3 Accused Of Stabbing Man To Death, Dumping His Body Near Edmond

Three men sit in the Oklahoma county jail, accused of stabbing a man to death then dumping his body along Interstate 35 near Edmond.

It's an investigation that led Edmond detectives to at least three states.

Two suspects were found in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and a third near New Orleans. All four men were illegal immigrants working in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Florida.

"And as soon as the light kind of dims from the interstate, you know, the city lights, that's where they dump the body," said Det. Sgt. Damon Minter.

Edmond police were called December 1, 2012, around 5 a.m. A person driving down I-35 found the body of Leopoldo Mejia.

1/18/2013 Related Story: Police Seek Two Men In Connection With Edmond Homicide Case

"There was very little blood at the scene, so that indicated to us that this probably occurred elsewhere," Sgt. Minter said.

But, investigators didn't know where Mejia was murdered until several months later. Sgt. Minter says the stabbing death was apparently over a family feud that started in Honduras.

"We had no indication though this whole investigation that there was any involvement in narcotics or anything like that.:

Phone numbers written on the inside of the victim's belt led investigators to brothers Edgardo Garcia, Miguel Angel Garcia, and Victor Manuel Santamaria-Garcia.

All three are now charged with first-degree murder.

"Victor Manuel is the one who possibly had some prior conflicts with the victim."

Sgt. Minter says the actual murder happened on N. McKinley in Oklahoma City. The altercation started inside the home, and eventually made its way to the gravel driveway. He says Mejia was dragged outside in a choke-hold, stabbed in the neck, and then stabbed in the chest.

Investigators say the suspects used their work van to dump the body along I-35 between Danforth and Covell Roads.

"They basically called their family in Honduras and told them, 'we killed him.'"

A preliminary hearing for the three suspects has been set for January 31.