Accused Killer Arrested in San Juan

A 36-year-old Laguna Hills man accused of stabbing a cancer-stricken Placentia man in a 1998 murder-for-hire scheme was arrested during a San Juan Capistrano traffic stop, officials said.

Thomas Joseph Garrick was arrested about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Orange County sheriff's investigator Dan Salcedo said.

Investigators began looking for Garrick a few days ago and, since they did not exactly where he was living, deputies were told to keep an eye out for him, Salcedo said.

"Yesterday we got lucky, and [deputies] saw him'' driving around in San Juan Capistrano, Salcedo said.

After questioning, Garrick was booked on suspicion of murdering 56-year-
old Jack Jessee.

Salcedo has questioned Garrick before—twice in Japan in 2007, where he was stationed while enlisted in the Navy. Garrick was later dishonorably discharged, he said.

Jessee's wife, Sandra Jessee, is on trial for murder for allegedly hiring her husband's killer. Testimony in that trial is expected to resume Monday, the same day Garrick is to be arraigned on charges, including special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and conspiracy to commit murder.
Sandra Jessee is accused of hiring someone to kill Jack Jessee, her third husband, so she could collect on his life insurance policy and retirement funds and move to Arizona to be closer to her son, Thomas Dayton Aehlert, from a previous marriage.

Prosecutors Mike Murray says she feared her husband's cancer treatments would gobble up their nest egg, and he objected to moving to Arizona because he wanted to remain in Southern California to be closer to his daughters from a previous marriage.

Jack Jessee had $262,582 in a 401(k) account and a life insurance policy valued at $411,858, Murray said.

Aehlert's friend Brett Schrauben, 39, pleaded guilty in November 2008 to voluntary manslaughter in a plea deal with prosecutors that includes him testifying in Sandra Jessee's trial. Aehlert pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in a plea deal that also has him testifying against his mother.

Garrick, the alleged killer, had not been charged in the case until this
week.

Murray told jurors when Sandra Jessee's trial began earlier this month that she asked her son to find someone to kill his stepfather for $50,000. Schrauben said he would meet with Sandra Jessee, but only if she paid him a nonrefundable $5,000, Murray said.

The plan was for Sandra Jessee to go out shopping, leaving her husband
alone in the house, which she did on the afternoon of Aug. 13, 1998, Murray
said. She also left a door from the garage unlocked so the killer
could get in, he alleged.

Schrauben got cold feet, called Aehlert and told him his mother forgot to unlock the door, Murray said. When Aehlert called him later to say the killing had to happen that day or else his mother would do it herself, Schrauben returned to the home that evening with Garrick, who was initially supposed to be the getaway driver, Murray said.

Again, Sandra Jessee left her husband alone in the house alone to ostensibly go shopping, but this time Garrick and Schrauben changed places, Murray said. They were supposed to make it look like a burglary gone awry by taking a gold coin collection, the prosecutor said.

In December of that year, Sandra Jessee made a $90,000 profit by selling
the Placentia home and moved to the Phoenix area, just 200 yards from her
son's home, Murray said.

The case went cold until 2005 when an Orange County sheriff's detective, helping Placentia police in the investigation, found a scrap of paper in Sandra Jessee's purse with Schrauben's last name scribbled on it, Murray said.

Investigators set up a wiretap of the phones used by Sandra Jessee, Aehlert and Schrauben and also had surveillance teams follow them, Murray said. Several times, Aehlert went to pay phones to make calls, despite having a cell phone he used to make other calls after hanging up, Murray said.

Schrauben was arrested in 2005, and pleaded guilty three years later. Aehlert was arrested in 2007 and pleaded guilty last month.

Sandra Jessee's attorney, Orange County Alternate Defender Derek Bercher, told jurors his client was a devoted wife who had nothing to do with the conspiracy.

—City News Service