A Hells Angel wanted for the 2001 murder of Cynthia Garcia was extradited to Arizona from Argentina, and arrested at Sky Harbor International Airport on July 17.
Paul Merle Eischeid, now 46, was arrested in 2003 in the gruesome murder of Garcia outside a Hells Angel hangout in Mesa. Court records allege that Eischeid and a fellow Hells Angel – Kevin Augustiniak – became involved in an argument with Garcia after she criticized the criminal activities at one of their clubhouses.
Eischeid and Augustiniak punched Garcia in the face, and when she fell to the ground, stomped on her head until she lost consciousness, according to reports. They then dragged her – limp, but still alive – to a car and threw her into the trunk. The men drove to a remote part of the Mesa desert, court documents
Garcia’s body was found several days later with more than 30 stab wounds, and marks on her spinal cord indicating the bikers also tried to cut off her head.
Eischeid, a former Charles Schwab stockbroker, was arrested two years later after he was indicted for drug trafficking and RICO violations, including counts in connection with the murder, but was released on bond and given an ankle bracelet because of his “minimal criminal history.” Though he did not appear to be a flight risk, Eischeid cut off his ankle monitor and fled to Argentina with a fake passport provided by Robert Eugene Tutokey.
In his application for a passport, Tutokey claimed his eyes were blue – Eischeid’s eye color – rather than hazel, the color of his own eyes. A judge sentenced Tutokey nine months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons after he pled guilty to one count of providing false statements in an application for a U.S. passport. It is unclear if Tutokey was also a member of Hells Angels.
In 2007, three years after fleeing Arizona with the forged passport, Eischeid was placed on the U.S. Marshals’ 15 Most Wanted list for allegedly committing “one of the most grisly crimes in recent American criminal history.” But the stockbroker turned gangbanger was not apprehended until 2011 when Argentinean authorities captured him in Buenos Aires.
According to a 2011 Phoenix New Times report, Argentinean officials found a photocopy of the first page of Tutokey’s passport booklet, an Arizona driver’s license, and a Social Security number all belonging to Tutokey in Eischeid’s possession.
Argentinean journalist Federico Fahsbender reported that a Change.org petition was created, asking for Eischeid to remain in Argentina rather than being extradited to the U.S. According to the petition, Eischeid has a wife and son in the country. Free Paul Eischeid, the entity that filed the petition, wrote: “If he is extradited, he will be tried for crimes he has not committed, but he could receive the irreversible sentence of the death penalty as a result.”
The petition received more than 4,000 signatures.
Eischeid’s counterpart in Garcia’s murder, Augustiniak, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2011 and is currently serving 22 to 25 years in prison.
Authorities would like to charge Eischeid with kidnapping, participation in a gang, and two counts of first-degree murder. Eischeid is being held without bond because he is a “danger to other persons or the community,” but court records say nothing about him being a potential flight risk.
