Cruz Garcia, 25, one of the men who played a role in the disappearance of two Toledo boys in December, 2022, took the stand Thursday to testify against Charles C. Walker, 34, and Brent A. Kohlhofer, 42, the men on trial for the aggravated murder and kidnapping of Kyshawn Pittman, 15, and Ke’Marion Wilder, 16.
The boys’ bodies were found in the ruins of a burnt-out home at 3015 Chase St. on Dec. 15, 2022, 10 days after the house burned, and 12 days after they were last seen alive, on Dec. 3, 2022.
While more than half a dozen people were initially charged for their roles in the boys’ disappearance, only Walker and Kohlhofer are on trial. Garcia pled guilty to two counts apiece of involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping in January.
Dressed in an orange Lucas County Jail jumpsuit and shackled with leg and belly chains, the life-long Toledoan testified for more than four hours in Lucas County Common Pleas court, as to what happened in December, 2022, and the role he and others played in the boys’ disappearance.
Garcia said he had gone out to a local restaurant the evening of Dec. 3 for a friend’s birthday dinner. Afterwards some of his friends decided to continue the party by “going out to get weed and liquor.”
Despite smoking and selling marijuana, Garcia was out, so he went to a friend's place just across the state line in Michigan to buy some pot, Garcia testified.
While he was in Michigan, Garcia received a facetime call from Corbin Gingrich, someone he knew through the marijuana trade. The image was a picture of two boys, later identified as the Pittman and Wilder youths, tied up in Gingrich’s basement at 507 Maumee Ave.
Explaining why he called Kohlhofer instead of 9-1-1 when he received the image from Gingrich, Garcia said he knew Walker and Kohlhofer were looking for the Pittman youth, so “I immediately called [Kohlhofer].”
Garcia had met Kohlhofer through a friend about a year before the murders and the pair became friends.
“He was like a big brother,” Garcia said. He knew of Walker because “he was always at Brent’s house. He is one of Brent’s workers.”
Besides being an acknowledged marijuana dealer, Kohlhofer also has been a legitimate business and property owner.
He said Walker and Kohlhofer lived next door to each other on Chase Street, their homes separated by a vacant lot. According to Garcia, Kohlhofer had caught Kohlhofer’s nephew, Memphis, and the Pittman youth on camera “breaking into his house and taking weed and a bunch of guns.”
Kohlhofer’s instructions to Garcia on Dec. 3 were direct: “get over there ASAP to make sure they don’t leave.”
Garcia left his marijuana supplier’s house in Michigan and headed to the home on Maumee Avenue in south Toledo, stopping first at his house on Seaman Road to retrieve a gun.
When he arrived at the Maumee Avenue address, Garcia pistol whipped both boys and demanded information about who had tried to break into his mother’s house the previous month. Getting the information he was seeking, he then waited for Kohlhofer or Walker to arrive.
Both showed up. Garcia testified he and Gingrich put grocery bags over the boys’ heads and led them out of the basement and into the alley behind the house.
Walker and Kohlhofer untied the boys and went on to punch, pistol whip and stomp on them before binding the boys’ mouths, hands, and legs with duct tape and loading them into the trunk of Walker’s black Impala, Garcia said.
“They were alive when Chuck was putting them in there,” Garcia testified.
Garcia was then ordered to follow Walker and Kohlhofer in his Ford pickup. He was told to drive erratically, if needed, to keep the Impala from getting pulled over by police.
The road trip went from the house on Maumee Avenue to Chase Street. Video from a home security system shows an Impala being followed by a pickup with both vehicles making the turn off of New York Avenue onto Chase Street around 11:03 p.m. Dec. 3, 2022.
As they drove past Kohlhofer’s Chase Street home, Garcia called him and said he couldn’t follow them around all night. Kohlhofer dismissed him, telling Garcia “we got this handled.”
Garcia testified he later called Kohlhofer, who said “I already told you I am handling it. Have [Gingrich] clean up” the house at 507 Maumee Ave. When he asked Kohlhofer if he had shot the boys, he told Garcia “shut the [expletive] up and act like this never happened.”
According to Garcia, when asked if the boys admitted to burglarizing Kohlhofer’s home, Walker would later remark “they fought to the end and took that [expletive] to the grave.”
Brandon Henderson, one of Kohlhofer’s attorneys, found Garcia’s testimony of the assault occurring at the home on Maumee Avenue and the boys being transported to Chase Street incredulous.
“You believe [Kohlhofer] is dumb enough to do this and draw all this scrutiny to his backyard?” he asked.
“Yes,” Garcia replied, simply.
Garcia admitted to lying to police the first three times he was interviewed.
After he was indicted, he lied the first time detectives questioned him because he was “scared to get into a worse situation. I wanted to cover up and protect myself,” he said.
He said he finally told the truth the fourth time he met with detectives, which was the second meeting after he was indicted.
Asked by the prosecutor why the jury should believe him, he said “they have no reason to” but “the families deserve to know what happened that night.”
In January, Garcia pled guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of kidnapping in connection to murders. He said he is facing between six and 48 years in prison.
As part of his plea deal, he said he “agreed to tell the truth about everything,” and knows his deal will be voided if he does not.
Having agreed to testify, Garcia received an anonymous letter during a recreation period at the jail. In it, he was urged to recant, and the letter writer listed the addresses of Garcia’s mother, brother, and sisters. The letter told Garcia they were going to “feed him to the wolves.”
The trial continues Friday before Judge Lori Olender.
Most Popular
Comments / 0