Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia

Yet Again, WashPost Omits Illegal Immigrant Status of Vanessa Pham's Murderer
By Ken Shepherd | November 18, 2013 | 5:44 PM EST

On Friday, convicted murderer and illegal immigrant Julio Blanco Garcia was sentenced to 49 years' imprisonment for the June 2010 murder of northern Virginia resident Vanessa Pham. True to form, in covering the story, the Washington Post's Rachel Weiner and Justin Jouvenal completely omitted the fact that Blanco Garcia was an illegal immigrant.

But in addition to omitting Blanco Garcia's illegal status, the Post reporters left out another nugget noted by at least one other local media outlets: local prosecutors believe that Blanco Garcia's motive initially was to rape Pham, contrary to his insistence he was merely driven to a moment of homicidal rage in a fit of PCP-fueled paranoia. Reported WTOP.com:

WashPost's Jouvenal Still Refusing to Note Convicted Murderer's Illegal Immigrant Status
By Ken Shepherd | August 23, 2013 | 11:57 AM EDT

Yesterday evening a northern Virginia jury convicted Julio Blanco-Garcia, an illegal immigrant with a history of scrapes with law enforcement, of first-degree murder in the July 2010 stabbing death of Vanessa Pham. The 19-year-old victim was giving Blanco-Garcia a ride to a local hospital when he killed her in a fit of PCP-fueled paranoia.

The Washington Post's Justin Jouvenal has been covering the trial and has repeatedly failed to note Blanco-Garcia's status as an illegal immigrant. Today's 22-paragraph Metro section front-pager was no exception. It's not like this is not public knowledge. As Whitney Rhodes of the AOL-owned Patch.com news website noted on December 15, 2012:

WaPo Blogger Miffed That Michelle Malkin Dares to Point Out Accused Killer Is Illegal Immigrant
By Randy Hall | August 22, 2013 | 9:48 AM EDT

While covering the murder trial of Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia -- a day laborer who is charged in the brutal stabbing death of a 19-year-old woman -- Washington Post reporter Justin Jouvenal tweeted on Tuesday: “Vanessa Pham likely tried to fight off her killer, examiner says.”

Soon after, conservative syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin modified that message by adding two important words to the text: “Vanessa Pham likely tried to fight off her illegal alien killer, examiner says.”

WashPost Writer Writes Story About Brutal 2010 Murder, Omits Illegal Alien Status Of The Suspect
By Matt Vespa | August 11, 2013 | 7:46 PM EDT

The Washington Post’s August 9 front-page story about the brutal murder of Vanessa Pham is missing a critical detail.  The young woman's alleged murderer is an illegal immigrant; a fact that is omitted entirely from Justin Jouvenal's story, even as Jouvenal mentioned Julio Miguel Blanco Garcia has a prior criminal record. It's not like Jouvenal was unaware of Garcia's being in the country illegally. This has been covered in other local news outlets previously.

What makes the story particularly of interest is that Pham was being a good Samaritan, giving Garcia and his infant daughter a ride to the hospital when Garcia allegedly flipped out and murdered her in cold blood in a fit of paranoia induced from PCP: