A murder case has taken a deeply uncomfortable turn as police in Utah continue to investigate the tragic death of one of their own on August 1.
Marbella Martinez, 25, was less than six months from being sworn in by the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office as a corrections officer when her body was found on August 1 inside the home she shared with her father.
After a month of investigating the death they deemed “suspicious,” the Tooele City Police Department filed multiple charges on September 6 against the victim’s father, Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala, 54, per People.
These include murder, two counts of obstruction of justice, stalking a cohabitant, unlawful possession of a financial transaction card, and unlawful possession of another person’s identifying documents.
Some of these charges stem from their belief that he has since fled the country.
On July 31, Marbella returned to the home she shared with her father at around 11 a.m., per KSL. She was last seen on interior cameras around 12:23 p.m. Less than two hours later, at 2:17 p.m., Hector returned home.
According to prosecutors, footage recorded after Hector’s return to the house “was deleted or never existed because of the disabling of cameras after his arrival.” Investigators believe he strangled her upon returning to his home.
KTVX reports that police were responding to a welfare check at the home on August 1 at approximately 8 a.m. when they discovered Marbella’s body. Per KSL, she was found on her bed with “apparent fingernail claw marks” on her face and neck.
Uncovered in the investigation, per the AP, is a text message Hector allegedly sent to his brother just after 4:30 p.m. on July 31 — two hours after footage shows him returning home — where he confessed he’d made “a big mistake.”
“My brother, you know [how] much I love you, I made a big mistake, an unforgivable sin, now I’m too scared and I don’t know what to do,” he wrote, per the charging documents seen by The Associated Press. “I think I will never come back.”
Police believe that Hector attempted to dispose of his daughter’s phone on his way to the Salt Lake City airport, per the AP, as her phone was recovered alongside I-80 between the house and the airport. He also allegedly used Marbella’s bank card to withdraw money from her account before leaving the country, according to the charging documents.
By tracking his cell phone, investigators were able to see Hector’s alleged travel, first to San Francisco and then next to Houston. At this point, his phone records stopped, making them believe he’d made his way out of the country.
Investigators allege that Hector used his twin brother’s identification pass through customs of an undisclosed country.
Prosecutors are further alleging that Hector’s behavior in relation to his daughter was not at all in line with their actual relationship.
The charging documents allege that Hector “was becoming increasingly troublesome” as he appeared to become “obsessed and controlling” with Marbella. Prosecutors argued that “text messages from the defendant to the victim are more of the nature of a jealous lover than a father.”
The prosecution is alleging that Hector engaged in months of stalking behavior before Marbella’s murder. In February, Marbella found a bag of her underwear in his room, per the court documents.
Prosecutors further claim that Hector put a tracking device on her vehicle while she was out of the country in July and placed “hidden spy cameras” in their home.
He allegedly used this to track her to a hiking area just two days before her death, where he found her with “her romantic interest,” per the court filings.
After months of alleged disconcerting behavior, and this final encounter after her vehicle had been tracked, authorities report Marbella did not return home, instead moving into a hotel for a few days.
