Murder trial set to begin in Fall River court for Guatemalan man accused of fatal stabbing

The trial is set to begin Monday in Fall River Superior Court for a Guatemalan man accused of a 1991 Attleboro homicide.

According to Massachusetts State Police, Mario R. Garcia, a previous member of the Massachusetts State Police Most Wanted Fugitives list, was found living under an alias and operating a shrimp farm in Iztapa, Guatemala in late 2022. Garcia was wanted for the Nov. 16, 1991, stabbing homicide of Ismael Recinos-Garcia during a fight at Dean and Bank Streets in Attleboro.

Shortly after the homicide, Attleboro Police Detectives and Troopers from the State Police Detective Unit for Bristol County identified Garcia, then 19, as the assailant and obtained an arrest warrant. Garcia immediately fled and, despite extensive efforts by law enforcement agencies in various US jurisdictions, could not be located.

In 2014 the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section developed information that Garcia had likely fled to a remote area of his native Guatemala. The VFAS case officer, then-Trooper Curtis Cinelli, continued to work on the investigation after he left the fugitive unit in conjunction with VFAS, Attleboro Police, the United States Marshals Service, the Bristol State Police Detective Unit, the MSP Unresolved Case Unit, and the Bristol District Attorney’s Office. In March 2021 the State Police added Garcia to their Most Wanted Fugitives list.

In early 2022, now-Detective Lt. Cinelli, now assigned to the MSP Executive Protection Unit, developed information that Garcia might be working on a shrimp farm in Iztapa, Guatemala.

VFAS identified a specific shrimp farm and forwarded the information to the US Marshals Service. The USMS New England Fugitive Task Force works closely with MSP VFAS on various investigations.

The US Marshals Service Office of International Affairs, the Operations for Central America and the US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service Overseas Criminal Investigations Unit in Guatemala coordinated the deployment of an investigative and apprehension team on the ground in Guatemala.

That team confirmed the shrimp farm as Garcia’s location and determined he was using an alias. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III then worked with the US Department of Justice to facilitate the issuance of a provisional warrant for Garcia’s arrest.

Garcia attempted to evade capture by jumping into a body of water at the shrimp farm but was apprehended and placed into custody.