Murder In America - EP. 202: NEW MEXICO - MURDERED ON HER 10TH BIRTHDAY: The Story of Victoria Martens

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

In today’s episode, we explore an absolutely heinous crime committed by a mother, her boyfriend and his cousin in 2016, and hopefully raise awareness so that they can finally find the missing perpetrator. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. have been warned. Our story begins in the early morning hours of August 24th, 2016. The police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, were responding to a call about a domestic dispute at an apartment complex. When they finally arrived and entered apartment 808,

they couldn't help but notice the smoke that filled the unit and the smell that came with it. The fire alarms were blaring as they made their way towards the source of that smoke, and soon enough, they were led to a bathroom. But they had absolutely no idea the nightmare they were about to uncover. As it turns out, this was far more

than a domestic dispute. As the officers opened up that door, they saw a body in the bathtub. The victim had been dismembered. Their organs had been removed and they had been set on fire. But almost immediately, the officers noted how small the victim was.

As it turns out, the body in the bathtub was that of 10-year-old Victoria Martins. She had been killed on her 10th birthday. But the story of how she got into that bathtub was even more devastating than the scene in front of them. For Victoria's 10th birthday, instead of playing with her friends,

she spent the day with meth users. Instead of opening presents, Victoria was raped inside of her bedroom. And instead of eating cake surrounded by her loved ones, Victoria was murdered, dismembered, and set on fire. Major trigger warning for this episode, as it is truly one of the most

disturbing cases I have ever heard in my entire life. But this is the story of Victoria Martins. I'm Courtney Browne. And I'm Colin Brown. And you're listening to Murder in America. It's August of 2006 in Albuquerque, New Mexico,

and 25-year-old Michelle Martins is just weeks away from giving birth. But if you were to have asked her, she would have denied being pregnant at all. For whatever reason, Michelle wouldn't acknowledge the fact that she was with child. Maybe it's because the baby's father wasn't in her life. Or maybe she just wasn't ready to become a mom. But Michelle wouldn't be able to deny it forever.

As on August 23, 2006, she started having contractions. And while she was at her house, all by herself, Michelle delivered a beautiful little girl named Victoria. Michelle called her her miracle child because despite not going to an OBGYN or taking prenatal vitamins, Victoria still came out as healthy as could be. However, things weren't always easy for them. According to Michelle, Victoria's father wanted nothing to do with his daughter. So they were all on their own. Now, Michelle was born in 1981 and she was described as having a low IQ and was known to be extremely trusting and vulnerable.

Originally from New York, Michelle moved to Texas before eventually settling in New Mexico. But luckily for her, she did have the help of her parents, which she was really grateful for, given she was a single mother. By the time Victoria was two years old, her mother Michelle started dating someone. Now, we don't know his name, but in 2008, they found out they were pregnant. And later that year, Michelle would give birth to a son named Matthew, Victoria's half-brother. Now, Michelle was actually with this man for years. He was in Victoria's life from age two to nine, so he was like a father figure to her.

And these years seemed to be the best of Victoria's life. They were a family. But in 2015, Michelle and her boyfriend decided to part ways, ending their seven-year relationship. Now, Matthew continued to have a relationship with his dad, but it was a big adjustment for them. At the time, Michelle, 9-year-old Victoria and 7-year-old Matthew were living at the Aurora Villa apartment complex on the west side of Albuquerque. And from the outside looking in, they appeared to be a normal family. In 2015, Victoria was going to school at Petroglyph Elementary School. And according to the people who knew her, she never met a stranger.

Victoria was the type of girl that could walk up and start a conversation with anyone. She was very social and a natural at making new friends. She was also a very energetic child. According to her family, she loved being outside. Whether it was rollerblading, swimming with her little brother, riding around on her scooter, or just watching butterflies. Victoria could always be seen with a smile and a beautiful smile at that. When you look at pictures of her, you can just tell that she brought people joy,

that her laugh was infectious. And like many girls her age, she was exploring her interests. At the time, she had really been loving gymnastics. She was good at drawing, and she loved anything sparkly and purple. Her family called her Queen Victoria, and they said, quote, she could light up a room with all of her glowing laughter and the cute smirk she would give you, end quote. And up until this point, Victoria seemed to have a pretty decent life. Things weren't always easy, but she and her brother had a roof over their heads, food on the table, and family members who loved them.

She was cared for, but all of that would begin to change in 2016. That year, Michelle started dating a man named David Hernandez, and over the course of a few months, he started spending a lot of time with Michelle and her children. Now, we don't know if Michelle knew about her new boyfriend's criminal record, but a few years prior, in May of 2013, David had been driving around when he spotted a four-year-old girl in a parking lot, and at that moment, he decided to kidnap her. David snatched the little girl up and sped off down the road. But luckily, the police were nearby. They ended up catching up to him, but David didn't pull over.

He continued running from the police until he ultimately crashed his vehicle. Now, following this, he ended up getting charged with kidnapping, child abuse, and auto theft. But surprisingly, he was never actually convicted of anything. Apparently, about a month after the incident, the charges were dropped after the four-year-old girl and her family moved out of state. And I guess because they weren't going to testify against him, David Hernandez walked free. But a few years after this incident, Michelle Martens crossed paths with this man, and they started dating. Now again, he was never convicted of anything, so maybe Michelle didn't know what he was capable of. However, she would soon find out.

In early 2016, Michelle had left her nine-year-old daughter alone with David at their apartment. And it was during this time when David tried to make a move on Victoria. He was trying to kiss her, even going as far as cornering her in the apartment. But Victoria refused. Now, following this, she would actually tell a family friend about what happened. And on March 28, 2016, that friend submitted an anonymous tip to the New Mexico Children, youth and family department, otherwise known as CYFD. Now, I didn't realize this was a thing, but apparently, since the tip wasn't submitted by

the parent, guardian, or custodian living inside the house, the case was out of CYFD's jurisdiction. So after receiving this tip, they sent it over to the Albuquerque Police Department. However, when APD reviewed the case, they didn't think it was a big deal. APD spokesperson Officer Fred Duren explained, quote, Unfortunately, somebody attempting to do something such as kissing the child is not a crime. It has to be some sort of contact or there has to be more to it before it's considered a crime under New Mexico state law, end quote. Now keep in mind, APD was the very department who had arrested David Hernandez,

for kidnapping that little girl in 2013. So if they would have just looked into it, they would have seen just how dangerous this man was. She did what she could as a small child to tell adults help. She basically said, help me. Adult man kissing a young girl, and that's dismissed, is not important to investigate? I mean, to me, that's shocking.

But then if you go further and know what they knew in their own files, they would have been able to connect it and say, this guy is a pedophile. Now, according to the family friend who sent in the tip, when Michelle found out that David had tried to kiss Victoria, she immediately broke things off with him and she kicked him out of the apartment. But besides that, no one from law enforcement or any family services came in to help or to make sure Victoria was okay. And this wasn't the only time that someone had sent in a tip about the well-being of Michelle's children.

In fact, on March 14, 2015, about two weeks before the tip about David was sent in, someone else had called a child abuse hotline to report that both Victoria and her brother Matthew had poor hygiene, dirty clothes, and that they had been improperly disciplined by a grandparent. Now, this report also said that Michelle and a grandparent consumed alcohol while caring for the children. Once again, the report was handed over to the Albuquerque Police Department, but this time they actually looked into it. According to APD, they went to the children's school and separately interviewed both Victoria and Matthew. And during their interviews, they found no signs of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.

There were no bruises, no dirty clothes, and the children appeared to be clean and well taken care of. Interestingly, in the following year in 2016, Michelle Martens actually made two reports to the child abuse hotline about her own son, Matthew. In those reports, she alleged that while under the care of Matthew's father, he was left with an unknown babysitter and that he had poor hygiene. Once again, APD went to their school to interview him, but they found no evidence of abuse. The official report stated, in the course of three investigations, both Victoria and her sibling were interviewed at school and at home. Each child was interviewed separately from their sibling, and all interviews of the children were conducted outside the presence of Michelle Martens and the sibling's biological father. Both children were asked questions about physical and sexual abuse, and neither child made any disclosures of physical or sexual abuse in any of the three investigations. So, based on these reports, there did seem to be some instability within their family, but nothing serious enough to remove Victoria and Matthew from their home.

A later internal review would claim that CYFD investigated the claims thoroughly and in accordance with state policy and procedure. Now, in the summer of 2016, it looked like things were looking up for Michelle Martens. She had even got a new job in the deli at Smith's grocery store. And before they hired her, they made Michelle take a drug test, which she passed. So from the outside looking in, Michelle appeared to be working hard. She was trying to be a good mom. On the fridge in her apartment, she had all of Victoria's drawings proudly displayed. She had all of her emergency contact phone numbers.

Michelle's parents, John and Pat Martins, were really proud of their daughter. Life hadn't always been easy, but she was working hard to give her children a good life. On the 4th of July, the entire family got together at the pool and spent the day swimming, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, and just enjoying each other's company. But little did they know their life was about to change forever, when another man entered into Michelle's life. Now, like we mentioned, Michelle broke up with her previous boyfriend David Hernandez after he had tried to kiss her nine-year-old daughter.

But after their breakup, she was longing for some companionship. So in the summer of 2016, Michelle visited the online dating website called Glini a Fish. Their website reads, quote, We are committed to help ensure that you feel welcomed, safe, and free to be yourself, while online dating. So that night, Michelle started scrolling, looking through all of the eligible men in her area. And eventually, she came across the profile of Fabian Gonzalez. He was 31 years old, Hispanic. He had children of his own. And after looking through his pictures, Michelle thought he was attractive. So that night, the two started a conversation on the dating website. And before they knew it,

they had plans to meet up in person. Now, one would think that after what happened with her previous boyfriend, the Michelle would be a little apprehensive about bringing new men around her children, but that wasn't the case. In fact, after just a couple weeks of dating, Fabian moved into their apartment. Michelle must have known that her family wouldn't approve of this because she kept her new relationship a secret, which, according to Michelle, was Fabian's idea. But that summer, there was one instance where Michelle's parents came over unannounced while Fabian was in the apartment. When Michelle looked through the peephole and saw her parents at the door, she rushed Fabian over to her bedroom and made him hide in a closet until her parents left. Maybe she knew that her parents

wouldn't approve of him. Or maybe she was scared that they'd look into his criminal record, because, of course, Fabian Gonzalez was also a criminal. His rap sheet dated all the way back to 2004 and included charges of felony child abuse, battery involving great bodily harm, driving while intoxicated, and resisting arrest. In August of 2014, Fabian was charged with assaulting his girlfriend as she drove with their young child in the back seat. In February of 2015, Fabian pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges and received two years supervised probation under the New Mexico Department of Corrections. Now under the conditions of his probation, Fabian was ordered to go to counseling, he was supposed to have random drug and alcohol testing,

and supervised home visits. And I'm sure at first, when Fabian was put on probation, he followed the rules. But months and months would pass, and no one ever came checking on him. No random visits, no drug tests, or anything. By 2016, he had been on probation for an entire year with no visits from his parole officer. Now the Department of Corrections would later be confronted about this, and they said that they never received any documentation that he was required to be supervised. So for that whole year they were supposed to be keeping an eye on him. They weren't. Alex Sanchez, the New Mexico Department of Corrections Deputy Secretary of Administration told

KRQE in August 2016, we were not aware of this plea agreement until this morning it came to our attention. We never received the documentation to say, he had entered into this agreement. So after a year of this, Fabian realized that he was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted. He was able to move from home to home without checking in with anyone,

and he was free to use drugs, his favorite being methamphetamine. Now Fabian would later say that upon moving in with Michelle, things were going fine, and luckily for him, he was being spoiled by his new girlfriend. Not only did he have a place to live, but Michelle let him be. use her car whenever he wanted, her cell phone, and she allowed him to smoke meth in her apartment.

