Utah law enforcement officer's daughter allegededly pursued and murdered by her father, according to prosecutors.
Hector Martinez-Ayala, aged 54 from Tooele, admitted in a message to his sibling about making a significant blunder before escaping the nation and utilizing his daughter's bank card for cash withdrawals, as per court documents submitted by the authorities.
Marbella Martinez, 25, was identified as the victim by Tooele Police spokesperson Colbey Bentley.
Martinez had begun working as a corrections officer with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office since January. The department paid tribute to her on their Facebook post on Thursday, mentioning that her demise was being probed as 'suspicious' by Tooele Police.
She had been residing with her father in Tooele, situated west of Salt Lake City, until her father's excessive texting, surveillance, and stalking led her to shift to a hotel temporarily, according to court documents.
The charges stated that this stalking behavior had persisted for several months, and that the 'text messages from the defendant to the victim resembled those of a jealous lover rather than a father.' Furthermore, Martinez found a bag containing her underwear in his room, as per the prosecutors. Then, in mid-July, he affixed a tracking device to her vehicle while she was out of the country and later used it to trace her and a romantic interest in a hiking area, as alleged by the charges.
Upon her return to their home on July 31, her father allegedly throttled her, claimed investigators. Cameras on the property were rapidly disabled or disconnected, but Martinez-Ayala left an ample digital trace, comprising location data on his phone and her phone, along with a message to his brother that afternoon, as per investigators.
“My dear brother, you're well aware of the magnitude of my affection, I've committed a major blunder, an irredeemable sin, now I'm petrified and I don't know what to do. I believe I will never return,” the message read, as stated in the charging documents.
He travelled to California, then Texas, before his cell records ceased, prosecutors said. He was subsequently captured on video passing through customs in an unspecified country where he utilized his brother's identification.
Martinez's body was discovered on August 1 in her bedroom following a welfare check conducted by the police.
Besides murder, Martinez-Ayala is also charged with felonies related to hindering justice, bank card theft, and stalking, as well as misdemeanor identity theft.
Martinez-Ayala did not have an attorney listed in the Utah online court records, and efforts to contact him using alternate methods proved unsuccessful.
Affiliate KSTU reported, “The present location of Martinez-Ayala remains unknown, but it is not within the United States.”
In light of the events mentioned, we as a family are deeply concerned about Hector Martinez-Ayala's actions towards us.
Upon returning from her trip, Marbella Martinez chose to stay with friends instead of returning home due to the tension with her father.
