QUARTZSITE – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced today that a La Paz County jury convicted Thomas Daniel of Second Degree Murder and Arson for the 2012 death of 65-year-old Linda Garrett.
Daniel was 22 years old at the time of the murder. Daniel and Garrett had previously worked together at a Quartzsite gas station.
On August 23, 2012, firefighters responded to a 911 call regarding a trailer fire in Quartzsite, Arizona. After extinguishing the flames, fire crews found Garrett’s body in the bathroom. The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Garrett had been stabbed 11 times and died before the fire.
Unfortunately, there were no eyewitnesses that could identify a specific suspect. In late 2013, about a year after the murder, the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) forensic criminalists handled DNA testing of Garrett’s nail clippings and also found additional DNA evidence of an unidentified male.
On the night of the murder, Garrett’s daughter-in-law, during a phone call with Garrett around 7 p.m., could hear an unidentified individual(s) banging on Garrett’s door. In late 2013, phone records revealed Daniel had called Garrett’s place of work at 7:16 p.m. and then her home at 7:26 p.m. The phone records led Quartzsite Police Department to take Daniel’s DNA. In 2015, DPS reported that Daniel’s DNA profile matched what was found at the scene.
Quartzsite Police Department arrested Daniel in June 2016.
On June 30, 2021, a court sentenced Daniel to 16 years in prison for the Second Degree Murder conviction, and 10.5 years (to be served concurrently) for the Arson conviction.
Assistant Attorney General Shawn Steinberg prosecuted the case.
Below is a photo of Daniel.