And during the few weeks they had been dating, Fabian also seemed to get along with Michelle's children. Fabian would later say of 9-year-old Victoria, quote, she loved me, you know. She was, Hey, Fabian, and we'd always smile. Victoria is real active. She's cool, you know what I mean? She's all grown up, you know, for her age, end quote. And it seemed like Victoria liked him as well. After a few days of living there, he even gave Victoria a kitten, which clearly won her over. One day Victoria even sat down and wrote Fabian a letter that read, quote, I like you because you are funny.

I really like you. We were supposed to go to the zoo today, and I just like you." So on the surface it seemed like everything was fine here, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. You see, while Michelle was at work and the children were at school, Fabian would invite friends over to their apartment and they would all smoke meth together. So the company he was bringing around was not the best. Victoria and her little brother Matthew would come home from school to drug paraphernalia lying around. And Michelle, having only known this man for a couple of weeks, allowed it. Eventually, she even started using the drugs herself, and from there,

everything began to fall apart. But things would get exponentially worse when a woman named Jessica Kelly came into the picture. Thirty-one-year-old Jessica Kelly was actually Fabian's cousin, and on August 15, 2016, she was released from prison. Now, like many people on the story, Jessica had a long rap sheet. Her convictions included two felony charges of trafficking controlled substances, DWI, assault upon a peace officer, resisting arrest, and conspiracy to commit criminal sexual penetration. She got that while in prison where she was apparently planning to sexually assault a female inmate. So, a real stand-up citizen here. But by 2016, Jessica had been in and out of prison for over a decade, and now she was free. Like her cousin Fabian, Jessica was also

a methamphetamine user. And despite being on probation, she and Fabian reconnected and celebrated her release by smoking a bunch of meth together. On August 18th during one of their meth hangouts, Jessica told Fabian that she was struggling. After her release from prison, she didn't have a place to live. None of her family members would let her move in because she was still actively using drugs. So at that moment, Fabian invited Jessica to come live with him at Michelle's apartment. The apartment that he had just moved into himself, where Michelle lived with her two young children. Now, I'm not sure if Michelle was in on this plan or if he just invited his cousin without her permission, but Michelle would later allow Jessica to move in, so she had to have been okay with it.

Fabian told Jessica that she only had to pay them $50 a month to live there. there. However, Michelle never knew about this payment. Fabian was apparently just pocketing that money for himself. But soon enough, Michelle and her children, just nine and seven years old, had two criminal meth users that they didn't even know living with them. On August 21st, 2016, Jessica Kelly's loved ones decided to throw a huge family barbecue for her to celebrate her release from prison. But the family made sure not to invite Fabian. You see, Over the years, he had been a problem at these family get-togethers. He was known to have a volatile temper.

He had even threatened some family members in the past, so they chose not to invite him. But when Fabian found out about this, he was furious, and he decided that he was going to show up anyway. That evening, everyone was drinking and having a good time at the barbecue when all of a sudden, Fabian showed up. He was clearly angry about not being invited, so they confronted him and asked him to leave. but immediately upon doing so, a fight ensued. And Fabian ended up fighting a pregnant woman who punched him so hard he got a black eye. Following this fight, he was even angrier than he was before. And as he left the house, he screamed out that he was going to come back with his brothers.

Now, according to court documents, Fabian's brothers were founding members of the T.C. gang in New Mexico, a gang that has had an extremely violent homicidal history. And apparently Fabian and his brothers were still active in the gang. So, after he threatened to bring his brothers to the barbecue, the family was worried. They even put some armed men outside to guard the doors just in case he came back. Now, throughout that entire night, Fabian kept texting his family at the barbecue, threatening them. And they had every right to be frightened because cell phone records would later show that Fabian called his brothers over 20 times that evening.

He was also researching gun purchases. But luckily, Fabian never came back to the family barbecue that night. However, I think the story goes to show just how dangerous he was, how volatile. And this is the man that Michelle Martens chose to have a relationship with, the man she let move into her home. Hey, everybody, Courtney and I have a favor to ask of you. If you love murder in America, you love our show. Please leave us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts,

whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify. If you love our show and you want to help us grow, definitely consider leaving us a five-star review. Also, it helps the show so much when people share out links to our program. So if you're listening and you're loving what we're doing here, share us on your Instagram story, shout us out on X, post one of our shows on your Facebook, and let the world, your friends, your family know that you're listening to Murder in America. It seriously helps us so much. It helps us grow the show. We couldn't do this without all of you listening at home. Seriously, thank y'all.

But let's get back to the story. Now, even though Fabian had this beef with his family members, he and his cousin Jessica were still on good terms. She was still living with him in Michelle's apartment. And like Fabian, she too started taking advantage of Michelle. Within two days of living there, Jessica invited her two teenage kids to come over and stay the night. Another night that week,

Jessica invited Amanda come over, And while everyone was sleeping, Jessica had sex with this man in the living room, right outside of 9-year-old Victoria's bedroom. Now, during the day, Jessica also took Michelle's car to go run errands around town. And keep in mind, they had only known each other for a few days. That week, Michelle had also taken Jessica and Fabian to this casino in town. It was around midnight on a school night, but Victoria was in the car with them. While Michelle and Victoria were in the car in the casino parking lot, Fabian and Jessica decided to break into some cars. Eventually, a security guard approached them, so they quickly ran back to the car where Michelle and Victoria were waiting for them, and from there they made their way back home.

But as you can see, Michelle knew that Fabian and Jessica were bad news, yet she continued to hang out with them. She continued to let them stay at her apartment. And during that time, Fabian and Jessica were doing a lot of meth together. right there in the apartment with Michelle's young children. However, the meth was making Jessica extremely paranoid. On the night of August 22nd, Jessica even went into Michelle's bedroom and woke Fabian up. She asked him if he would read the Bible with her because she was so scared, but it didn't seem to help because the following day was August 23rd,

a day that would change everything. This was also a very special day, as it was Victoria Martin's 10th birthday. That morning she woke up, got on her school bus, and made her way over to her elementary school, which ended up being the best thing for her, because that day, her mother Michelle was too busy smoking meth to celebrate. While Victoria was at school, Michelle and Fabian went to their local drug dealer to pick up some more meth. They had smoked the last of their supply that morning, so they needed more. At around noon, Fabian and Michelle would make their way back home. home. But when they walked through the doors, Jessica was there acting very strange. She kept looking

out the windows. Her eyes would dart to the front door. She even thought that the TV was sending her subliminal messages. After smoking meth that day, she was very paranoid. Now, after spending a few hours at home, Fabian and Michelle decided to leave the apartment again to go get some alcohol. But based on Jessica's behavior. They were very concerned about her. At 2.33 p.m., Michelle even texted her friend and asked if she could go over to check on Jessica. She clearly wasn't doing well, which is why this next part is mind-boggling. While Michelle and Fabian were running around getting drugs and alcohol, Michelle realized that Victoria needed to be picked up from the bus stop soon. After running around doing meth all day, she had completely forgotten about it. She had completely

forgotten about it. So in that moment, she texted her mother, Pat, and asked if she could get Victoria. Fabian offered up another solution. He told Michelle that Jessica could go pick her up. Now, like we mentioned, Jessica had been doing meth all day, and she was visibly paranoid. So at first, Michelle wasn't sure if that was a good idea. However, Fabian convinced her otherwise. He told her, don't worry, Jessica will pick her up, and she can watch her at the apartment until we get back. And for whatever reason, Michelle agreed. She quickly texted her mother, quote, never mind, I got it. And in her mind, her kid's child care for the day had been taken care of. Her son Matthew was staying at his father's house, and Victoria would be in Jessica's care.

It had all perfectly fallen into place for her. She and Fabian could now spend the day together getting high, without having to worry about watching her daughter. Sadly, Michelle didn't even take into account that it was Victoria's birthday. Now, believe it or not, Michelle's mother, Pat, had actually been calling Michelle that entire afternoon. She saw Michelle's text about picking up Victoria from the bus stop and she was willing to do it. But Michelle wasn't answering her phone calls. So it's not like Jessica was the only person who could have picked Victoria up that day. Michelle's mom easily could have too.

But they decided to give that responsibility to Jessica instead, which is called. crazy because not only had Jessica been smoking meth, but they had both seen how paranoid she had been that day. And still, they decided to leave a 10-year-old in her care. At 3 p.m., Michelle and Fabian made a trip to the liquor store. From there, they went to a friend's house, and while they were there, Michelle sent a text to Jessica. Hey, remember to pick up Victoria from the bus stop. But Jessica didn't respond to her text, so a few minutes later, she sent another text. Did you pick her up?

But again, no answer. Jessica had been too paranoid to check her texts. Back in the apartment, she even decided to keep the apartment's front door open, so if someone started walking up the stairs, she would be able to see them. Clearly, Jessica was spiraling. Victoria was at her elementary school and joined the last little bit of her school day. The first part of Victoria's 10th birthday had been great. Her teachers and classmates all celebrated her by eating cupcakes and singing her happy birthday.

She had spent the day running around with her friends, laughing and smiling like she always did. Now her family would be getting together the following day for her birthday party, but today was her actual birthday. And I'm sure she expected to come home and feel celebrated. Maybe her mom would play with her. Victoria's favorite thing to do was draw or rollerblade, So maybe she would get to do that with her mother. However, when she arrived at her bus stop around 4 p.m., no one was there to pick her up.

