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Police: Mother Helped Boyfriend Rape, Murder, Dismember Her Daughter, 10

Posted on | September 16, 2016 | 2 Comments

Victoria Martens, 10, was murdered Aug. 23.

Details of the grisly murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens have shocked Albuquerque, N.M. Police say the girl was drugged, raped and murdered last month, a crime that Police Chief Gorden Eden called “the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career.” The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, 35, was arrested along with her boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, 31, and Gonzales’ cousin Jessica Kelley, also 31. Gonzales has a lengthy criminal history — including charges of domestic violence — and was on probation at the time of the murder. Kelley, who had previously been convicted as accessory in another woman’s rape, had just been released from prison days before the girl was murdered.

Left to right: Michelle Martens, Fabian Gonzales, Jessica Kelley.

“I think the crimes that are detailed in this criminal complaint . . . display a depth of depravity that is unfathomable to me,” Judge Chris Schultz said at an Aug. 27 hearing where he set Kelley’s bail at $1 million. “I’ve been involved in the criminal law for over 30 years and this is the most inhumane case I think I’ve come across.”

Martens and Gonzales met on a dating website about a month before Victoria was murdered, according to Albuquerque police:

Martens told investigators that she watched as Gonzales and Kelley injected Victoria with methamphetamine “to calm her down” so they could both sexually assault her. She said Gonzales then strangled her and Kelley stabbed her.
The two of them dismembered the girl’s body, according to Martens’ statement to police. . . .
Albuquerque police spokesman Tanner Tixier choked up as he said the girl’s body was so mutilated that investigators are not sure how she died. . . .
He asked the public to keep the first responders in their thoughts.
“What these gentlemen and women saw, no human being should ever have to see,” Tixier said outside the main police station downtown [Aug. 24]. Another officer cried behind Tixier as he addressed a group of reporters.

Adding to the horror were new details of the case reported this week:

The violent sexual attack that ended Victoria Martens’ life apparently was not the first time she was raped.
The 10-year-old’s mother, Michelle Martens, told police she had allowed other men to sexually assault her daughter and said she had sought out the men online and at work. She told police she had set up encounters with at least three.
One of them was a co-worker. Two others she met online, including Fabian Gonzales, 31. . . .
Martens, 35, told police she didn’t do it for the money. She set up the sexual assaults because she enjoyed watching.
Martens’ statement to police is included in nearly a dozen search warrants obtained by the [Albuquerque] Journal. . . .
Martens told police she used the dating website Plenty of Fish to look for men to have sex with Victoria and possibly Victoria’s younger sibling, according to the records.
“Michelle said ‘yeah’ when asked if she would agree with them over the internet or over the phone that they would come over and have sex with her children,” an investigator wrote in one of the documents.
It’s unclear how long she’d been arranging meetings before Victoria was killed or if police have identified any of those men. . . .
Martens said she watched Kelley hold Victoria down while Gonzales raped and strangled her. Kelley then stabbed her, and she and Gonzales dismembered her body and set her on fire in the bathtub, according to the court records. . . .
Investigators are looking into whether Martens ever videotaped or photographed the sexual assaults. They seized a camcorder and nine minidiscs, five smartphones, a thumb drive, iPod, cellphone, tablet and Kindle.
“In my training and experience, those who are interested in the sexual exploitation of children are also interested in exploiting images of children for sexual gratification,” an officer wrote in one of the search warrant affidavits.
Investigators are looking at the phones to see with whom Martens communicated prior to her daughter’s death.

The three suspects are scheduled to appear at a court hearing today, facing charges that include first-degree murder.

 

Category: Crime, New Mexico

Comments

2 Responses to “Police: Mother Helped Boyfriend Rape, Murder, Dismember Her Daughter, 10”

  1. Crackhead Stripper Mom Says: ‘I’ve Made a Lot of Bad Decisions in My Life’ : The Other McCain
    September 16th, 2016 @ 3:18 pm

    […] Sept. 16: Police: Mother Helped Boyfriend Rape, Murder, Dismember Her Daughter, 10 […]

  2. News of the Week (September 19th, 2016) | The Political Hat
    September 19th, 2016 @ 10:25 pm

    […] Police: Mother Helped Boyfriend Rape, Murder, Dismember Her Daughter, 10 Details of the grisly murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens have shocked Albuquerque, N.M. Police say the girl was drugged, raped and murdered last month, a crime that Police Chief Gorden Eden called “the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career.” The girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, 35, was arrested along with her boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, 31, and Gonzales’ cousin Jessica Kelley, also 31. Gonzales has a lengthy criminal history – including charges of domestic violence – and was on probation at the time of the murder. Kelley, who had previously been convicted as accessory in another woman’s rape, had just been released from prison days before the girl was murdered. […]