Welcome back, Crime Connoisseurs!! I'm your host, Grace D, and if you haven't listened to part one, be sure to stop now and go give that a listen! To recap from last week, Victoria Martens was a 10-year-old girl who was found, murdered, dismembered, and set on fire in the bathtub of her apartment where she lived with her mother, Michelle, and as of late Michelle's boyfriend, Fabian, and his cousin, Jessica.
Fabian and Jessica have massive rap sheets. The system failed Victoria when Fabian's 2015 plea deal that required supervised probation fell through the cracks, and Jessica was charged with conspiracy instead of sexual assault, so she didn't have to register as a sex offender. Michelle Martens gave a shocking confession to investigators hours after her daughter was murdered and stated how she was rugged, raped, strangled, and then dismembered.
The autopsy report was released in November 2017 and had some contradictions with Michelle's confession she gave to investigators. In 2018, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raul Torrez held a press conference where he informed that much of the information that had been provided simply wasn't true. He dropped several bombshells proving how Michelle and Fabian were not responsible for Victoria's murder and that their cell phone data provided they were not in the area at the time of her death. On top of that, Torrez revealed DNA from a 4tth unidentified male was obtained from Victoria's body.
Michelle Martens made a plea agreement with the DA's office to plead guilty to a lesser charge of reckless child abuse resulting in death. Now, let's jump back in, where we left off last week, shall we!
Much of the original case centered around what Michelle had told police in the days after her daughter's tragic death. Michelle's story changed several times, saying all three took part in drugging, raping, mutilating, and killing Victoria, which wasn't true.
Evidence continuously contradicted the overall narrative Michelle told police about the night her daughter died. Statements bout the part she took in her daughter's death and other information like trafficking Victoria to mean in the past just didn't add up. Evidence was never found to corroborate her claims.
A psychological profile showed Michelle had personality traits that made her susceptible to false confessions. During discussions with an outside medical expert that interviewed Michelle, the doctor determined she made numerous false confessions in the case.
In September 2018, Jessica and the DA's office also made a plea agreement. However, when it was presented before the judge, Judge Charles Brown rejected the deal based on answers Jessica gave during the plea hearing and the charges she would have pleaded to in the agreement. This shocked DA Torrez. Despite the rejection, the investigation and search for the 4th suspect continued.
On January 4, 2019, the rape charges against Jessica Kelley were dropped. They were dropped since forensic experts couldn't support the idea that Victoria was raped by Jessica.
Three days later, the DA's office and Jessica Kelley reached a plea deal. Jessica agreed to plea no contest to charges related to Victoria's death, including reckless child abuse resulting in death. The murder charges against Jessica were also dropped.
Court records show Jessica told investigators she was high on drugs while babysitting Victoria when an unknown male entered the apartment and killed the child. Jessica told investigators she set Victoria's body on fire after she was dead.
As part of the plea deal, Jessica agreed to testify in the trials of Fabian Gonzales and the unidentified fourth suspect when it came time.
In an even more bizarre twist of events, on November 7, 2019, Fabian Gonzales was released on his own recognents until his trial. Judge Brown ruled that prosecutors failed to show Fabian was a danger to the community.
In a September 2020 hearing, Bernalillo (burn-a-leo) County Judge Barela Shepherd determined the city of Albuquerque did not have sufficient notice and dismissed John and Pat's wrongful death suit.
On March 28, 2022, Jessica Kelley was sentenced for her role in Victoria's death. Judge Cindy Leos sentenced Jessica to 50 years in prison with 6 years suspended, ultimately 44 years. Once Jessica is released from prison, she will be on probation for an additional five years.
On July 11, 2022, the trial of Fabian Gonzales began with jury selection. Fabian faces charges of reckless abuse of a child resulting in death, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence.
In the opening statements, both prosecution and the defense mentioned Fabian's cousin, Jessica Kelley. The prosecution argued that Fabian endangered Victoria by taking her from her mother, Michelle Martens. Fabian's lawyers claimed that Jessica killed Victoria.
During the trial, the jurors were shown the bodycam footage from the early morning hours after the murder. On Monday, July 25, 2022, the jurors started their day at the home of Victoria Martens. They were taken through the apartment and into the bathroom. They were there for a little over an hour before returning to the courthouse.
After this, Sgt. Sennett began his testimony and stated, "I eventually found the child. I searched the bedroom for and she was not in there. Then I searched the bathroom and found her in the bathtub. I saw that she was dismembered and that she was on fire."
Now retired APD Sgt Enyart described the things that haunted him from that day for the court. He testified, "One of the things that was really haunting me was that I didn't check for a pulse. Even though I knew she was dead, I didn't make the effort and check for a pulse. So I went back in, and checked for a pulse."