Not her mom, not her grandma, not even Jessica. So Victoria waited there. Eventually, a neighbor spotted her sitting there all by herself, so they offered to walk her home. And at 4.25 p.m., Victoria finally arrived at her apartment. But she was not greeted with a warm birthday welcome. When she walked through the doors, the only person there was Jessica. Now, the neighbor who walked Victoria home that day saw Jessica sitting in the house,

and immediately she was concerned. She even texted Michelle and said, Hey, Victoria's trying to get in touch with you. I walked her home today and I noticed there's a woman in your apartment that I've never seen before. Clearly, even the neighbor was worried about leaving Victoria alone with this woman. At 5 p.m., Victoria spoke to her grandparents over the phone. John and Pat Martins had called to wish her a happy birthday, and according to them, Victoria sounded happy.

She told them all about how her day went, how she ate cupcakes with her class and how they sang her happy birthday. Then from there they told her they loved her, and the call ended. They had no idea that that would be the very last conversation they would ever have with their granddaughter. A few minutes after hanging up the phone, Fabian and Michelle finally returned. back to the apartment. I'm sure Victoria was happy to see her mother. But sadly, after just a few minutes of being there, they left again to go pick up drugs. And this time, they were gone for about

an hour. Now inside the apartment, Victoria walked over to Jessica and said, did you know it's my 10th birthday? Jessica would later say that she felt bad for Victoria. No one had celebrated her. Her own mother had only been home a couple of minutes before leaving. So Jessica pulled out her wallet, and she wallet and gave Victoria $45, which is like a million dollars to a 10-year-old. However, that two would soon be taken away from her. When Michelle and Fabian finally came back to the apartment, Victoria ran over to her mother and showed her the $45. But from there, Fabian pulled Victoria into the bathroom and closed the door. Reportedly, they were in there for about 15 minutes. And During that time, Fabian had taken her birthday money away from her. From there, he and Michelle

would leave the apartment again, and he used Victoria's birthday money to buy himself some vodka. Now, back inside the apartment, Jessica decides to call her sister Crystal, who was in prison. When Crystal answered the phone from prison, she could immediately tell that something was wrong with her. Jessica started talking about how she was being followed by an ex-boyfriend who went by the name of Sinner. Jessica said that there was a car in the parking lot that kept circling around and how she figured it was Sinner. She also said that Sinner had planted some books in her bedroom.

But as she's saying all of this, her sister knows that she has to be on drugs. Crystal even tells her, you're smoking too much meth and you're just tweaking out, which was true. But as it turns out, this ex-boyfriend of hers named Sinner, was actually in prison at the time, so he clearly couldn't have been following her. Now, once Jessica got off the phone, she looked out of the window and saw Victoria riding around on her scooter, talking to a neighbor. That neighbor was named Sabrina, and she would later say that Victoria came up to her

and started talking about a new kitten she had just adopted. Victoria wanted to run inside and show her the kitten. But as Victoria was talking, Jessica ran over, and started talking over Victoria. Sabrina said it was the strangest thing. It was almost like she didn't want Victoria to talk. Jessica also mentioned something about giving her $45, and then Sabrina watched as Jessica aggressively yanked Victoria inside the apartment.

And sadly, that would be the very last time Victoria Martens was ever seen alive. Early that next morning at 4.30 a.m., August 24th, there was some commotion outside the Arroyo Villa's apartment complex. Michelle Martin's neighbors opened up their front door, and there they saw Michelle with a huge bloody gash on her forehead. Standing next to her was her boyfriend Fabian. The couple told their neighbors that their roommate, Jessica Kelly, had attacked them with a tire iron. Even worse, Michelle's daughter, Victoria, was still inside the apartment with Jessica. So from here, they called 911. Here's that 911 call, but it's a little hard to hear.

And the guy is at our door, saying he got beat at three. What's happening? I'm sorry? Is it a male or a female that he's fighting with? There's two. No, like that. Oh, and a house. I don't know, but this girl's beating me, guys.

There's a little girl outside the house. How old? How old is your daughter? 10. Oh, yeah. She's 10. Is she awake? Does it know.

when the Albuquerque police department arrived on scene, they saw Fabian and Michelle outside in the apartment's courtyard. And it's here where they were informed that Jessica, who was responsible for the attack, was still inside. So the police began yelling out to Jessica, ordering her to come out, but she refused. They tried to gain entry into the apartment, but Jessica had slammed the door in their faces,

and deadbolted it. But inside apartment 808, Jessica Kelly was panicking. She ran out to the balcony and decided that she was going to try and escape. However, when she jumped off the second story, Jessica fell and broke her ankle, and from there, the officers were able to detain her.

Here is the video of her arrest. Come here. There's a machine. Stop. How about the balcony? Okay, why do you jump? The apartment is that? Deep breath, relax, relax, okay? Because you jumped, right?

Yeah. Well, that's what happened to you jump off the second story. I panicked! Well, we said we were the cops. Well, jumping off the balcony is kind of extreme. What'd you say? I'm panicking, dude. Okay, what were y'all fighting about?

Where were you fighting about? Uh-huh. No, we got her. She's in another apartment. Did you hit her? Did you hit her? Huh? Did you hit somebody?

She hit me, and I hit her back. She hit you first? Yeah. What did you hit her with? Huh? What? My hand? Your hands?

Stay on the ground. Who's apartment is that? That's hers. What's her name? Got rescue on the way. Let's check you out, okay? My cousin Fabian. That's your cousin Fabian?

Who else? Michelle. Is that his girlfriend? Yeah. Sound like what we were fighting with? Yes. Okay. Well, I wasn't really fighting with if she woke up and started swimming.

I said, hey, dude, I can't find your daughter, dude. You drinking last time? No. Do we remember my car up then or? Put in your car, man. Good hair days do more than we give them credit for. When your hair feels healthy, you show up differently. You feel more confident, more relaxed, and you're not constantly checking the mirror.

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Smoke that was coming directly from the apartment's bathroom. The officers quickly rushed over and opened the door, and the image they would see would stick with them for the rest of their lives. There, in the bathtub, was a little body wrapped up in a blanket. It was 10-year-old Victoria Martens. When the officers stepped closer, they saw Victoria had been dismembered. Then, in an attempt to cover up the crime, she had been set on fire. Horrifically in the living room, officers found a trash bag that contained a heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys.

And with Jessica Kelly being the only one in the apartment when they arrived, they believed that she had been the one responsible. So here is the rest of the body cam footage from outside the apartment. She's got a... Dude, the Charlott's 10-7 to die. Okay. Stay with her, Chris. Do you bring my car up or do you want to bring yours up, man? Get up.

I've been doing this, dude. Get up. If your leg's broken, you're gonna walk. I can't walk, dude, hold on. You're gonna walk. You didn't get thrown up, you jumped off. I saw you close the door. And you told me you jumped.

Come on. I... Dude, my whole leg is broke, though. Keep walking. I'm trying. Walk. No. Female Tammy up.

Walk. Walk. Walk. Get you help later. now. Oh. Who else was in the apartment with you? Where's the other guy?

He took off. He started trying to wipe blood up and I started panicking. In that body cam footage, you heard the officer ask her who else was in the apartment with you, to which Jessica says, another guy, he took off. I started trying to wipe the blood up and I started panicking. So it seems at this moment, Jessica was trying to place the blame on this random man who she said had entered the apartment. But shortly after being detained, Jessica would lawyer up.

However, Fabian and Michelle were willing to talk to the police. In this next part, we are going to play parts of Fabian's interview. He's sitting there in the interrogation room shirtless, and he asks if he and Michelle could be interviewed together. Is there a way? We and Michelle could kind of talk to you at the same time. room we should know like I said there's some detectives talking to her so in order to make sure we get just everybody's story right only reason why I'm seeing that

is because us together can explain how how are you hearing and why she's okay so let me explain this if you guys are both telling the truth then the stories will be exactly the same thing you have nothing to worry about okay Fabian based on some information we've got from other detectives who are still out there from your old lady we have some other things things that have kind of come up that aren't making sense, those are we gonna talk to you about, okay? Are you doing okay about, did you get some water?

Yeah, what did you eat, dude? Was it anything? The Mubire or whatever. It was kind of gross. Yeah. I had one taste on cardboard. Yeah. I like them.

It was pretty gross. I'm not that good at hide, I really don't like him. I say it because I've been hungry, man. Okay, so. I haven't eaten for like 10 hours or like. Yeah, I think. But I'm not even really hung out.

I just touched with my stomachs. Unsettled. This just doesn't feel, it just feels like, It's a nightmare. It just doesn't feel real, guys. This really does it. Yeah.

But from here, the detectives want to know what the hell happened. There is a 10-year-old little girl murdered and dismembered in the apartment with three grown adults. And just before this, one of those adults tried to kill the other two with a tire iron. So, how did we get here? When the detectives ask Fabian this, he breaks down in tears, telling them that he has no idea what happened. He said he and Michelle went to sleep that night, and the next thing he knew, His cousin Jessica was in their bedroom trying to kill them. He said he didn't even know that Victoria had been murdered,

but the detectives weren't buying it. In fact, they spoke to some neighbors who reported that the night before, they were awoken to sounds of screaming and banging coming from apartment 808. They also heard things dragging around. So the fact that they heard that, when Fabian supposedly didn't, just doesn't add up. We're trying to figure out exactly what happened because, like we said before, I think Victoria deserves that. Well, yeah.

And maybe anybody deserves that, but especially a little girl, you know? To me, this is, I would never talk every my whole life. Would it be in Simpson? That's just ever. So Fabian, just off to top, we're gonna ask you this. We obviously have Victoria's body, okay?

Okay, could I ask you this? Well, where do you find it? Okay, so we'll get into that. We have Victoria's body. Now, we're gonna do a bunch of tests and stuff. We'll collect a bunch of evidence from her body, okay? We can tell what kind of things were used to injure her, how she died.

If something happened to her, what injuries she sustained before she died? Maybe if they sub-micated, if she's suffocated or something, that's probably the only real thing I could think of right now. Because I would have heard and I would have got up and did the same thing I done for Michelle, She can try and get her. You know what I mean?

And so we'll be able to tell that. Did Victoria suffocate? I don't know. I don't know. Okay? I do not know if she's suffocated. I don't know. All I know is what you guys just told me out that her knee, bro.

Whatever. Got cut off. So let me get back to what I was talking about. Okay. I should have been able to hear it. I didn't hear it. I'm telling you I'm going to. So let me get back to what I'm talking about.

It'll clarify some stuff, okay? We'll be able to tell if there's injuries on her body, if they were sustained before she died. We'll be able to tell how she died and then what injuries she sustained after she died, okay? So that'll help us out. We will also be able to tell who's touched her. Yeah, I want you guys to very much. If she touched, we can see if she scratched somebody, if she grabbed somebody's hair, if there's hair or clothes on her. There's all kinds of stuff, right?

