EVERETT — A Snohomish County jury on Monday convicted a Marysville man of second-degree murder in the 2015 strangulation death of a Lynnwood music teacher.
Jurors deliberated almost two full days in the case against Christopher Garcia Gonzalez. The jury came back Monday morning and announced a short time later it had reached a verdict.
Garcia Gonzalez, 23, faces decades in prison when he’s sentenced next week. He nodded at jurors seated in the back of the courtroom as he was led off in handcuffs Monday.
The prosecution’s case was based primarily on circumstantial evidence.
Detectives didn’t find any eyewitnesses who saw the defendant with the victim, Christopher Davis. Neither the defendant’s DNA nor fingerprints were found at the crime scene. Scientists also didn’t find his genetic profile on the belt used to strangle Davis.
However, detectives used data from cell phone towers to put the defendant within three miles of the victim’s townhouse and near a bank where Davis, 32, cashed a check on the day he likely was killed.
Garcia Gonzalez admitted that he was the last person to see Davis alive.
The defense argued that Lynnwood detectives focused in on Garcia Gonzalez despite other potential suspects, including another man Davis met through a Craigslist ad.
Davis advertised for a “hot male housekeeper” in early September 2015. Jurors were told that he and Garcia Gonzalez engaged in some type of relationship.
Davis’ body was found in his Lynnwood townhouse three weeks later. He had likely been dead about a week.
Garcia Gonzalez was arrested about a month later driving the victim’s car in San Jose, California. The license plates were in the trunk.
Detectives recovered thousands of text messages between the defendant and Davis. They suspect that there was some sort of falling out between the two men, with Davis accusing Garcia Gonzalez of using him for money and marijuana.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Adam Cornell told jurors that they might not agree with Davis’ choices but that he “did not deserve to die for the risk he took.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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