Pharr man gets 18 years for beating man to death

Gilbert Daniel Montalvo Garren

A 39-year-old Pharr man will spend 18 years in prison for his role in the beating death of a 54-year-old man in McAllen more than two years ago.

Gilbert Daniel Montalvo Garren pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter and received an 18-year sentence on Nov. 7 for the death of Ricky Ethridge. Prosecutors also dismissed a charge of tampering with physical evidence.

Garren had initially faced a murder charge and had been scheduled to go to trial next week. Three others were also charged in the death: 48-year-old Edinburg resident Jose Luis Sanchez, 22-year-old Mission resident Daniel Barker and 50-year-old Edinburg resident Rene Everett Casas. 

All are accused of beating Ethridge to death with bolt cutters and a wooden board on Sept. 1, 2020.

McAllen police allege Etheridge was restrained in an apartment in the 1000 block of North 15th Street when he was killed.

Authorities discovered his body after his girlfriend called police to report a disturbing phone call.

“McAllen Police Detectives had received information from the victim’s girlfriend indicating that she had not heard from her boyfriend, Ricky Etheridge. The girlfriend said she received a phone call from a friend of Ricky’s who told her that Ricky may have been beaten and shot,” a probable cause affidavit states.

At the time, investigators believed Etheridge was killed for a drug theft, but McAllen’s 2020 uniformed crime report classified his murder as the result of an argument.

Both Sanchez and Barker we’re charged with murder and remained jailed Tuesday at the Hidalgo County Adult Detention Center on $1.5 million in bonds.

Casas — the first suspect identified by police — remains on the run and has a murder warrant for his arrest.

Anyone with information about Casas’ whereabouts should call McAllen Crime Stoppers at (956) 687-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be anonymously submitted through the smartphone app “P3 TIPS.”