Skeletal remains of 2005 murder victim found at Auburn home
'Today is a joyous day,' mother of Christie Lynn Wilson says
'Today is a joyous day,' mother of Christie Lynn Wilson says
'Today is a joyous day,' mother of Christie Lynn Wilson says
Investigators made a breakthrough in a 2005 cold case after the skeletal remains of a murder victim were found at a residence in Auburn, officials said Monday.
Mario Garcia was sentenced to life after he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the October 2005 killing of 27-year-old Christie Lynn Wilson, but her body was never found. The Placer County Sheriff's Office said that changed last week after a four-day search led to finding Christie's remains at the former Auburn residence of her killer.
Detectives with the sheriff's office and the Placer County District Attorney's Office searched the four-and-a-half-acre lot using new technology specialized in searching underground and eventually found skeletal remains, the sheriff's office said.
Those skeletal remains were taken to the Placer County morgue, which identified them as Christie's after examining dental records, the sheriff's office said.
At a Monday afternoon press briefing, members of Wilson's family praised the sheriff's office and DA's office in finding Christie. Debbie Boyd, Christie's mother, said members of the sheriff's office showed up at her doorstep to tell her the news in person.
"Today is a joyous day," Boyd said. "It's a day of peace we haven't had and we are happy to close this chapter of torment and move forward.
Stacy Wilson, Christie's sister, described the news as bittersweet, saying her family can finally start to feel closure.
"It's a happy day to bring Christie home and give her the proper burial she so deserves," Stacy said.
The sheriff's office cited Garcia's refusal to cooperate with the investigation as part of the reason why finding Christie's remains took as long as it did, likening the search to "finding a needle in a haystack if you didn't know where the haystack was."
The search for Christie's remains was last reignited November 2015, when Boyd believed bones found on the bed of Folsom Lake could have belonged to her daughter.