A young woman wants the death penalty for alleged serial killer Oscar Sanchez-Garcia, who stabbed her sister, Cherish Gibson, and left her for dead in Dallas.
Sanchez-Garcia, who is an unlawful migrant, was arrested earlier in July and charged with three counts of murder in connection to the stabbing deaths of three women, including Gibson, according to the Dallas Police Department’s (DPD) crime blog.
Phone data, surveillance footage, and DNA evidence from sexual assault kits reportedly led police to identify Sanchez-Garcia as the suspect, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
It is currently unclear if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was aware of Sanchez-Garcia’s presence in the country before the murders.
“He looked at those women as if they were nothing,” Savannah Gibson told WFAA. “So, I do wish the death penalty on him. He doesn’t deserve to walk this Earth.”
The Dallas District Attorney’s Office has not yet commented on how it will present Sanchez-Garcia’s case. However, District Attorney John Creuzot previously declined to seek the death penalty in the case of convicted murderer and suspected serial killer Billy Chemirmir.
As of July 28, there have been 151 murders committed within Dallas city limits, marking an increase of nearly 10% year over year, according to a report by DPD.
The department is currently enduring a severe staffing shortage. DPD only has around 3,100 officers on staff — far fewer than the 4,000 believed to be needed to adequately police the city, per a City analysis.
Gibson and a second victim, Kimberly Robinson, were both found on different days in Council Member Carolyn King Arnold’s District 4. The third victim, De’brenese Janey Henry, was found in Council Member Chad West’s District 1.
A fisherman found Gibson’s partially nude body near the Trinity River, CBS News Texas reported. Several weeks earlier, Robinson’s nude body was found 200 yards away with similar injuries. Henry was found in a nearby field on July 17.
Two of the women were allegedly sex workers, prompting DPD to issue a warning to sex workers to be cautious.
“Me, my mom, and my sisters — we were on a group FaceTime, and we were all crying together,” Gibson’s sister told WFAA. “I thought my heart left my body.”
She further noted that the public should not judge her sister or the other victim.
“These are regular people. They’re normal people. They have lives, and they have families. They have kids. We shouldn’t judge them by what they choose to do. The decisions they make and the things they do with their lives,” Gibson said.
Crime has been on the rise in parts of the city, especially in Downtown Dallas. Nearby cities like Fort Worth have deployed dedicated crime units in certain areas. As a result, Fort Worth’s downtown area has reportedly been logging much lower rates of crime compared to Downtown Dallas.