Detroit — Two men face up to life in federal prison after pleading guilty for their roles in the execution-style murder of a former Buffalo Bills linebacker who was deep in debt and was allegedly double-crossing drug dealers before being killed in a basement on Detroit’s west side.
The convictions, including that of Texas drug dealer Mariano Lozoya Garcia, 53, provided new details about the violent end to the life of Detroit native Robert Eddins, 28. The former NFL linebacker turned to dealing drugs after his football career and ended in a 2016 double homicide in an alleged conspiracy involving drug dealers, hitmen and an intimate betrayal.
Garcia admitted Thursday that he conspired with others, including Eddins’ best friend, 39-year-old Michael Griffin of Birmingham, Alabama, in the days leading up to the former football player’s death in Detroit.
Griffin pleaded guilty April 28, admitting he executed his best friend and a second man because Eddins had failed to pay for a shipment of cocaine.
“These two men murdered two people in cold blood in Detroit to further their cocaine trafficking conspiracy,” U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in a statement. “We will not stop fighting until this kind of senseless violence is ended.”
The federal case dates to Dec. 19, 2016. That is when Eddins was at his home on Pierson Street on Detroit’s west side, talking on the phone with a friend when a familiar visitor arrived. Eddins delivered an ominous premonition, according to court records.
“If I don’t come back to the phone,” Eddins said, “you know what’s up.”
By then, Eddins was two years removed from a football career.
Eddins played at Crockett High School and ranked among the state’s top 30 players before arriving at Ball State University in 2006. He was a four-year letterman, tied for sixth on Ball State’s all-time career sacks list and was named to the 2010 All-MAC Second Team.
Eddins was undrafted in 2011 before signing as a free agent with the Buffalo Bills. He played in one regular-season game before signing with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. Injuries led to him being released in June 2014 before Eddins became an interstate drug dealer, selling cocaine in Birmingham, Ala., and Detroit, prosecutors say.
Eddins picked up cocaine shipments in Dallas, Texas, the Houston area and from Garcia in Alabama.
Eddins and Griffin would buy as much as six kilograms of cocaine on consignment every two weeks for $34,000 per kilogram.
The best friends split 10 kilograms in late October/early November 2016 and Eddins brought his portion to Detroit.
In mid-November, Eddins reunited with his best friend and others in Sugarland, Texas, near Houston.
“Eddins met the others in Sugarland but did not bring all of the money he owed for the fronted drugs,” prosecutors wrote in Griffin’s plea agreement. “After the meeting, Griffin, now in debt for his and Eddins’ share, decided to pay Eddins’ share because he did not “want to f—” up his ability to obtain future cocaine shipments.
Eddins still owed the drug debt in mid-December 2016. As part of his plea deal with federal prosecutors, Garcia admitted encouraging Griffin to travel to Detroit to collect the drug debt — and hurt Eddins.
In the early morning of Dec. 18, Griffin traveled to Detroit to kill his best friend, according to the plea deal.
Griffin had help. He was traveling with Mississippi resident Dennis Epps, but they had a hard time finding Eddins.
They had a list of 11 addresses in Detroit and searched until the next day, Dec. 19.
That night, Griffin met Eddins at the white brick bungalow near Eight Mile and Evergreen. A third man, Eddins’ friend Ricardo McFarlin, also was there.
That night, cellphone records showed Eddins and Griffin traveled to a Walmart in Livonia.
Security footage showed them at the customer service area picking up a $200 wire transfer, according to prosecutors.
Back at the home, Griffin and a second man tied up McFarlin in the basement.
Griffin exchanged text messages with Garcia and they exchanged a flurry of long phone calls, according to prosecutors.
“So he’s laughing at us still,” Garcia wrote in one text.
“Just chill dude I got him comfortable,” Griffin wrote. “I will not let him out my sight.”
Griffin and a second man brandished 9 mm handguns to threaten and then kill Eddins and McFarlin, according to the plea agreement.
“They used pillows from the upstairs living room couch to muffle the gunshot sounds,” prosecutors wrote. “They ransacked the house and left.”
On Dec. 20, Eddins’ father visited the Pierson Street home after not hearing from his son.
“Inside, he found the house unlocked, no signs of forced entry, with music and TV blaring and the strong smell of gas from the oven in the kitchen,” prosecutors wrote. “The three bedrooms on the main floor had been ransacked.”
In the basement, he found the bodies of his son and McFarlin, 32. Both men suffered multiple gunshots.
Detroit police investigators recovered eight 9 mm shell casings. An investigation showed McFarlin, a father and convicted member of the notorious Black Mafia Family drug ring, was shot seven times and suffered defensive wounds to his wrists.
“There were also contusions on his right hand and wrist consistent with being restrained,” prosecutors wrote.
Eddins, meanwhile, was shot three times in the head.
After Eddins was killed, Griffin mourned his best friend by posting a photo of them on Facebook.
“Man I can’t take this I love u lil Cuzz,” Griffin wrote.
Investigators caught up to Griffin and Epps almost two weeks after the bodies were found.
On Jan. 4, 2017, a Louisiana State Police trooper pulled them over in a white Dodge Charger near New Orleans after noticing the muscle car traveling slower than other vehicles and crossing lanes of traffic.
Investigators recovered four cellphones from Griffin and Epps during the traffic stop. Authorities say they also found a kilo-sized brick of suspected heroin and counterfeit money in the rental car. One week after the traffic stop, an employee with the rental car company called investigators after finding a 9 mm handgun under the driver’s seat.
Griffin and Garcia will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg on Sept. 21. Both pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge, one count of interstate travel with the intent to kill, and interstate travel in aid of illegal activity resulting in death.
Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a 30-year sentence for Griffin and 25 years for Garcia, who admitted to conspiring to distribute more than 50 kilograms of cocaine.
Prosecutors have agreed to recommend up to 15 years in prison for Epps, who was convicted of a drug crime. The 35-year-old will be sentenced in August.
rsnell@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @robertsnellnews