Bio

Guinevere Garcia was born on November 30, 1958. Her father left the family when she was born. Her mother struggled with alcoholism and died after a fall from a second-floor window when Guinevere was about 14 months old. After that, she was raised by her grandparents in Chicago. She was also at times known by the name Guinevere Falakassa.

According to later interviews and evaluations, an uncle began sexually abusing her when she was about six years old. The abuse continued until she reached her teenage years.

A psychiatrist who examined her in later years reported that she suffers from chronic depression and from borderline personality disorder. The psychiatrist said these conditions affected her mood and behavior over many years.

Murder Story

Guinevere Garcia was born on November 30, 1958. She is classified as a murderer with crimes listed as parricide, arsons, and robbery. Her known victims number two and the locations were in Cook and Du Page Counties, Illinois.

On August 8, 1977, her 11-month-old daughter, Sara Swan, died by suffocation with a plastic bag, according to reports. Garcia later admitted she killed the child. She also was convicted of setting four fires in Chicago apartment buildings in 1980 and 1981. She pleaded guilty in 1982 and was sentenced to 20 years. She was released on parole in March 1991.

On July 23, 1991, George Garcia, age 60, was shot while sitting in his pickup truck outside his condominium in Bensenville. Guinevere Garcia was arrested the next day, July 24, 1991. John Gonzales was involved in the incident and later pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery and received a seven-year sentence.

Guinevere Garcia was tried and convicted for the 1991 shooting. On October 9, 1992, she was sentenced to death, becoming the first woman so sentenced in Du Page County. That sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.