By Aaron Burgin, The Porterville Recorder

On June 1, 2006, as he prepared to bury his second son in as many years, Jaime Garcia Sr. peered through his BluBlocker sunglasses and asked if there was a manual he could buy to cope with the sadness and anger.

Several days later, at his son Cesar Garcia’s funeral, he said he received an answer — a gift-wrapped Bible. “We were at the funeral and the funeral director gave it to me. It was wrapped and everything,” Garcia Sr. said. “I opened it and there was a note that said, You asked for a manual, here it is.’ ”

Garcia Sr. said the gift has helped him cope in the year after the death of his son, who was allegedly gunned down by Jaime Garcia, 21, who is not related to the family. It has also helped him deal with the loss of his firstborn son in October 2004 — Jaime Garcia Jr. — also killed in an act of gang-related violence.

But, with fewer than two weeks remaining before suspect Jaime Garcia is to stand trial for the murder of Cesar Garcia, the father of two fallen sons said the pain is always present. “I haven’t gone to any of the court dates,” said Garcia Sr., who lives in Illinois. “My family doesn’t tell me everything that goes on because they know that it is going to upset me. It messes with my mind. “And when the guy that [allegedly] killed my son is named Jaime Garcia? That really messes with a person’s head.”

Cesar Garcia was shot and killed May 28, 2006, in the 1300 block of North Prospect Street. The homicide was the second in what would become Porterville’s deadliest year. On Oct. 29, 2004, Jaime “Nano” Garcia Jr., was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting outside of his grandmother’s house on East Orange Avenue.

Garcia Sr. said the family raised enough money to cremate Cesar Garcia and pour his ashes over the grave of his firstborn. Garcia Sr. said he immediately returned to Illinois after the shooting because he feared he would seek justice himself. If he stayed, “retaliation would have been the first thing on my mind,” Garcia Sr. said. “Right now, I don’t know if I could go to the trial, because if that other guy’s family were there, you just don’t know what would happen until that situation is presented to you.”

Since returning to Illinois, Garcia Sr. said he quit his job because there were too many reminders of his son there. Both sons were supposed to work with him after their graduations. “I was on my way to pick Cesar up to take him back to work with me,” Garcia Sr. said. “I was too late.” He has not returned to Porterville since.

While the case into the death of Cesar Garcia has moved relatively swiftly through the court system to the June 18 trial date, Tulare County Sheriff’s Department deputies have yet to name a suspect in the 2004 shooting of Garcia Jr. With his eldest son’s birthday on June 21, the unsolved mystery of his son’s death is at the forefront of his mind, Garcia Sr. said. “I just pray to God to give me some peace of mind,” he said. And as for his son’s alleged killer? “My parents tell me that I should leave it in God’s hands,” Garcia Sr. said. “I just continue to read that Bible, and know that sooner or later, we will all be back together again.”

Contact Aaron Burgin at 784-5000, Ext. 1047, or aburgin@portervillerecorder.com.