Woman investigated in Clovis kidnapping case says she's been targeted

Saturday, March 12, 2016
Woman investigated in Clovis kidnapping case says she's been targeted
Sandra Garcia says her house has been shot up after she was accused of being the mastermind of a brutal kidnapping and attack last month.

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The woman at the center of a kidnapping investigation near Clovis says she is terrified and being targeted since her arrest.

Sandra Garcia says her house has been shot up after she was accused of being the mastermind of a brutal kidnapping and attack last month.

Detectives believe Garcia wanted to frighten her boyfriend's kids into moving back to Sweden with their mother, but, today, her attorney said she treated his kids as her own and was taking his other daughter to the doctor when the 13-year-old was abducted.

Garcia lives in a Madera home with her mother, but she didn't want to talk Friday about allegations she set up her boyfriend's daughter by planning a kidnapping and having her family members carry out a brutal attack.

"She was taking care of the girls," attorney Mario Disalvo explained. "She was taking one of the girls, the younger sister to the doctor because she wasn't feeling good. No, she's not guilty."

Fresno County Sheriff's detectives believe Garcia had every reason to want her boyfriend's kids out of the picture.

Disalvo says the couple met on a dating website and she moved in and helped care for his children. He is a business executive, who happened to be out of town the day of the kidnapping.

Court records filed by the victim's father reveal, "Sandra was one of the very few who knew I was out of town with a co-worker for that day and I noticed after the detectives spoke to her she was uncomfortable around my daughter (victim)."

ABC 30 legal analyst Tony Capozzi says the motive here is important along with other information deputies have uncovered.

"Circumstantial evidence is just as good as eyewitness evidence and direct evidence," Capozzi explained. "When you put circumstantial evidence one, on top of two on top of three, it adds up to four. And that's just as good."

Disalvo says bullet holes in Garcia's home have her living in fear and she has gone from a life of romantic getaways and roses, to tough questions by detectives and court appearances. "She denies having anything to do with this," he said.