CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) — A murder victim’s family is now speaking about how an eight-month-long investigation in Clovis led authorities to arrest a married couple in Mexico.
40-year-old Antonio Garcia and 32-year-old Misty Gomez were arrested Wednesday for killing beloved Clovis educator Geoff Bernardi back in December.
RELATED: Man, woman arrested in Mexico for murder of beloved Clovis educator, police say
After the arrests, Bernardi’s mother told Action News she knew Gomez, who was dating her son when he was murdered.
“She really doesn’t have much of a conscience. I think she’s a sociopath,” said Erin Adams, Bernardi’s mother.
Adams says Bernardi did not know Gomez was married, and though they had only been together for a few months, he truly loved her.
“The first time he went out with her, he told me, ‘I met the woman I’m going to marry.'” said Adams, throwing her hands up as she continued. “We didn’t know she was already married.”
Clovis Police say on December 18, Bernardi was attacked outside his apartment on Barstow and Peach Avenues in Clovis.
He died two days later from his injuries — just weeks before his 38th birthday.
“Losing a child is hard enough, but to have somebody brutally beat your child beyond recognition is — it’s a new level,” said Adams.
Adams says Gomez was the one who called her the night of the attack to tell her Bernardi had been severely beaten and was with the family the next day at the hospital.
“She lay on his bed and wept and said, ‘We have to find who did this to him.’ And, you know, she was playing a game. She was watching our grief,” said Adams.
Two days into the investigation, Adams says her family knew Gomez was involved.
In January, detectives determined that the attack was not random and identified a person of interest.
They later found Gomez fled the country with her two young children — who have been missing from Dinuba since April.
“Pretty horrible to put them in that dangerous situation,” said Adams.
After their arrests in Mexico, Garcia and Gomez were brought back to California.
Jail records show they were booked into the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County Saturday.
Adams says she still talks to her son through photos of him around her house. It helps her keep the memories of her smiling son, who had so much love to give, alive.
Wednesday, she was able to give him the news — ‘We got them.’
While she says that makes breathing a little easier, she now has to face her son’s killers in court.
“I have to be strong for my son because it’s all I can do, and nobody else is going to do it. Nobody knows him the way I know him. I have to honor him,” Adams said through tears.
Bail for both Gomez and Garcia was set at $1 million.
They are being extradited back to Fresno, where they will face a judge once they are back and their court dates are set.
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