Jessica held up her end of the plea agreement and testified against her cousin. Jessica went into detail about the day Victoria died on August 23, 2016. She told her version of events leading up to the night Victoria was murdered. Fabian was a member of a violent Albuquerque gang, "Thugs Causing Kaos." Jessica told the courtroom Fabian's cousins were yelling "TCK" or "Chaos" at a BBQ.
She said she thought they grew out of it and weren't actively involved in gang activity. Prosecutors go over a fight at the BBQ, where Fabian got his face "split open" by a woman named Amanda. Jessica said there were some scary guys there she didn't know, and "something was about to pop off," and she said it was time to leave the BBQ.
According to court records, Fabian got into a fight with a gang member's pregnant girlfriend at a barbecue on August 21, 2016. The woman beat him up at that barbecue, giving him a black eye. This is where Fabian got his black eye, seen in his arrest photos and mugshot. It was believed at first that he received the black eye from Jessica when she struck him in the head with the iron, but he had already had it.
Documents say Fabin left and later called the woman, threatening to have his brothers retaliate. He also sent her several text messages, threatening her and insinuating he was going to do a drive-by shooting.
The documents show Fabian also contacted two known gang members, even looking for guns. Two days after the fight, Fabian hid at various relatives' houses. He also asked Michelle to go with him and leave Victoria at home with Jessica, who was high on meth then.
Jessica tells the court about an unidentified man entering the apartment through the open door. She said it appeared he knew the apartment and the people living there. As he entered, he asked for Fabian by his street name, "Favo," and she told the man it was just her and the girl there and pointed to the door where Victoria was before stepping outside for a smoke. Jessica said that after this unidentified man left, she quickly checked on Victoria, who didn't have a pulse.
Jessica said the unidentified man told her, "Fabian f****d up," and that "there was mess in there," and said Fabian and her better clean it up or she and her kids would be next. Jessica said she didn't do anything with Victoria, then she threw a blanket over her and walked outside with her in her arms when she heard Fabian pull up. She said she heard him because he was blaring loud music, and he does that when he drinks. Jessica said she put her back in her room because she didn't want it to "blow up and make a crazy situation."
She said she told Fabian that Victoria was dead, and he put Michelle to bed. Jessica detailed how they put trash bags down before they cut Victoria's arms off. She said Fabian was "cutting her in the middle when she returned to the room."
Jessica asked him why he was doing that, and Fabian said, "because we have to make it look like it's not us." She said she told her cousin to leave and she'd finish cleaning up. Then Jessica said she planned to kill Fabian and Michelle with an iron she found and placed on the kitchen table. She said she was going to kill them because she "might as well make it worth it," because "I was already going to go down for murder."
When she set fire to Victoria's body, Jessica said, "It seemed like it got real smokey right away." She testified that she was in the process of taking down fire alarms when the cops showed up, and she shut the door in the officer's face.
When asked why she didn't tell police about the killer, the unidentified man, Jessica said she was trying to protect her cousin. Jessica portrayed Michelle as a negligent mother. She said Michelle didn't care that her daughter was dead. Jessica said she was never told that she would watch Victoria, and she wouldn't have been "tweaking" if she knew.
Jessica admitted she was high on meth on the day Victoria was killed and was paranoid before the incident occurred. She didn't tell her account of events to the police until two years after Victoria's death.
APD Sgt Joshua Brown finished up the second week of trial with his testimony. Sgt Brown was the lead homicide detective when Victoria was killed in 2016. Additionally, Brown conducted the interviews with both Fabian Gonzales and Michelle Martens.
After Sgt Brown concluded his testimony, forensic scientist Jeffrey Smith took the stand regarding more DNA evidence. Smith confirmed that none of the tested knives showed Fabian's DNA. However, Fabian's DNA was found on a mop and two CDs.
In the third week of the trial, Michelle Martens took the stand. While on the stand, Michelle described her relationship with Fabian, saying he was a "good guy" and didn't know he drank or did drugs. She described Fabian's demeanor after getting into a fight at a family barbecue event, which is significant to the case because the state believed the motive for killing Victoria was retaliation for that fight.
Michelle was then asked about the day Victoria was killed. She said Fabian convinced her to leave Victoria at home with his cousin, Jessica Kelley, who was staying with them after she got out of prison. Through tears, Michelle recalled when Jessica told her Victoria was dead while she was in the middle of attacking her with an iron:
Michelle recalled her altercation with Jessica Kelley, the only other person present in the apartment before Victoria was allegedly killed by an unidentified man. Michelle described the incident with Jessica. Michelle testified, "where the f*** is my daughter? And she still didn't answer me, she started beating me up again."
Michelle told the court she was struck with an iron by Jessica, then she told the court how she found out her daughter was dead. "Right by the door, I had a picture frame and she hit me with the picture frame – and I eventually made my way out of the door and squashed her hand in the door and she let go of my hair and she said, 'By the way your daughter is dead.'" Michelle waved goodbye to her parents sitting in the courtroom as she was taken back to jail following the testimony.
