as evidence in the probable cause affidavit.

Police said in the affidavit cellphone records placed Sanchez-Garcia in the area of Robinson’s body the night she died, and two months later, moving along the same path with Gibson’s cellphone where it was abandoned near the intersection of East Jefferson Boulevard and Brazos Street.

He was also arrested March 13 on a misdemeanor charge of family violence assault, according to court records. A woman reported he punched her in the face repeatedly after she used his bank card to buy diapers for his son, police wrote in court records. Officers noticed blood on the woman’s face, parts of which were swollen, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.

Jail records show Sanchez-Garcia has an immigration hold.