You've seen TV. You've got all kinds of things. Yeah, so I want this to all. Okay, so here's the question I have to ask you because of that. Because we're going to get those tests back. Okay, what's fine? We are. My question just flat out.

If, for what reason would we find your DNA on Victoria on her body, on her clothes, or even inside of her body? I don't know that sounds horrible when I have to ask the question. No. Hell no. No, man. That's crazy, man. I don't know you have to ask that question.

You just have to ask. No, no damn way. Any reason I'm gonna find any of your DNA in her fingernails from her fighting with you or scratching you? No, Jessica. I'm telling you right now, that's the only one I could think of right now

because she's the one that wouldn't try to do that to us. She tried killing us for Christ's sakes. I wouldn't do something I can't to nobody, no matter what situation or whatever. Just never even thought, I didn't, I can't have it in me, okay? I would never do something I got. I just don't got it in me. I'm not built like that. I never have to do you.

Okay. I feel you, man. Absolutely. For me, I have to go through this as a person with an individual. Not knowing that this is going to happen at all whatsoever. Not being able to notice. You don't know how I feel? How do you feel, tell me? I want to be so. I want it. I just feel like it's same now.

why I didn't hear why how I didn't know that's what I'm about that's what I really got about how did I not know or here never bid it something like I believe you I think if you could have stopped whoever it was a killed

Victoria if you could have stopped them I would believe you would I would have okay I would have tried my best I said that I would have tried my best the fact that you're getting your beat by some shape

up in the apartment and you run off and leave a little girl and your girlfriend in the apartment with a crazy chick with a freaking iron I didn't know if there was any more people there that's why I just wanted to hurry up so you're looking after your own so what I'm saying now is freaking be a man oh yeah and tell because you're no this is what I'm gonna say like I said I don't I don't want to hurt your feelings but I want you to be a strong enough man to say I'm not gonna let her hurt my feelings I'm gonna tell her what really happened because you're full Okay, no offense. The story that you're giving isn't matching up to our scene.

If we can explain it, it makes sense. It doesn't mean you're in trouble or did anything wrong. I'm not personally judging you. I could give two sh-hs-k. Okay? I understand. But I'm telling you what it looks like and what it's going to look like to anybody else. So we need to just explain everything. And what you're telling us, it's not matching up. We've got a bunch of evidence. And so like I told you, I'm putting this puzzle together. And the only person whose pieces don't seem to be matching right now,

are you and Michelle's. Everybody that we talked to at the apartments, their pieces all match. They match the physical evidence that we have. They match the witness evidence that we have. What I want to know is what you and Michelle's involvement was, whether, no matter how hard, listen to me, stop. That's, again, when you start to jump in on me like that?

I won't say that that I was what we did, and you finish. Okay. It makes me think that you're being deceptive with me. Okay, well, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I did you hear this. When you, You've already said and you've agreed with us.

There's no way that the things that happened to Victoria could have happened to her without somebody hearing. Now, whether she was screaming or not, she didn't have to be screaming. She didn't have to be screaming. Just the noise alone of what was done to her body would have woken anybody up. And it woke up every apartment in your building, except for the only people that are supposedly, not awake or you and Michelle, okay? According to you. And that's, I'm just telling you what I'm being told. So do you, do you see when I have people in apartments telling me that they wake up and they hear banging, something being drug in an apartment, they hear screaming from a little girl,

mind you, and they hear adults arguing. So I believe that you guys are arguing. I believe that there's a fight. Now, I also think that some of the filler in there that you've told me, just straight up. And I understand you're scared, okay? There's a little girl that's dead in an apartment, and I don't blame me for being scared. To be honest, a lot of those, I don't blame me for lying about stuff if you're lying. And here's why. It's a natural, listen, it's a natural human reaction in the situation that you're in to protect yourself.

This isn't some stolen TV or somebody that got a bullet wound in the arm. This is a dead 10-year-old girl, and I'm taking that as serious as I possibly can. Okay? We're going to talk to Michelle. They're talking to her right now. I have a little bit of information like I told you of what she said, and it's already conflicted with what you said on some point, and you're trying to clarify that for me.

I appreciate that. We're also going to talk to Jess, okay? Now, here's the problem. If the story you're telling us doesn't quite match the evidence, and Jess comes in here and tells me a story that does match the evidence, And for whatever reason, she implicates you in the murder, I'm telling, being honest with you, then that's not, then you're going to get wrapped up in this.

This is your one and only opportunity, and I'm serious, to tell us the truth. If you saw Victoria dead and freaked you out and you ran out, then it is what it is, okay? If you helped clean up the blood and whatever, you helped, you helped try and get rid of it, Whatever it was, this is the time, listen, this is your only time for redemption. This is your only, you might have to own up to the consequences.

Listen, you might have to man up to that, and I'm not going to lie to you, but this is your only time to come clean, because once we walk out of this room, and we put Jess in this room, if she tells us a story that makes a lot more sense with the evidence, the physical evidence, and it implicates you and it makes you the bad guy, you're going to be the bad guy. If you love murder in America, you love mysteries, you love true crime, you love murder stories, and the unknown. That I have a new show for you. It's called The Conspiracy Files, and it's hosted by me, Colin Brown, from Murder in America and the Paranormal Files.

On the Conspiracy Files, we explore everything from bizarre deaths to freak paranormal events, pedophile rings, government corruption, ritual sacrifice. no topic is untouched on this show. Everything that we talk about on the conspiracy files is backed up with fact. I release reference sheets with every single episode that we do so you guys know. Everything we're talking about is confirmed to have happened and be real. It's a completely different type of show than anything else you've ever seen about conspiracy theories. Instead of a bunch of conjecture and theories, we're presenting you people with facts, telling you the story, walking you through the story,

just as detailed as we do with murder in America, and then letting the listener decide what they think. Anyways, you should definitely give it a listen. It's called The Conspiracy Files. The links are in the description of this show, and you can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now let's get back to our story. Now Fabian didn't know that his cousin, Jessica Kelly,

had already asked for an attorney. So from here, investigators worked hard to get in. answers from Fabian and Michelle. And any time there's a dead child, investigators have to consider a motive. Why would somebody want this child dead? And sadly, something they have to consider is that the child had been sexually assaulted.

And given that Fabian had only known Michelle and Victoria for a few weeks and had been living with them, that's the motive they were suspecting here, that Fabian had raped Victoria and then killed her to cover it up. You know, when we do it looks like someone. I know that sometimes people do really, you know, things that get them off and maybe get them off even that they're more embarrassed of what the public's going to think. But this stuff's pretty private, okay? And I understand that if, you know, there were two girls and you guys are getting high and it gets people off to hurt a little girl.

I mean, it happens before, because let me tell you. Come on. This is that sick. That's disgusting. That's gross. But you're putting this on your cousin. I'm not buying it. Now, at the time of Fabian's interview, Michelle Martens is also being interviewed.

And she's being a lot more open about what happened on August 23rd, her daughter's 10th birthday. Victoria's birthday was just yesterday. Okay. And what were you guys going to do? for Victorize birthday. We're going to celebrate it today. Okay. What was the, did you guys have a plan?

The park of ballet. The part at the park of the ball. It's up in the direction. Okay. Okay. Nice. We guys just like friends and cake. Okay.

How do you, I mean, does that make you, it's hard, huh? Okay. Choose your baby. I came out of my mother. I don't know I have to. Why did you name her Victoria? Okay, I always said if I had a girl, I'd name of her between. Okay, and she was 10, just turned 10?

Yeah. What were some of my favorite things to do? Color, math. Math. Gymnastics. Okay. What, does she do like tumbling? In comics.

Wow. You're gonna miss her. Yeah. I'm just worried about my son. Well, and I want you to be able to be there for your son. Okay. I'm worried about my life now, too. Well, can you kind of tell me why you're worried?

Because now my faith, they're going to come back and kill me. I don't even want to stay old up. Okay. I want to get out of there. So from here, the detectives want to know how Victoria died. And Michelle starts telling them a story about how she believed Victoria somehow got into it. their math supply. Can we explain to me that again?

What time did Victoria come home? And when did you notice that's gone? She gets home about 4.30 because the bus gets there about 4. So she went to her friend's house because she didn't see me at the bus stop. And her friend sent her back to the house around 434, 45, around there. And that's about the time that me and family, we got back up. about 455 o'clock. Okay.

And where were you in Phoebe and Ed? We went to his uncle. Oh. Okay. And we came back and that's when I sat on the table. Okay. You're gonna live in. Take your time.

And I would teach the restroom. Mm-hmm. And it came back and I was gone. And Victoria was the only one in the living room. So then she said she started feeling tired so she was gonna go to bed. Okay. So she went in there.

She went into her room. Okay. Then we came back up. Okay. Did you... What happened next? Did you go check on her? I always checked her.

When I checked on her. She seemed to be breathing. Because I checked. I always look at her stomach. She was going up and down. And that was the last time that I checked on her. Okay. and said he was going to go check on her for me.

So he went to go check on her. And that was the time she got some breathing. And that's what he told me. She's not breathing. Michelle said that once they all realized Victoria was dead, Jessica grabbed a kitchen knife and started walking towards Victoria's bedroom. When Michelle asked what she was doing, Jessica turned and told her that she was going to dispose of the body.

And what did you do? I got up and what do you mean she's not breathing? And then I looked up the table and put the notice the bag was going. I was like, did she get a hold that? I didn't really, she might have. Okay. I was like, oh, the only thing there. And where was the bag at?

In the living room table. Okay. And when you, did you ever see it after it went missing? No. No, okay. So, and just go away to get the name. the night and I asked him where she's going with that. Just like we're gonna dispose of the body.

So let's back up just a little bit, okay? Because you're missing, you're skipping around. So Fabian tells you she's not breathing. Did you go check on her? They did. Okay, and tell me about that. What did you see? Just her laying there.

Okay. I didn't know what to do. I never want to call the cups. Because then they probably would have stopped, stop me from trying to do that. Okay. I didn't know what to do. There's another reason that you didn't call the police, though,

isn't there? Why didn't you call police? Because there were drugs in the house. Okay. And I didn't want to think it was mine because it's not, okay? I understand. That I understand. Okay.

I mean, there's drugs in the house. You don't want to get in trouble. Okay. Okay, so you check on your daughter and what do you find? She was really, when I went there. What she did? She was... Oh, that this is not your fault.

I feel like this. That's how they want me to feel. That's how they want you to feel. They want you to feel like you did this and it's your fault, but it's not. The female detective was trying to comfort Michelle, but not. but not because she felt bad for her, because she wanted Michelle to open up about what really happened. And while holding her hand, Michelle continued. So let's back up to where you find her and she's dead on the bed.

