GOODING COUNTY, Idaho — One of the two Gooding County teenagers facing murder charges for the 2024 murder of 18-year-old Dax Richins has changed his plea to guilty.
On Tuesday, July 22, 17-year-old Alexander Garcia pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, according to court documents. The plea agreement dropped the charges for evidence destruction and failure to notify of a death.
Gooding County prosecutors say Garcia and Rolan Delacruz, 15, planned and carried out the deadly beating and stabbing of Richins in June. His body was discovered in a shallow grave in September.
Gooding County detectives built their case against the suspects through search warrants that granted investigators access to the suspects' Snapchat accounts. In those video messages, officials say Garcia stated he needed to "Physically deform a human skull," and later messaged a friend, "I killed sum1."
RELATED | "I killed sum1": Two Gooding teens face murder charges for death of 18-year-old
Idaho News Six typically doesn't identify juveniles charged with crimes — in this case, however, prosecutors informed us in December that the two suspects will be tried as adults.
Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Delacruz faces the same murder charge, but pleaded not guilty in April — he is scheduled for pretrial on Tuesday, Aug. 5, with the jury trial beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
Watch Idaho News 6's original coverage of the case:
