Alleged murderer Jose Garcia-Flores, third from left, watches as volunteers play checkers inside the cold weather shelter at First Baptist Church of Cornelia on Friday, January 9.
While working on a story about the cold weather shelter at First Baptist Church of Cornelia I encountered a young man in the church fellowship hall. Interested to find out what had led him to the shelter, I approached and asked if I could interview him. He cordially agreed. I pulled up a chair and sat down beside him.
He told me his name was Jadon Garcia. He said he was 28 and from Queens, New York. That part of his story rang true; there was no denying his thick New York accent. The rest of his story seemed odd, but plausible. He said he was traveling by Greyhound bus from New York to Marietta on his way to visit some friends. “Well, I was on my way to Marietta and I got off on the wrong exit and I got lost down in Toccoa somewhere,” he explained. He said he first looked for a phone, then a shelter. “I went goin’ through looking for churches and they were already closed.” So, he said he began walking. “I finally got to a liquor store and I asked them if they knew of a shelter around here somewhere and they called the police and a police officer came and picked me up and they brought me over here.”
He arrived at the shelter on Thursday, January 8. I interviewed him the following night.
The interview was brief. He never flinched or veered from his story. Although it didn’t quite add up, I didn’t press. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. I asked what he planned to do when the shelter closed Saturday. “Right now I’m gonna go to Marietta and from there gonna go back to New York.” I asked if he had a ride. “I’m looking for a way to get there right now,” he said, “that’s why I’m here ‘til I find a way.” I asked, “Do your friends know you’re here?” He replied, “Well, they don’t know that I’m here but they knew I was on my way. I lost my phone and everything and I don’t know their numbers by heart or nothin’ like that, so…,” his voice trailed off as he spoke.
We wrapped up the interview and I thanked him for his time. I reached out my hand to shake his. The fingers on his right hand were folded over his palm. I asked if he was okay. He mumbled something I couldn’t understand. He offered me his closed hand and I clasped it. We smiled at each other then I walked away, leaving him alone to watch the news on TV.
The events of that night replayed in my head later as my eyes shot back to the headline on my computer screen, “Police arrest man for grisly murder at Gainesville motel.” It was him! The man staring back at me from the computer screen was the man I knew as Jadon Garcia, a man whose real name is Jose Garcia-Flores, a man now charged with murder.
Gruesome crime scene
The description of the crime said it was brutal. The victim, 52-year old Harmon Lavender of Augusta, was stabbed multiple times. A maintenance worker at the Sun Suites Hotel in Gainesville discovered his body on Saturday, January 10, around 2pm. The crime shocked veteran law officers. Gainesville Police Corporal Kevin Holbrook told reporters, “I will say that this was a very violent, vicious, brutal death. This was one of the most gruesome crime scenes that we at the Gainesville Police Department and veteran members of the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) have investigated in our careers.”
I read Holbrook’s statement over and over. Brutal. Violent. Vicious. Death. The image of the scene Holbrook described and that of the quiet man sitting alone in the back of the fellowship hall were like Garcia-Flores’ story, they didn’t match up. One image was of pure evil, the other, sheer benevolence.
He asked for help and received it
The quiet man from New York told volunteers at the shelter the same story he told me. He told them his name was Jadon Garcia. He said he walked from Toccoa to Mt. Airy. He said he fell along the way and lost his cellphone and wallet. He explained that’s how he injured his right hand. Cornelia Police picked him up at the liquor store in Mt. Airy and drove him to the shelter. When he arrived volunteers administered first aid.
The shelter closed two days later on January 10 and volunteers helped guests get to their next destination. Garcia-Flores told them he wanted to return to New York. The pastor of First Baptist Church of Cornelia Dr. Eric Spivey says volunteers pitched in the money to buy him a ticket and a couple from the church drove him to the bus station in Gainesville. That’s where they left him. It was the last anyone in Habersham saw of him until his picture appeared in the news the next day.
Police said they were looking for him because he was a known associate of Lavender’s and was missing. They said they were concerned for his safety. Garcia-Flores’ picture made the rounds on social media and a shelter volunteer recognized him. They contacted church administrators and, since then, the church has been cooperating with investigators.
Garcia-Flores was arrested in New York a few days later and was extradited to Gainesville on January 14. He’s now in the Hall County jail charged with probation and parole violations and one count of malice murder. Police say more charges may be filed.
Disturbed but undaunted
The realization there was an alleged killer in our midst is disturbing. It rattled the nerves of everyone who met him. Spivey says shelter volunteers were shocked and surprised.
“It’s traumatizing,” he says. “It surprised everyone who knew him. That’s why we’re working to care for our volunteers.” He says they’ve all shared their stories and have spent time in prayer. “We’ve given our volunteers opportunities to debrief, pray, and talk about how we can get better.”
The church congregation was told.
“At the end of the service today I told them what happened,” Spivey says. “We talked about what it means to be church. Our mission is to love the world as God loves us. Love is not always a sentimental love but it’s a difficult love. It’s not always easy and it’s not without risk.” He continues, “To be people of God in the world can be risky. You don’t have to be away on a mission field. You can be right in your hometown and you face risk.”
Spivey says the church is now discussing ways to mitigate those risks in the future. “The probability that this happened is so incredibly minute, but it did, so we have to build better procedures to make it safer.”
While the incident raises the question of safety, Spivey says he’s convinced the church did everything it could to protect volunteers and shelter guests. “I think everything we did, we did right – from the time before they showed up, to the time that they left, to cooperating with investigators.”
Spivey says his church congregation is disturbed but undaunted. Shelter volunteers and church members have expressed their support for continuing FBC’s shelter ministry.
“…rather than making us people of fear, it makes us people of faith.” ~ Dr. Eric Spivey, FBC Cornelia
“One of the things that I think we all are really aware of is that it has changed us, but rather than making us people of fear, it makes us people of faith,” Spivey says resolutely. “We are aware that in those 48 hours this gentleman was with us he was in a sanctuary. He experienced the love of God. We listened to him, we loved him, we provided for him, so, we continue to pray for this gentleman, for his salvation, for his life, for God to move in his life. I believe God’s love is big enough to do things even in his life.”
Looking back. Moving forward.
As he reflects on recent events Spivey says, “There is an inherent risk in all that we do.” Despite those risks, First Baptist Church of Cornelia is moving forward. “We’re going to keep going,” Spivey says. “We’ll be ready for the next cold air that comes down. We’ll be preparing for that. We’ll implement some additional safety procedures and we will be ready.” He adds, “I’m very proud of our church for the steps we take to care for those that are disenfranchised, for those that are marginalized. The Gospel fully expresses sharing Christ’s love with everyone, from the highest part of society to the lowest.”
Pastor Spivey says the recent brush with an alleged killer won’t change that.
“I think it just shows us that we are committed to love the world as God loves us. That’s not always easy, but with good preparation and good faithful hearts we can venture out to do that here in our community and around the world.”