Okay. What happens from there? There's a conversation between you and Fabian and Jessica. What is that conversation? I said, if I tell anybody that I'm going to be the next. and I'm going to be the next one. Okay. They've got in me.

And what did you guys decide to do with your daughter? With Victoria, your baby girl. This is your 10-year-old baby girl, Victoria. They put in an atom. Because you were there, and you saw, and you watched. So what was the discussion about what was? was going to be done with Victoria. I know they were going to get rid of, but I didn't know.

I forgot this discussion. You forgot the discussion? I don't remember. Okay. What happened next? They said, let if I say anything. They just kept threatening me. Okay.

Let if I say anything, I'm going to be the next one. Or I better not fall asleep. So I just left. So you left? There was nothing on second. do. I didn't know what to do. So from the time you find your daughter and she's dead, Victoria is dead in her room. Am I right? And then you leave. What happened in between that time? Before that, that was the penise of sick. So stabbing in the stomach. Okay. And then with the

pillow over in it. So explain the whole pill. over her head. What was that for? Because it's a grip to hold her hands. So was she already dead? Oh okay. So you see her and she's, can you kind of explain to me she's holding her hands? Jessica's holding her hands and Faving was... So they were cutting her arms off in the bedroom. When did they start cutting her leg off? After her arm. After her arm.

Okay. So what you're saying is Jessica was holding her arms and Fabian was cutting? Okay. Who? So Fabian had the knife at that point. Okay. But you said that Jessica stabbed her in the stomach? stomach? Okay. Why? They were taking turns at her. Okay. And when you saw this, you didn't call

911 because you were afraid that the cops were going to know that there were drugs in the house? That they were going to kill me right there on the spot. Okay. So Michelle just said that after finding Victoria dead, Jessica and Fabian started the dismemberment in Victoria's bedroom. Jessica was holding Victoria's arms, while Fabian cut them off. Then they put Victoria in the bathtub. So you guys, or you watch, but Jessica and Fabian cut your daughter up, Victoria. They cut her arms off. They cut her leg off.

They cut her from here to hear, Victoria. They cut her. And you watch, right? I couldn't. I thought so I put you starting to cut her arm. I left.

What do you mean you left? I went on something. Okay. So explain to me what happened after that. You guys started cleaning up? Then they started cleaning up.

What did you do? I went in the kitchen. What did you do in the kitchen? Getting ready to make dinner. Making the tacos. And then Fabian took over after he was finished. After you guys cut the arms off

Victoria, cut her leg off, and wrapped her up in a blanket and put her in the bathtub, right? Then you went and made dinner. And what did Jessica and Fiamian do? I think nothing ever happened. Okay. So where did they cut her up at? The bathtub. The bathtub? So where did they cut her arms off at? In the bedroom. In the bedroom. Okay. Did you... When they were cutting her up, Victoria, did you ever touch Victoria or hold on to

her, hold her arm? Did you ever hold her steady? No, because they threaten me saying if I go near them, that they're going to kill me clean. Okay. So you go and make dinner. Okay. And they are clean. And then what happens after that? What's the dinner is that? Go with my baby and I eat.

when I eat. Okay. And I want to go for. Well, because you were probably sick to your stomach. Yeah, I can. So then I put the other one in the friend. Okay. And then that's when I went back in the room.

And I've been to try right out. Okay. So, after watching her daughter get dismembered, Michelle said that she made everyone tacos. Then she went into her room to get some sleep. Disturbingly, Michelle also admits that she and Fabian had said, sex that night, after the dismemberment. When did you and Fabian have intercourse? And was it forced?

No. No. Okay. So when did you guys have? It was before we went to bed. Before you went to bed. Was it before or after you ate? Asked.

After you ate? Okay. Michelle said that after that she went to sleep. The next thing she knew, Jessica was in her room holding a tire iron. According to Michelle, Jessica feared that she would tell someone what happened. And while in the bedroom, Jessica chillingly asked her, Do you believe in God? Michelle said that she knew right then that Jessica was trying to kill her.

But as you know, in these interrogations, the detectives will make you walk through every single detail. And as they did this with Michelle, her story kept changing. First, she said that Victoria ingested meth that was sitting out on the table, But then later on, she said that Jessica killed Victoria. So her story wasn't matching up. The detectives had a feeling that the meth story just wasn't true. And it wasn't.

Victoria's autopsy would later prove that she didn't have any meth in her system. And the detectives believed that Victoria was likely murdered to cover something up. So they straight up ask Michelle if Victoria had been raped. One question. And it's a very serious question. Okay. Who was abiding your daughter? Who was assaulting your daughter? She's six who was sexually assaulting your daughter, Michelle?

Because you knew about it. That was my ex-boyfriend. That was your ex-boyfriend. Yes. And that's why I got rid of him. What's his name? David Hernandez. Now David Hernandez was the boyfriend Michelle had before Fabian, the one that cornered Victoria and tried to kiss her.

It's also the man who kidnapped a four-year-old girl off the street. But according to Michelle, he was the only one who had raped Victoria. However, after a little prodding, she admitted that he wasn't the only one, that Jessica and Fabian had been raping her as well. She even said that they would give Victoria meth beforehand to, quote, calm her down. When did you find out that Fabian and Jessica were active with your daughter? When did you find out and be honest? Not too long ago. Not too long ago, okay.

If I would have known that, I would totally get out. So how much were they giving her so that way they could assault her? They gave her quite a few times. Okay. Oh, they gave her to her? You're just putting it in her mouth. Okay. When did you find out that Fabian was, was, was,

having sex with your daughter with Victoria. How long ago? Just recently. Just recently? What is recently? Like days, weeks? Days. Days?

Like a couple of days, like two days, three days, four days, five days? Two days. Okay? And when did you find out that Jessica was also assaulting your daughter? Were they doing this together? Yes. Okay. But as if this couldn't get any more.

disturbing. Michelle then admits that she wasn't just aware Jessica and Fabian were raping Victoria, but she would actually sit in the room and watch as it happened. You were there. When your daughter was being assaulted, you were there. Where were you? Mm-hmm. You were in the bedroom and your bedroom or your daughter's bedroom. Okay, and where were Fabian and Jessica? until he thought they would have a cigarette that they weren't. What were they doing? No, no, no, no.

You watched them give them her and you knew what they were going to do. Don't, don't play, let's not start playing games now, girl. They weren't having a cigarette, you knew they were in your daughter. Where were they in your daughter? What room? In her room. Okay. How did you participate?

I don't think that you assaulted your daughter. Did you help hold her down? You, and I appreciate you being honest about what Jessica and Fabian have done. Okay. But the only thing that you're not being honest about is your involvement. Okay. So, when Jessica and Fabian were in the room, assaulting your daughter, what part did you take in that act?

I let him do it. You let them do it. Okay. Were you having intercourse with Fabian or Jessica while they had to s with your daughter? No. Did you have with Fabian right after he had with your daughter? Yes. Did Fabian put his in your daughter's or in any other part of her body?

Her mouth or her... I could see. What was he doing to her? I need to know. I thought. He was been going on top of her. With what? With his on top.

Did he put his in your daughter? Not inside, though. Was he rubbing it in the lips of her? Yes. So it penetrated the lips of her. Was he completely naked or was he clothed? He had his shorts, and his shirt off.

Okay. And what was Jessica doing to your daughter? She was holding her. How? Her arms and her shoulders, so, and her feet, baby was holding her feet. What were you holding? What were you holding? Be honest.

I'll be honest. So you just watched. Yeah, you just watched, but you didn't help hold her down. Did you, while they were doing this, did you have any physical, contact with Jessica or Fabian or your daughter of any source? No. Did Fabian a on or inside your daughter? On?

On. On? On. On? Was your daughter saying anything? Stop. Stop. What was Jessica saying?

Just shut up. What was Fabian saying? He wasn't really saying. It was just... And you just stood there and watched? You just let them do this to your daughter? Yes? And then how long after he did on your daughter

did he have to with you? In the 15, 20 minutes. How long was Victoria alive after she was dead? Or was she dead? After she was killed her then? I need to know. Yes. Yes to what?

They killed. When they were. When they were. When they were? And how did they kill her? You were there, you watched it. That, you know. Explain it to me, I don't understand.

He raped her so hard she died? He covered her mouth. With what? Okay. I thought you said she was screaming. She finally got the goodness that milk tape. If he gets my... Michelle, stop.

Let's go back to when we were being honest. This is your girl Victoria Who is being held down on a bed So an adult man can Who killed her? Fabian and Jessica How did Fabian and Jessica

Kill Victoria Michelle How does they kill your daughter How are they holding her down How are they holding her down Because if I hold on to Corey's arms. It's not going to kill him.

Where were they holding her? Whose hands were on her neck? Fabian's hands because he was on top of her. And whose hand was on her mouth? Jessica. When he was done, when he did on your daughter, was she dead already? Or was she still alive?

She wasn't moving. After he was done, did they do anything to ensure that she was dead? What did they do to make sure that she was dead, Michelle? No, that's not good enough. What did they do when they were done with your daughter and holding her by her neck? We're way past playing in a game for your girl. Did they do anything?

When you guys started having with Victoria, where did it start in the living room or in the bedroom? Who did? In the bedroom. Who's bedroom? In hers. And hers? Michelle.

Were you clothed or were you naked? I was clothed. Was Jessica clothed or was she naked? She had a tap off. Like Fabian, you said he had his shorts on with his exposed? He had the poor out, but he had no shirt on. And was Victoria? She had her pants off.

Who took Victoria's clothes off? I think he did the pants off. Jessica took a shirt up. What did you do with her underwear? What did you do with her Troy's underwear? Took him in the laundry basket. You took him and you put him in the laundry basket. Why? What was on them?

What else? Bloods me. And why was there blood on them? Because he put it in it. Because he put it. because he penetrated her. And then 20 minutes later, you had with Fabian? The detectives then confront Michelle with a disturbing statement,

that this wasn't the first time she had let men rape her daughter. Michelle, you have been bringing men to your apartment, to use your daughter, and say they assault your daughter. This is not the first time that this has happened. this is not the first time that your daughter has been a soul I'm just going to use the word because that's what it is you were allowing men to come over

and have with your daughter and in turn also having with you help me understand that what do you get out of it is it a turn on for you no then help because I wouldn't have to do that to my daughter but you did last night

And the only reason that we're sitting here today, Michaud, is that it went a little further than it ever has before. This time she died. You weren't ready for the type of animals that these people were, and it went further than you anticipated. But let's start with this. How many times that what happened last night, minus her dying, how many times have you watched or that you know that Fabian and Jessica have had with your daughters since they've been in your house? How many times? Like three times? I think it's probably more than that.

