| For Immediate Release November 23, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
|
MAN ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH STABBING
CO-DEFENDANT’S CANCER-STRICKEN HUSBAND IN MURDER-FOR-PROFIT CONSPIRACY
*Victim’s wife is currently on trial in this case; victim’s step-son was convicted
of second degree murder
SANTA ANA – A man has been arrested and charged with stabbing and murdering the cancer-stricken husband of his co-defendant in a murder-for-hire conspiracy. Thomas Joseph Garrick, 36, Laguna Hills, is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder for financial gain and one felony count conspiracy to commit murder. He faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. Garrick was arrested late yesterday, Nov. 22, 2011, by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case. The defendant is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned Monday, Nov. 28, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
The victim’s wife, Sandra Jessee, 60, formerly of Placentia, is currently on trial in this case (Case #07ZF0009) in Department C-35. She is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder for financial gain and one felony count of conspiracy. If convicted, she faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. This is a re-trial of the case against Sandra Jessee, as a previous jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on July 21, 2009.
Sandra Jessee’s son from a previous marriage Thomas Dayton Aehlert, 41, Gold Canyon, AZ, pleaded guilty in this case Oct. 7, 2011, to one felony count of second degree murder and faces a sentence of 15 years to life in state prison at his sentencing hearing March 9, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-35.
In the spring of 1998, Sandra Jessee’s third husband of 15 years, 56-year-old Jack Jessee, was diagnosed with cancer. Sandra Jessee wanted to move to Arizona, where Aehlert had recently moved. The victim did not want to leave California, where his adult children lived.
Between June 1, 1998, and July 1, 1999, Sandra Jessee is accused of conspiring with Aehlert to hire a hit man to murder Jack Jessee for financial gain. Sandra Jessee is accused of wanting to have the victim murdered because she resented having to care for him and did not want to deplete their retirement savings, believing that insurance would not cover all of his cancer treatments.
On several occasions in June 1998, Aehlert called friend Brett Schrauben, 39, to solicit and arrange the murder of Jack Jessee in exchange for $50,000. On June 24, 1998, Sandra Jessee is accused of meeting Schrauben in a store parking lot in Placentia. She is accused of paying him $5,000 to kill her husband while she was away from her home and instructing him to make the murder look like a residential burglary.
On Aug. 13, 1998, Aehlert called Schrauben to discuss the murder, which was to take place that day. Schrauben requested his friend, Garrick, be the get-away driver.