ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An Albuquerque family struggles to understand why someone killed their loved one and took off with one of the only memories his young daughter had of him. Lisa Garcia-Urban says her big brother, Joe Garcia, always made time for people he loved, especially his three kids.
Over the last year, he worked with his daughter to customize a one-of-a-kind bike. “They worked on it together every weekend, Saturday or Sunday. They worked on it together, some days after work,” said Garcia-Urban.
Albuquerque bike shop the Bike Coop ABQ had the frame, provided the paint and parts, and built the bike up. On June 11, Garcia and his daughter picked it up.
But two days later, Garcia died. His family says he was murdered, his body was found lying on the ground on the corner of Coal and Buena Vista.
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“After she heard about what happened, she was like ‘my bike, let’s go get my bike,’ you know, because that’s what they built – that’s her last memories,” said Garcia-Urban.
When the family walked into Garcia’s house near where he was killed, the custom bike was gone. The bike along with other sentimental items like a guitar and a quilt Garcia-Urban had made out of their mother’s clothing. “They didn’t take his phone, his wallet, they didn’t take anything. If they were going to go rob his place, they would take his wallet, you know, they would take his TV, um DVDs, you know, things that are expensive or things that you could go pawn right away,” said Garcia-Urban.
Now, the family is left with more questions than answers and a little girl without a father, or the last memory of him.
KRQE News 13 reached out to the Albuquerque Police Department for the latest on the investigation into Garcia’s murder but did not hear back. The bike is black with a rose gold metallic drip paint scheme. The family also has a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses. Anyone with information about the case or the bike is asked to contact police.