Police arrest local man for Vanessa Pham murder in 2010

Vanessa Pham

The Mason Police District announced the arrest of Julio Miguel Blanco-Garcia, 27, Dec. 13 for the murder of Vanessa Pham in June 2010. Garcia is a resident of 6144 Willston Drive, Apt 101, in Seven Corners.

U.S. Marshals located Garcia working on a house under construction in the Town of Vienna near the intersection of Glyndon Street S.E. and Locust Street S.E. shortly after noon. Fairfax County homicide detectives had linked Garcia to the homicide of the 19-year-old college student through analysis of forensic evidence.At a news conference Thursday evening, Fairfax County Acting Police Chief James Morris said it appears that Garcia and Pham “did not have a relationship.”

Pham, a graduate of James Madison High School, in Vienna, had been stabbed multiple times. Her body was found in her car in a ditch off Route 50 near Williams Drive a few  minutes after a security video captured her car leaving the Fairfax Plaza Shopping Center on Gallows Road. Morris would not say if Garcia was in the car at that time.

Morris said Garcia had not been a suspect until this week. According to news reports, it was possibly the discovery of DNA evidence that tied Garcia to the crime. He had several prior arrests for public drunkenness and petty larceny. He will be court tomorrow for arraignment.