Did you watch? Did I know about. How many times did you watch? There was only that one. How many times did you watch? Be honest. Michelle. We know you watched.

How many times did you watch? Every time? Mostly. I've come into your house and had to your daughter. Why are you watched? I need to know. Like I said, Victoria is dead. The only thing we have anymore is to bring her justice.

Yeah. And to be frank with you, by the sound of the things that she was experiencing, it sounds like death was the easy way out for her. Because it sounds like some pretty, horrible things have happened to her in her life. Human being to human being. How many other men are out there that have come into your house and have had to fuck with your daughter or your son, how many men have come into your house

and had to fuck with your daughter while you watch? We have David, and we have Fabian. Who else? And men or women, let's put her that way. I know we don't have friends with much women. Okay, so men, we have David, and we know Fabian. Who else? Is one other guy Joshua?

Joshua or what? Gray. And... How many times did he come over and have your daughter? When I see? How many times did he come over and have him with your daughter? What? One time.

So during this interrogation, Michelle Martens revealed the horrifying reality that Victoria had been living in, where she would invite men over to rape her 10-year-old daughter. To the detectives, it was clear that this. is exactly how Victoria died. Michelle started dating Fabian, he moved in with them, along with his cousin Jessica, and they started raping Michelle's daughter. However, on August 23rd, they took it too far. During the assault on Victoria's 10th birthday, she died, likely by strangulation. Then to cover up their crime, they spent the night dismembering Victoria's body. However, early that morning, Fabi and Michelle

and Jessica began to turn on each other, and soon enough everything would be revealed. Now, even though Michelle confessed to everything, Fabian was still adamantly denying all of it, but that didn't matter. Michelle's confession was enough. So from there, the three of them were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse resulting in death, intentional child abuse, and tampering with evidence. All three were held on a one, million-dollar cash bond. Following the murder, Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Elder Jr.

stated, This homicide is the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career, a complete disregard for human life and a betrayal by a mother. Now, soon after Michelle Martin's arrest, her parents found out what had happened and they were completely shocked.

They had just spoken to Victoria on the phone to wish her a happy birthday. So never in a million years did they expect to get this news. And when they heard the details, They were beside themselves. According to them, Michelle had been a good mother, but all of that changed when Fabian and Jessica stepped into the picture.

Her parents said, Michelle didn't change until these people inducted themselves into her life. What kind of power they had over her, I don't know. We didn't know our daughter to be anybody that would do something like this. And if there's evidence and she's found guilty, then she deserves to be punished. As for Victoria, they claim that she never mentioned sexual or physical abuse and always seemed happy. They believed she may have stayed quiet because of her love for her mother. Pat stated, It's probably why she never said nothing.

She didn't want to get her in trouble. Now, when the word spread that a 10-year-old girl had been brutally murdered, the community of Albuquerque was completely devastated. On August 26th, friends and neighbors built a memorial underneath a tree outside the Arroyo Villa's apartment. It was filled with teddy bears, flowers, and candles. People hugged, prayed, and cried as they remembered the life of Victoria. Some even saying happy birthday as it was the day of her birthday when she had been brutally killed.

Doug and Shelley, it's unsurprisingly a very emotional scene here at Arroyo Villa's apartment complex. People, as you said, placing flowers and stuffed animals saying prayers. There have been a lot of tears today as New Mexico mourns. Soon after, another memorial was erected at Petroglyph Elementary School, and school officials issued a statement that read, Victoria is in our thoughts and prayers as we hold our children just a little tighter on this said. day. On August 29th, 2016, hundreds gathered for a public funeral service for Victoria held at the Copper Point Church. Motorcycle officers escorted a white hearse that contained her remains.

Mourners donned in purple attire Victoria's favorite color to honor and remember her short life. Her body was cremated and the remains were given to her grandparents. Songs of worship filled Copper Point Church Saturday. A fitting way to remember 10-year-old Victor. Victoria Martins because those who knew her best say she loved to sing and she was always full of energy. She would often run around her grandparent's lawn and do her gymnastics. More than 600 people came to celebrate Victoria's life at the public memorial service. Those who knew her.

She was just an amazing girl and I'm so blessed and happy that we got to meet her and got to know her. And those who wished they did. All described her as having a special spark. The horrific details of that little girl's death shocked the nation. Victoria was murdered in August. Police say by her mother, her mother's boyfriend, and his cousin. Governor Martinez, Attorney General Hector Balduris, and APD Chief Gordon Eden, all speaking at the service today,

saying the state must learn from what happened to her. Let us strengthen our resolve to look out for each other. care of each other. Watch out for those who cannot take care of themselves. Many people wore purple to the ceremony, which was Victoria's favorite color. Purple teddy bears were also handed out to the children that came. Parents say today was a somber reminder. Hold our kids closer every day. And as the doves released after the service flew high into the sky, her loved ones say they're sure Victoria's in a better place.

She was one of God's borrowed angels. So young Kim, KRQE, News 13. Evan has uncovered new information about this case, new information that is extremely disturbing. This afternoon, her autopsy was released, detailing how the 10-year-old was murdered, her own mother, one of the suspects in Victoria's rape and death. Our medical expert, Dr. Rameau,

reviewed the autopsy and says he has never seen one like it. We do want to warn you again, what targets Evans Nancy Loughlin found, is upsetting. According to the autopsy report, 10-year-old Victoria was strangled to death, but this also details what medical examiner say happened to her before and after she was killed.

COAT medical expert Dr. Barry Ramo reviewed Victoria Martin's just released autopsy. The whole thing is beyond anyone's conception that this could happen, especially to a little 10-year-old child. The autopsy shows the manner of death, homicide. This is horrible, it appears that she died from strangulation.

According to the medical examiner's report, sometime before she was killed, the 10-year-old suffered abuse and contracted as sexually transmitted disease. There was evidence of sexual abuse, both in terms of rectal trauma, as well as the fact that she had an infection that she'd had for some time in evidence of the HPV infection. And according to her autopsy, after she was strangled and killed, Victoria was then stabbed and dismembered. The medical examiner wrote some of her vital organs were found in a plastic bag. The report also says her lifeless body was found wrapped in plastic bags and a cloth that had been set on fire.

Her mother, Michelle Martins, is now charged with Victoria's death. Martin's boyfriend, Fabian Gonzalez, is also charged with killing the child. His cousin, Jessica Kelly, is the third suspect in this case. Victoria was killed on August 24th, right around her 10th birthday. The medical examiner said it took months to release this report because of the condition of Victoria's body. Back to you. Now over the next two years, as investigators continued working the case, Victoria Martin's name was kept alive. At the end of what would have been Victoria's fourth grade year in May of 2017, her elementary school honored Victoria's life with a special yearbook memorial.

Dozens of students wrote personal messages for her. They read things like, I miss you, Victoria. I wish you can be here with me. Thank you, Victoria, for being an amazing friend. I'm happy you're in heaven flying with the angels. Where her school picture would have been was the image of two purple angel wings.

Her school also put up a bench in her honor that reads, quote, in memory of Victoria Martins. But as 2017 turned to 2018, everyone following this case was ready for justice. justice. To see the perpetrators, Michelle Martins, Fabian Gonzalez, and Jessica Kelly go to prison for the atrocities they committed. But in 2018, two whole years after Victoria's murder, the DA's office would drop a bombshell. In fact, this is one of the biggest twists I think I've ever heard,

and it has to do with the physical evidence found at the scene. You see, over the last two years, Investigators had been basing their entire investigation on Michelle's confession. However, as the results of that evidence began to come in, investigators realized that they had it all wrong. As it turns out, there had been semen found on Victoria's body. There was also DNA on her back, her neck, and under her fingernails. But it wasn't Fabians. It was someone else, an unknown male who wasn't in their system.

Even further, during Victoria's autopsy, they determined that she had died somewhere between 7 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. on August 23rd. And cell phone data actually proved that both Michelle and Fabian were not in the apartment during that time. So Michelle Martens had given a false confession. There was no meth in Victoria's system, and she and Fabian were not there when Victoria was raped and murdered, like she. had claimed. But you know who was in the apartment during that time? Fabian's cousin, Jessica Kelly. Now the morning after the murder, right after Jessica had jumped off their second story balcony, she briefly mentioned something about a random man coming into the apartment the day before. But then shortly after that, she lawyered up. Then Michelle gave her story of what happened,

and investigators thought they knew the truth, but they couldn't have been more wrong. When confronted with this new evidence that proved Michelle and Fabian were not present during Victoria's rape and murder, the DA's office had no choice but to drop their murder charges. Investigators are looking for an unidentified man connected to the murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martins. The unidentified male whose partial DNA profile was recovered from Victoria Martin's body and who remains at large. In August 2016, police arrested these three suspects. The girl's mother, Michelle Martin's, her boyfriend, friend Fabian Gonzalez and Fabian's cousin, Jessica Kelly. They were each charged with murdering the 10-year-old. On Friday, District Attorney Raul Torres announced Fabian and Michelle Martin's murder charges were dropped. We were forced to consider the possibility that

Michelle Martins had falsely incriminated herself and Fabian Gonzalez in this heinous act. Now, even though they had still not caught Victoria's killer, Fabian Gonzalez would go to trial for his part in the crime. As with Michelle Martins, the first-degree murder and rape charges were dropped, but he still faced charges of reckless child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. And like with any trial,

the prosecution would paint the story of what they believed happened. And one of their witnesses was Jessica Kelly, Fabian's cousin. So, based on what was said at trial, we're going to go back to the night of August 23, 2016. Like we mentioned, Michelle and Fabian had been going in and out of their apartment that entire day. It didn't matter that it was Victoria's 10th birthday. They had better things to do,

like doing drugs and running around town meeting up with different people. And while they were busy doing that, they left Victoria and Jessica Kelly's care. Now, both Fabian and Michelle knew that Jessica had been extremely paranoid. In fact, she hadn't left the apartment in days because she was scared that someone was coming after her. After smoking meth that morning, Jessica was frantically looking out the windows.

She kept the front door open so she could see if someone was coming upstairs. And she even called her sister to let her know that her ex-boyfriend was following her, even though he was in prison at the time. But around 7 p.m., Michelle and Fabian leave the apartment to go smoke some more meth. It's around that same time when the neighbors, saw Victoria outside. They also saw Jessica bring her into the apartment, and that was the last time Victoria was ever seen alive.

So what happened from there? Well, according to Jessica Kelly, Victoria came inside and put on a pair of pink pajamas. She then ate some sunflower seeds and then went into her bedroom to do some homework. And Jessica said that she just hung out in the living room. But after a few minutes, she said she heard the front door open.

