Edinburg police recover gun near murder scene

EDINBURG -- Police recovered a handgun Monday that may have been used in the slaying of a local business owner last year.

Detectives found a loaded 9 mm handgun buried in a mound of soil at the Iron Cactus Works property near the intersection of Monte Cristo Road and U.S. 281, where business owner Antonio Manuel Garcia was found dead on Nov. 21, 2008, said Edinburg Police Chief Quirino Muñoz.

Garcia's wife, Mirna Matiana Garcia, confessed to her role in a plot to kill her husband. Her boyfriend, Jose Manuel Lopez, allegedly shot Garcia to death so the two could carry their relationship out in the open.

Instead, both were charged with murder on Dec. 12.

"In any murder investigation it makes your case stronger when you're able to establish a motive and recover the weapon used to commit the crime," Muñoz said.

Detectives believe that Garcia was fatally shot in the head several times with a 9 mm gun, the police chief said.

The corroded 9 mm pistol was found with a loaded magazine and a bullet in the chamber, Muñoz said. The weapon was cocked and ready to fire when it was recovered Monday about 4 p.m., he said.

The pistol will be sent to a crime lab for analysis to find out whether it is the weapon used in Garcia's slaying.