1/29/2025

ASHLAND - Testimony in the double-murder trial of Ashland businessman Nathan Monkelien continues. One of the officers who responded to the Stagecoach Bar & Grill, Investigator Christopher Pupp testified that he checked the victims for signs of life, while Ricardo Garcia, overcome with grief, threatened to contaminate the crime scene, wanting to touch his brothers. Garcia had to be detained by officers, while a translator tried to communicate with him. Pupp was asked if he thought he’d possibly contaminated the crime scene since he was not using a flashlight to illuminate the area, and he responded he’d made every effort to maintain evidence at the scene. Monkeliens attorney objecting to the showing of the video taken by Aquiles Garcia, saying it would emotionally prejudice the jury. He also asked that the disorderly conduct charge be dropped, which Judge Anthony Stella agreed to. The prosecution argued Monkelien provoked both Garcia and the Garcia-Salas brothers. Monkelien faces two homicide charges, as well as resisting or obstructing officers, battery and using a firearm while intoxicated.