When she looked over, there was a random man standing there. Immediately, he asked for Favo, which was Fabian's street name. Now, Jessica said that she had never seen this man before, but he had a Mexican accent, and he told her, quote, Favo fucked up. He knows he did, end quote. Apparently, Fabian owed the guy drug money, but Jessica said she quickly told him that Fabian wasn't home. She said she pointed to Victoria's bedroom and said, quote, it's just me and the girl, end quote.

Then from there, the man walked over to Victoria's room. Jessica said that it looked like he knew the apartment, like he had been there before. So she went to the balcony to smoke a cigarette as the man went into Victoria's bedroom. Now, when I first heard the story of this random man, I thought Jessica was lying, that it was just a story to cover up what really happened.

But based on the evidence, Jessica seemed to be telling the truth, at least partially, because a man had gone into Victoria's bedroom that night, and while inside, he sodomized her. The man's DNA was under Victoria's fingernails, so she fought back. But at some point during the assault, he strangled her, ending Victoria's life exactly 10 years after it started. Now Jessica never mentioned how long the man was inside the bedroom, but when he came out, She said that he walked over to her and said that she had a mess to clean up in there. She said he then threatened her.

Jessica said that she waited a few minutes before going into Victoria's bedroom. But when she did, she said that she saw Victoria on the ground in front of her TV. She was lying on her back. And at first glance, it looked like she was sleeping. But Jessica said that she checked her pulse and there was none. Now, when asked why she didn't call the police, Jessica said that she had a bad relationship with law enforcement. After a decade of being in and out of prison, she figured that they would just pin it on her,

so she didn't call for help. She also said that she was afraid the man would come back to hurt her children. So she just left Victoria there dead on her bedroom floor. But eventually, she heard Fabian and Michelle outside. Out in the parking lot of the Arroyo Villa's apartment complex, Fabian and Michelle were sitting in the car, enjoying their meth high as they listened to music. Upon hearing them, Jessica said that she ran into Victoria's room, wrapped her up in a blanket, and then brought her outside. Now Fabian and Michelle would corroborate that next part. They said that as they were sitting in the car,

they saw Jessica come out holding Victoria in that blanket. She didn't come out to the car. She was just standing on the second story holding her. But because they were so high on drugs, they didn't realize Victoria was dead. They just thought she was sleeping. After a few minutes, Michelle and Fabian finally came back inside.

But apparently, Michelle didn't think to go check on her daughter. She didn't give her a birthday present. She didn't sing her happy birthday. She was so high, she essentially forgot about her. And while Michelle stepped away for a second, Jessica pulled her cousin out on the balcony. And according to her, that's when she told Fabian everything that had happened,

that a random man came in asking for him and how that man raped and murdered Victoria in her bedroom. He kind of looked at me like, you're freaking crazy, you know? And I told him, well, go check. And then he went and checked Victoria. And I came back and he's like, oh, my God, what were we going to do? Once Fabian realized that Victoria was dead, he and Jessica came up with a plan. They were going to take turns dismembering Victoria's body.

And while one person was doing that, the other would destroy. Michelle. So according to Jessica, that's exactly what they did. Now, I still have a hard time believing that Michelle didn't know any of this was happening. We'll get into that a little later, but that night, Michelle even went into the kitchen and made everyone tacos, while her daughter's body was in the other room. According to her, it never crossed her mind that Victoria never ate dinner that night. But sometime after making the tacos, according to them, Michelle went into her bedroom to go to sleep. And that's when Jessica and Fabian started the dismemberment process. And here is how that played out, according to Jessica. Once Michelle was in the bedroom, Fabian grabbed a kitchen knife

and some trash bags. They then went into Victoria's room and put the trash bags beneath her body so that they wouldn't get blood on the carpet. And then from there, they began cutting Victoria's her arms off with a kitchen knife. Jessica said that she held the arms as Fabian stabbed them. Now, kitchen knives are not usual tools people use for dismemberment, so it was incredibly messy and difficult. The process took them several hours. But once the arms were removed,

Jessica put them in a trash bag and then put the trash bag in Victoria's laundry basket. She then took that basket and put it by the front door. But Jessica said that when she returned to Victoria's room, she saw Fabian cutting open Victoria's chest. She said that he put a trash bag around his hand so that it wouldn't get bloody. And he then reached into Victoria's chest and started removing her organs. He removed her heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys. But at that point, Jessica said that she told him to stop. When asked why, Jessica said this.

because I just figured it's a mess to cut up a body, why don't we just get rid of the body, not make a bigger mess. So from here, Jessica said that she took over. Fabian went into the bedroom to check on Michelle while she started cleaning up. She said she wiped the blood off Victoria's body, and she even put her pink pajamas back on. She then wrapped her body up in some trash bags, then a blanket, and she carried Victoria over to the bathroom. After placing her in the in the bathtub, Jessica got a bowl and filled it with soapy water. She then went to Victoria's room and attempted to clean the blood out of the carpet. From there, she put some bloody towels

into the washing machine. Now, at this point, Fabian came out of the bedroom and Jessica said that he cleaned off the bloody knives and then put them back into the knife block, but investigators would later find pieces of flesh still attached to it, as well as Fabian's fingerprints. By this point, they had been dismembering Victoria for hours, and it's here where they decided that they were going to dump her body out in the mesa. However, those plans would soon change. In her paranoid state, Jessica said she lost it. After hours of dismembering Victoria, with her blood still soaked into the carpet, Jessica feared that it would only be a matter of time until the police figured out what happened,

and she was sent right back to prison. So, right then, she decided that she was going to kill Fabian and Michelle. In court, Jessica explained her reasoning behind this. The fact of everything that happened to Victoria, I just couldn't handle it mentally. And I was afraid of coming back to prison and I felt I was going to go back to prison so I might as well make it work it. And I was going to kill Fagan and Michelle because I was already going to go down for her murder. So Jessica went into Michelle's bedroom and asked for their phones. I guess she didn't want them calling the police as she was about to murder them.

But obviously, Fabian and Michelle were confused. However, they did give them to Jessica, and she placed their phones in her back pocket and grabbed the tire iron. Then Jessica looked at Michelle and asked, Do you believe in God? Before bashing in her head. According to Jessica, that's when she told Michelle that her daughter was dead. And from there, the two continued to struggle for a couple of minutes

before Fabian took the tire iron, and he and Michelle ran outside. As they did, neighbors heard some commotion and within minutes the police were on their way. But they just thought it was some sort of domestic dispute. They had no idea what they were about to walk into. Back inside the apartment, Jessica was spiraling. And here's what happened next.

And I was going to leave the apartment, but then I realized we never got rid of her body, so I got scared. And I lit the corner of the blanket or the sheet. I set the fire and it seemed like it got real smoky right away, and the smoke alarm went off, and I started panicking. I took down, I think, one or two smoke alarms, and by that time the officer was at the door. I opened the door to the officer, seeing it as an officer, and shut the door, and that's when I slid off the second story. During Fabian's trial, the prosecution stated that even though they don't know the identity of Victoria's killer,

They suspected that it had to do with that fight Fabian got in at that family barbecue days before the murder. If you remember, he started fighting with his family members and even threatened them saying he was going to come back with his gang member brothers. So they suspected that someone within that family or someone close to them came by to hurt Fabian. However, when they saw that he wasn't at the apartment, they chose to hurt Victoria instead. But Fabian's defense team argued that Jessica Kelly was the one who murdered Victoria, and she was the one who dismembered her. Now, they aren't denying that someone came in to rape Victoria. That man's DNA was found on her neck, back, and fingernails.

So even though he was the one to rape her, they believe that Jessica Kelly was ultimately the one who ended her life. Now, Fabian's fingerprints were found on the knife that contained Victoria's flesh, but he claimed that he used those knives all the time for cooking. And other than that, the only piece of evidence at the scene that had both Fabian and Victoria's DNA was a sock. It was Fabian's sock and it had Victoria's blood on it. But that sock was found in Victoria's laundry basket where parts of her remains were located.

So his defense said that that's how Victoria's blood could have. have gotten on the sock. But his defense team said that he had nothing to do with it, that it was all Jessica Kelly. However, that would be up for the jury to decide. On August 3rd, 22, both sides rested their cases, and the jury was sent away for deliberations. And after only two hours, the jury reached their verdict, guilty on all counts. Victoria's loved ones were happy with the verdict. But Fabian's defense clearly wasn't. They believed that Jessica Kelly had fooled everyone. His defense attorney would later say, and she's probably laughing now at the fact that the state of New Mexico accepted her, her version of what happened.

Now, during Fabian's sentencing, the prosecution wanted the maximum sentence of 40 years. But before handing down the sentence, Judge Lios allowed Victoria's grandfather, John Martens, to read his victim impact statement. We no longer going to hear the state. We won't hear Papa, Nana, can you take me to gymnastics? Well, Papa, I'm 16. Can you teach me to drive? How about graduation? There'll be none. Most of all, Papa, can you walk me down the aisle? Donna, we ask that you impose the max sentence

because Victoria will not get the max out of her life that she should have been entitled to. Ultimately, Fabian Gonzalez was sentenced to 37.5 years in prison, shy of the maximum amount. Now, as for Victoria's mom, Michelle Martins, many people couldn't understand why she would have given a false confession. Why would she tell police she was letting Fabian and Jessica rape her daughter while she watched if it wasn't true?

Why implicate yourself in her murder if that wasn't true? Well, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Wellner determined that Michelle had certain personality traits that made her susceptible to false confessions. Dr. Wellner also found Michelle to be extremely vulnerable and described her as a people-pleaser. He went on to say that she had a low IQ and a history of trauma and drug abuse. Her family members confirmed that Michelle was known to lie, and she had told one major lie while she was pregnant with Victoria, as she had denied she was pregnant until the day she gave birth. During her confession, it appeared as if Michelle was just agreeing with the detectives

and not providing facts on her own. Dr. Wellner believed that Michelle did not understand that she was incriminating herself in the crime when she claimed to have witnessed the murder. He said, she was falsely saying she was there. She was falsely saying she saw things, falsely saying she heard things. She was saying things while believing she was actually placing blame on other people, which she was. But she was also including herself in the responsibility. Now, in part of Michelle's confession, she said that she would let men come over to her house,

to have sex with her daughter. And the prosecution was never able to find evidence of this, but it was found that Victoria had an STD, one that she had gotten before Fabian ever came into the picture. So that alone proves that Victoria had been subjected to sexual abuse. Now, whether her mother knew about this or not, we can't say. But before we move on from Michelle, I do want to mention this. The prosecution couldn't prove that Michelle Martin,

had anything to do with what happened on the night of Victoria's death. According to them, Michelle came home that night, never once checked in on her daughter, and then went to bed. And while she was sleeping, Fabian and Jessica dismembered Victoria. But there are a lot of people out there who just don't buy it. Neighbors also said that they heard three people arguing in the apartment that night, Fabian, Michelle, and Jessica, and that the arguments went on all night long. They said that the three adults would be screaming at each other, then they would stop, then they would start screaming again.

