Amarillo police announce 1976 cold case has been closed

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - In a news conference this afternoon, Amarillo police announced the Cold Case Unit has solved a cold case murder from 1976.

The Amarillo Police Department Homicide Unit Commander James Clements said on Dec. 14, 1976, Barbara Ann Garcia was brutally murdered in her home on North Magnolia Street.

After the murder, Garcia’s family found her in the backyard of the home.

Clements says Garcia’s cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Garcia’s 5-month-old daughter Natosha Garcia was also found alive in the home. Police say she was by herself for over 23 hours following her mother’s murder.

Detectives used evidence, witnesses and information to investigate the case in 1976, but the case went cold due to lack of provable evidence and witnesses.

“Detectives began to investigate and developed evidence and leads and talked to a lot of different people developing suspects, but in 1976 evidence and DNA wasn’t as prevalent as it is today,” said Lt. Clements.

In Dec. of 2022, the Amarillo Police Department Cold Case Unit was established. The Texas Ranger Cold Case Unit resubmitted evidence from the case to the Texas Department of Public Safety in June of 2023.

Officials were notified in August of 2024 that DNA was found on a pair of shoes that were collected as evidence.

The DNA was matched to 73-year-old Billy Gene Cummings, who was living in Tucson, Arizona at the time.

As officials moved forward to prosecute Cummings, they discovered that he had died in Arizona several years ago.

Officials say that Cummings was imprisoned in Phoenix, Arizona for murdering another woman.

Clements said that though they were unable to prosecute Cummings, the Amarillo Police Department hopes that this brings closure to the family to know what happened in 1976.

Meredith Pinkham, the First Assistant District Attorney with the 47th District Attorney’s Office, said that she hopes this information will offer Garcia’s family closure and peace.

“Obviously the goal of this investigation was to seek justice by prosecuting Barbara Ann Garcia’s murderer. Unfortunately, that can not happen knowing that Mr. Cummings is now deceased. However, we do hope that solving this case offers Miss Garcia’s family some answers, some closures, and some peace,” said Pinkham.

The Amarillo Police Department is currently waiting for Cummings’ cause of death.

Natosha Garcia, Barbara’s daughter that was present at the time of the murder said, “I’ve literally waited my whole life for this day and this moment to come.”

“I don’t feel closure, I’ll never have closure. I don’t feel justice. What I’m praying for now is peace,” Natosha Garcia continued. “I wanted my day in court to be able to face him and have a statement for him, to let him know what he did to my life. But unfortunately, that will never happen. I guess now, we just try to move forward and find some peace.”

The case, that had been unsolved for 48 years, is now officially closed.