College Station store clerk dies at Fort Worth hospital

A College Station store clerk injured during an abduction that ended in north Fort Worth died Friday afternoon at John Peter Smith Hospital, officials said.

The family of Kevin Garcia, 55, gave doctors permission to remove him from life support Thursday night, a JPS spokeswoman had said. He was kept on life support longer for assessment for organ donation.

“After many tests and discussions with doctors, it was decided to remove Kevin from the ventilator. The doctors said the damage was permanent and that he would never recover,” his sister, Denise Etherton of San Antonio, wrote on Facebook.

“Even though his heart and lungs are in excellent condition, he is not able to breathe enough to sustain life. Kevin is an organ donor and hopefully his last act will be to help others.”

Garcia was pronounced dead at 1:36 p.m. Friday, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.

His kidneys were recovered and “will provide transplants for two people,” a hospital spokeswoman said.

Garcia was beaten and abducted from Drew’s Exxon in College Station early Tuesday and driven to Fort Worth in the bed of his pickup. He was rescued about 10 hours later in the 14200 block of Tijuana Trail when the man driving the truck was arrested.

The truck driver, Nathaniel Tillery, 36, of College Station, was transferred from Tarrant County to the Brazos County Jail on Thursday. Bail was set at $520,000.

On Thursday afternoon, a teary-eyed Denise Etherton described her brother as a man with a heart of gold who could be stubborn but who loved his job on the night shift at a College Station convenience store.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t know how many people loved him,” Etherton said.

Etherton of San Antonio, accompanied by her husband, Bill, spoke to reporters about Garcia, her youngest brother.

Garcia had worked the night shift at the gas station and convenience store for 14 years, she said.

“I’m mad, but I’m more sad,” Etherton said as she fought back tears. “If I could talk to [Tillery], I would want to know, ‘Why put [Garcia] in his truck? Why not leave him in the parking lot?’ ”

Investigators who reviewed store security cameras have said Garcia was beaten unconscious about 3 a.m. Tuesday in Drew’s parking lot. Tillery put Garcia in the bed of Garcia’s truck and drove 200 miles to north Fort Worth, police have said.

About 1 p.m., Tillery’s stepbrother called 911, saying he was at 14200 Tijuana Trail in Fort Worth, according to WFAA. Tillery was arrested there, and Garcia was taken to JPS.

“He’s been unconscious ever since,” Denise Etherton said Thursday.

It was the second time in two years that Garcia had been attacked at work. The Eagle of Bryan-College Station reported that in September 2013, two robbers struck Garcia in the head with brass knuckles. Nicholas Troy Bogert II pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced in September to 17 years in prison. Jordan Tanner Krob is awaiting trial on an aggravated robbery charge in the case.

After that attack, “he was in the hospital a few days, but he didn’t hesitate going back to work,” his sister said. “He loved meeting people, and he was doing that at his job.”

Garcia, who was divorced, owned a calico cat named George and was a member of WheresGeorge.com. Members of the group stamp dollar bills and track them.

“I got a call from one of the members from New York, wanting to know how he was,” Bill Etherton said. “His son had met [Garcia] at a WheresGeorge convention in St. Louis and heard what had happened to him. He had asked his dad to call to check on him.”

Garcia had recently scheduled a dental appointment, intending to get his teeth fixed in the hopes of dating again.

“He’s a good man,” his sister said. “He didn’t want to die alone.”

This report includes material from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 6:32 PM with the headline "College Station store clerk dies at Fort Worth hospital."