Suspect Arrested in 2014 Execution-Style Murder of Florida State Professor Dan Markel

Photo: Florida State University College of Law

Florida police have arrested a suspect in the high-profile 2014 execution-style shooting death of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel.

Sigfredo Garcia, 34, of Miami Beach, was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder, according to officials from the Tallahassee Police Department.

“The probable cause has been sealed,” said Tallahassee Police Chief Michael DeLeo during a press conference Thursday. “This is still an active criminal investigation.”

Details about the investigation, including whether Markel knew Garcia, were not discussed. Garcia, who was arrested in Broward County, will be extradited to Leon County, officials said.

Markel was a well-liked professor and legal blogger. His murder gained further intrigue when authorities announced they believed he was targeted.

Markel, 41, was shot at around 11 a.m. on July 18, 2014, while in his Honda Accord his garage, police said. He died the same day.

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Markel had climbed quickly to prominence in the field of criminal law. He was the proprietor of the PrawfsBlawgs blog, a well-respected blog on criminal justice topics.

“He was very much a man of new ideas – fresh, vivacious, stimulating,” Florida State Dean Donald Weidner told PEOPLE in 2015.

Michelle Dempsey, an associate dean at Villanova School of Law, described him to PEOPLE as “relentlessly positive.”

“He made you feel good about your work,” she added.

Markel, who was devoutly Jewish, had two young sons: Ben, born in 2009, and Lincoln, born in 2010.

He had separated from his wife, Wendi Adelson, in 2012 and their divorce was finalized in 2013.

Reporting by JEFF TRUESDELL