About Vanessa Pham

Vanessa Pham, 19, was found stabbed to death in June 2010 in her Scion hatchback, which was found in a ditch off Arlington Boulevard in the Falls Church area. Police arrested Julio Miguel Blanco-Garcia more than two years later in connection with her death.

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Blanco Garcia Sentenced to 49 Years in Pham Murder

Timeline

Vanessa Pham is slain

June 27, 2010

Police find the body of Vanessa Pham in a white Scion hatchback, saying she had been stabbed multiple times.

Body Identified

June 28, 2010

Fairfax police identify Vanessa Pham, a 19-year-old Northern Virginia native, as the victim in the slaying.
Body found in ditch identified; N.Va. woman had been stabbed

No motive in slaying

July 1, 2010

Police say the fatal stabbing of Pham appears to be a slaying by a stranger.
Va. student’s fatal stabbing leaves Fairfax police with no suspect or motive

Pham seen in video

July 7, 2010


A collection of surveillance videos released by Fairfax County police show Pham’s Scion hatchback entering the Fairfax Plaza shopping center on Gallows Road, then leaving just 10 minutes before she was found stabbed to death a short distance away. Pham in video minutes before she was found

Bench Dedication

Dec 27, 2010

Friends and family gather to dedicate a bench in Pham’s honor at the Vienna Town Green six months after the slaying.
Anniversary of Va. teen’s murder marked

Blanco Garcia arrested

Dec 13, 2010

Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia, 27, of Falls Church is arrested at a Vienna construction site after an analysis of forensic evidence tied him to the slaying.

Man arrested in 2010 fatal stabbing of Falls Church woman

DNA leads to suspect

Dec 13, 2012

Fairfax County police release few details about suspect Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia, what led them to him, or how and why he allegedly took the life of Pham.

DNA leads police to Vanessa Pham murder suspect

Lt. Col. James A. Morris announces the arrest of Julio Miguel Blanco-Garcia on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. (Tracy A. Woodward/The Washington Post)

Fingerprint match

Dec 18, 2012

According to a search warrant, a fingerprint match led police to arrest a suspect in the slaying of Pham after it had gone unsolved for 2 1/2 years.

Fingerprint match led to suspect in 2010 slaying of 19-year-old Falls Church woman

Suspect tracked police probe

January 10, 2013

For more than two years, detectives searched for Pham’s killer, but the alleged murderer was tracking them, too, according to a search warrant.

Suspect in murder of Falls Church woman was tracking probe, according to warrant

Judge allows cameras

July 26, 2013

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush grants a motion by local news media to place a video and a still camera in the back of the room for the murder trial of Blanco Garcia.

Fairfax judge allows cameras in a trial for the first time since 1994

Blanco Garcia guilty of first-degree murder

August 22, 2013

A Fairfax County jury convicted Blanco Garcia of first-degree murder in the killing of Pham.

Man convicted of first-degree murder in Vanessa Pham killing

Sentenced to 49 years

November 15, 2013

Blanco Garcia is sentenced to 49 years in prison in the killing of Pham.