The prosecution rested its case against Fabian Gonzales on Thursday, and the defense rested its case the next day, leading to the closing arguments. After three weeks of trial, closing arguments were conducted.
Prosecutors began closing arguments by arguing that Fabian Gonzales was the reason for Victoria Martens' death. Through nearly two hours of discussing the case, prosecutors reminded jurors several times of the theory that Fabian took over Michelle Martens' life. Prosecutor Greer Staley said, "The defendant set the stage for Victoria's death to occur, and he turned her home into a dangerous place. The reason anyone was in a position to kill Victoria was because of this defendant."
The abuse charge Fabian faced was based in part on the environment he created when he moved into Michelle's apartment. Fabian and Michelle only dated for a month before Victoria's death. He had moved into the apartment shortly after they began dating in July/August of 2016.
Staley said, "Before the defendant came into Victoria's life, her situation was pretty normal. We had emergency contacts on the fridge, some drawings, little things that were brought with her name on it, mother's name, we have collages in the apartment her mother put together, food in the fridge, appropriate, a nice apartment, very clean."
Staley described a defense witnesses testimony, where a former neighbor, Amanda Wilson, said Victoria looked "hungover" in the two weeks leading up to her murder. Wilson also said Victoria looked "disheveled" at the bus stop.
"Her world was changing, as soon as he set foot in her apartment. The defendant came over and took over Michelle's car, her apartment, you heard witnesses talk about the increase in foot traffic throughout the day when Michelle was at work," Staley continued.
On the day Victoria was killed, Michelle ran around town with Fabian making multiple trips to his brother's and uncle's houses. Prosecutors alleged Fabian was getting drugs during those outings.
Meanwhile, at 4pm on the day of Victoria's death, no one picked the little girl up from the bus stop. A neighbor eventually brought Victoria home. She remained almost entirely in Jessica Kelley's care through her death as Fabian and Michelle continued to make multiple trips to and from the apartment.
Prosecutors allege that after Fabian got into an altercation at a BBQ party two days before Victoria's death, he sought to retaliate against a cousin who gave him a black eye. Presenting evidence of text messages sent by Fabian to the cousin he fought with, prosecutors say it was a serious situation.
When Victoria was killed, prosecutors say an unknown man came into the Martens' apartment, asked for "Fabo," then walked to Victoria's room, strangling the girl to death. Jessica Kelley, who was high on meth, was the only other adult in the home when it happened.
The prosecution called for guilty charges on all nine charges against Fabian, including tampering with evidence and reckless child abuse resulting in death. On August 1, 2022, after roughly 2.5 hours of deliberation, the jury reached a verdict. Fabian Gonzales was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, one count of reckless child abuse that resulted in death, and seven counts of tampering with evidence.
On October 27, 2022, Judge Leos sentenced Fabian Gonzales to 37.5 years in prison for his role in Victoria's murder. The sentence came after a two-hour-long hearing that included statements from prosecutors and the defense.
Judge Leos declined to sentence Fabian as a serious violent offender because he wasn't present for Victoria's murder. If she had, it would have mandated that Fabian serve 85% of his sentence. Instead, he will be eligible for parole after serving half of his time.
On November 10, 2022, Judge Leos sentenced Michelle Martens for her role in her daughter's death. Michelle received a 12-year sentence in the New Mexico Department of Corrections, with 6 years of credit for time served before sentencing. Meaning Michelle will finish her prison sentence in 2028.
Michelle is also eligible for good-time credit, which could cut her remaining time in half, so she could be out in 2025.
Michelle was the last of the trio to be sentenced, but police are still looking for the fourth suspect, the unidentified male whose DNA was found on Victoria. This John Doe is the only person charged with Victoria's murder.
Jason Oetting spoke out about the case, saying he and Matthew are doing their best to move forward. They loved Victoria, and Matthew prays every night for her and asks the church to pray for his late big sister. Jason said in a statement that Michelle had "never been a monster; she got mixed up with the worst kind of people, and that contributed to a downward spiral from what we can tell."
This case is a heartbreaker. So many times, things could have gone any other way if the systems set in place had worked properly. I'm torn on the deals and sentencings too. Even though Michelle and Fabian were not home during the murder, they gave statements to investigators hours after the murder, and both made claims about the dismemberment of Victoria that led me to believe they knew something more than they were recounting.
And that's the case of Victoria Martens. Victoria was a fourth grader who attended Petroglyph (petro-gliff) Elementary School. She was a bright, fun-loving child with the world at her fingertips. She loved to swim, do gymnastics, and play with her friends. Her favorite color was purple, and she loved her younger half-brother, Matthew.
You can subscribe and download Crime Connoisseurs wherever you listen to your podcasts, and be sure to follow on Instagram and Facebook at Crime Connoisseurs. In the meantime, keep it classy, connoisseurs, and I'll catch ya on the next case.