On the day a girl was going to celebrate her 10th birthday, she was found murdered in her family's apartment in New Mexico by police officers, her dismembered remains wrapped in a burning blanket.
Details of what Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged Thursday in a criminal complaint made public and filed against the girl's mother, her boyfriend and his cousin. The three were arrested late Wednesday night.
Police say the girl, identified Thursday afternoon as Victoria Martens, was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. Early Wednesday morning, police received a call about a disturbance inside a unit at the Arroyo Villas Apartment Complex on Irving Boulevard.
Officers who responded to the address came upon a gruesome crime scene in the bathroom, said Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden.
'This is a horrific tragedy for our community,' Eden told reporters. 'I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.' By Thursday morning, a makeshift shrine for 10-year-old Victoria had emerged underneath a tree at the apartment complex - with relatives and friends leaving flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and lit candles.
Martinez said in a statement the abuse and killing of Victoria Martens 'is unspeakable and justice should come down like a hammer.'
The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.
Gonzales and Kelley have also been charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.
Gonzales, his left eye looking black and swollen, denied having anything to do with Victoria's death as he was led out of the police station in handcuffs late Wednesday as reporters yelled questions at him. He and Martens reportedly had met on a dating site
The victim's mother, with a stitched-up wound above her nose, said nothing as she was led out and placed into the back of a police car.
Police said Kelley was hospitalized late Wednesday and will be booked after she is released. No details were disclosed about why she was hospitalized.
This afternoon, Michelle Martens and Fabian Gonzales made their initial court appearances and were ordered held on $1million bond each. Neither entered a plea.
According to the criminal complaint, Martens made a confession, telling police Gonzales drugged the girl so he could 'calm her down' and have sex with her. She said Kelley held her hand over the child's mouth and she stabbed the girl in the stomach after Gonzales had choked her. The complaint also states that the mother, who also has a younger son, told investigators that Gonzales and Kelley dismembered Victoria.
One of the police officers who arrived at the apartment found the girl's body in a bathroom, rolled up in a blanket that had been set on fire. The officer put it out.
Some of her remains were found in a plastic bag in a hamper near the kitchen, reported The Albuquerque Journal, citing court records.
Albuquerque Public Schools said Thursday that Victoria Martens was a student at Petroglyph Elementary School on Albuquerque's west side.
In a statement, the district said school officials were having hard time wrapping their heads around around the sickening case.
People who knew the slain child said she was well-liked and friendly.
Christine Zamora said she taught Victoria gymnastics every Saturday and that she came to class happy.
Neighbor John Madrid says he often saw the girl at the pool and that she was excited about the start of the new school year.
Fabian Gonzales has an arrest record stretching back to 2004, including a felony child abuse charge, driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. It was unclear whether he was convicted of most charges, but he did plead no contest to a charge of child abandonment.
Kelley's arrest record includes battery, domestic violence and drug charges - most of them dismissed. Online court records show no past criminal history in New Mexico for Martens.
Mugshots of Martens and Gonzales released by police showed them with bruises on their faces. In his statement in the criminal complaint, Gonzales said his cousin hit him and Martens with an iron.
7 окт 2024