But let's just say for arguments' sake the neighbors were mistaken. They didn't actually hear three people, they heard two, Fabian and Jessica, and that during those arguments, Michelle really was in her bedroom. But for a lot of people, it's hard to believe that Michelle heard them fighting all night long and never once asked what was going on, that she never once went to go check on her daughter. For a lot of people who hear this, it just doesn't make sense. Something else that's hard to wrap my head around are the other sounds that the neighbors heard that night. They said that for hours they heard screaming, banging, and the sounds of things being dragged around the floor.

So the fact that Michelle didn't hear any of that is hard to believe. Now again, we don't think she had her daughter killed, but there are a lot of people who believe that she knew more than she was letting on. On June 29, 2018, Michelle Martens ended up taking a plea deal. She pleaded guilty to one count of reckless child abuse resulting in death. D.A. Torres stated that although Michelle was not a murderer, she did contribute to an unsafe environment for her children, an environment that allowed her daughter to be killed, and he believed she needed to be held accountable for her responsibility. in the crime. So in November of 2022, Michelle Martens was sentenced to 12 years in prison. So now we get to the last person in the story, Jessica Kelly. And in my opinion, she's the biggest

monster of them all. When she took the stand at Fabian's trial, she cried because she said she loved her cousin and testifying against him was hard for her. But when it came to talking about what happened to Victoria, Jessica Kelly showed no emotion whatsoever. Victoria's death. It does not change the way you feel about something, but you can't just take a whole lifetime away and not care. Did you ever think about crying for Victoria? And what happened to her?

Blame me and cry all the time. The innocent child, wasn't she not Fabian? Yes. And sadly, Jessica Kelly would also take a plea deal. Ultimately, she pleaded no contest to child abuse resulting in death, great bodily harm, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence. And on April 28, 2022, she was sentenced to 40 years in prison. This deranged person should have not been on the street.

The grandparents of 10-year-old Victoria Martins making a statement to the court before Jessica Kelly was sentenced Thursday morning. Prosecutors say Kelly had been using meth before babysitting Victoria at the girls' Albuquerque apartment in 2016. They say Kelly let an unidentified man into the apartment who then strangled Victoria to death. She took it upon herself to watch 10-year-old Victoria and care for her. Instead, she decided to get high and participate in the brutal murder of Victoria, then try to cover it up by participating and dismembering her, dissecting her, and set her on fire in the bad talk. This is what's left.

A wooden box of her ashes. Kelly took a plea deal which the judge followed, agreeing to a 50-year prison sentence with six years suspended for a total of 44 years. This is one evil person that does not belong on the street or even on this earth. We are asking that you put her away so she cannot do this to anyone else. We thank the boy. Jessica Kelly's 44-year sentence means she will likely spend the rest of her life in prison. She will not be eligible for release until 266 when she's 81 years old. So with that, Jessica, Fabian, and Michelle were all behind bars right where they belong.

But justice has yet to be served. Sadly, the unknown male who raped and murdered Victoria on her 10th birthday is still out there somewhere. They are living their lives and walking among us. And there are a lot of people out there that believe Jessica Kelly knew exactly who that man was. There was even a phone call she made to her mother from jail where she said that someone she knows needs to get an attorney. In a jailhouse phone call between Jessica Kelly and her mother, Jessica warns a man she knows needs to lawyer up. No, I don't. Well, if you can message her and tell her son to lawyer up, he needs to, he needs to, he needs to, he needs to, he needs to, he needs to.

lawyer. Okay. Yeah, I haven't heard from her since all this happened. She never says the name of the man or why she thinks he needs an attorney. Give him that message. Okay, yeah, I will. Okay. In this next part, I am going to walk you through some theories that I found online. And because this case has so many unanswered questions, there has been a lot of speculation as to what really happened. There are a lot of people who believe that the unidentified man who raped and murdered Victoria was somehow connected to Jessica Kelly and that family barbecue. As we know, Fabian got into a huge fight with the people there and he threatened them. Then afterwards, he was looking up ways to get a gun.

The people at that barbecue had armed men sitting outside waiting for Fabian to come back with his brothers. So it's widely believed that someone either from that room, barbecue or someone they knew had been looking for Fabian, and eventually they found where he was staying. However, when they came to the apartment that day and saw that Fabian wasn't there, they decided to hurt Victoria instead. Now keep in mind, that family barbecue was thrown by Jessica's family. I wasn't able to figure out how everyone was exactly related, but considering it was her family's barbecue, it's safe to say that if this is what happened, then Jessica likely knew the person, which would explain why she didn't call the police. She was protecting them. Because if this was

just a random man that Jessica had never seen before, and he just walked into the apartment and raped and murdered a little girl, why on earth would you not call the police? Why would you go through all of the trouble of trying to dismember a body unless she were trying to protect someone, Now let's consider the next theory, which is Jessica Kelly's version of events. She said that Fabian kept leaving the apartment that day, that it was strange because he and Michelle would be home for a couple of minutes and then they would leave again. They kept coming back and forth that whole day, then a random man comes by saying that Fabian owed him money, and then he rapes and murders Victoria.

But this story is also hard to believe. If this is true, then Fabian likely would have known exactly. who this man was. People know who they owe money to. Now I know that snitching is a huge no-no in the criminal world, but in the beginning, Fabian was being blamed for raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl. So if the real perpetrator was someone that he knew, someone he owed money to, then why wouldn't he just tell the police who it was? But here is another theory, one that makes sense to me. As we mentioned, Jessica Kelly had been extremely paranoid in the days before the murder. She didn't even leave the apartment for days because she

was scared someone was coming for her. She herself admitted that she had been looking out the windows and watching cars drive by. Now we know that meth can cause paranoia. But what are the chances that on the same day Jessica is paranoid out of her mind that someone actually comes into the apartment and rapes and murders a little girl? There are a lot of people who believe that Jessica was paranoid because she had gotten herself into trouble. Maybe she had wronged someone and they were actually looking for her. And eventually, they found her. Then when that person came by, Jessica offered up Victoria as some sort of payment. And again, it just doesn't make sense that she and Fabian would go through all of the trouble of dismembering a 10-year-old little girl

if they were truly innocent in all of this. I also saw that. theory that maybe Jessica had invited someone over to have sex with Victoria. Remember how Jessica gave her that $45? Well, people have speculated that Jessica let someone rape Victoria. Then she gave her that money to keep her quiet. However, later that night in her paranoid state, Jessica got nervous that Victoria would say something, so she killed her. We also know that Jessica had been charged with conspiracy to commit sexual assault against a female inmate while she was in prison, so I wouldn't put it past her. But whatever the case may be, I truly believe that Jessica Kelly knew the man that came into the apartment that day. It's probably

why she had been paranoid, why she didn't call the police, and why she helped dismember, Victoria. It's also likely why she tried to kill Fabian and Michelle later that next morning, why she tried to set the body on fire to get rid of evidence. Perhaps Jessica knew that she was the root of everything that had gone wrong. So she tried to kill everyone in the apartment and then burn it to the ground. And then there's that prison phone call she made to her mother, where she said that that unknown man needs an attorney. Now, again, these are just our opinions.

We aren't experts and we don't have all the answers here. But we can't help but speculate when it comes to a case like this, especially since the person who raped and murdered Victoria is still out there. And we're interested to hear what y'all our listeners think. What are your theories? Let us know on our social media or by commenting on our episode itself. Unfortunately, this is where our story ends. But that feels so wrong.

There are so many unanswered questions to this case, and Victoria's loved ones will not rest until that unknown man is identified. Victoria Ann Martins deserves that. Her life hadn't been easy. Victoria had been sexually assaulted on a number of occasions. New Mexico Children, Youth, and Family Department Services had been called five different times before she was murdered. But still, she remained in her mother's care,

which was clearly a huge mistake. Michelle Martins, who was entrusted to protect, love, and nurture Victoria, invited strangers into their lives, criminals. And because of that, someone connected to them would come into their home and destroy everything. Victoria's 10th birthday, which was supposed to be filled with love and happiness, ended in the worst way you can possibly imagine. Rapeed, murdered, dismembered, and set on fire.

The people who dismembered her are in prison for their part. but to the person who raped and murdered her, I can only hope that they are haunted every single day by what they did. I hope that when they lay their head down at night, they are filled with paranoia, wondering when their crimes will catch up to them. And I hope that the rest of their days are filled with all the pain and misery that this world has to offer.

I am hopeful that one day we will know exactly who this man is. We have his DNA, and with advancements in technology, I'm confident that he won't stay hidden forever and that Victoria Martens can finally get the justice she deserves. The Albuquerque Police Department is urging anyone with information to contact crime stoppers at 505-843-8867. And in Victoria's honor, this week we will also be making a donation

to prevent child abuse America, an incredible organization that aims to protect our nation's youth. You can find them at preventchildabuse.org. Hey everybody, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Murder in America. Weirdly enough, I am recording this episode from Berlin, Germany, so I'm overseas right now. This is an absolutely horrific story, and Courtney and I hate having to tell these stories and go through these crimes, but we clearly have so many problems in America, cultural problems, problems with the law and how the law is enforced, and how these things keep happening is just

mind-blowing to me. And the project that I'm working on right now deals with these sorts of things on a massive scale. So yeah, sometimes you just read through these episodes and I know you guys listen to them and it just leaves you feeling a little empty inside. But if you enjoy the work that we do here on Murder in America and you want to help support the show, please consider joining us on Patreon. On Patreon, you can get early ad-free access to all of our main feed episodes so if you don't like the ads, join us on Patreon. And also if you love the show and you're out of episodes and you've never signed up for Patreon, you can get access to an entire library of bonus episodes immediately when you sign up. These episodes will never go live on our main feed.

They're really, really important stories that we're continuing to tell on there. And Courtney and I just want to say thank you guys so much for supporting our work there. We have a huge team behind the scenes and you guys have helped so much. Don't forget to follow us on social media at Murder in America to see photos from every case that we cover. And once again, leave us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Those are extremely important. They help us so much. And we love hearing from y'all.

Thank you so much for tuning in this week. I know this was a heavy one. But to be fair, all these stories are heavy in their own ways. It's Colin here, and I'll catch y'all next week.