On December 25, 2019, 23-year-old Bertin Garcia-Jimenez, a Hispanic man, was found inside a unit at the Crystal Garden Apartments in Lexington’s Cardinal Valley neighborhood with a fatal gunshot wound. First responders were summoned shortly after 1 p.m. after a Spanish-speaking caller said someone inside the unit might be dead. The Fayette County Coroner pronounced Garcia-Jimenez dead at the scene and his death was ruled a homicide.

Language barriers complicated the initial response and early investigation, and the case remained open for almost two years without an arrest, at a time when the city was matching its record for annual homicides. A significant development occurred on December 15, 2021, when 33-year-old Jose Andrade was arrested in Washington State; the arrest warrant says two witnesses saw Andrade shoot Garcia-Jimenez in the head before fleeing. Andrade was returned to Lexington and booked on multiple charges, including murder, several assault counts, and terroristic threatening.

Did anyone in Cardinal Valley or the Crystal Garden Apartments see anything that day or know Bertin Garcia-Jimenez?