A small New Mexico family was arrested this week after 10-year-old Victoria Martens was found murdered and dismembered in their apartment by police officers. Her mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens; her mother’s boyfriend, 31-year-old Fabian Gonzales; and the boyfriend’s cousin, 31-year-old Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelley are also being charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.
Police received a horrifying phone call Wednesday morning about a disturbance inside a unit at the Arroyo Villas Apartment Complex. When officers arrived, they found Victoria Martens wrapped in a burning blanket, with some of her remains put in a plastic bag in the kitchen. She was reportedly injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. It was her 10th birthday.
“This is a horrific tragedy for our community,” Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden told reporters. “I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”
According to the criminal complaint, Martens confessed to the crime, telling police Gonzales drugged the young girl so he could “calm her down” and have sex with her. She also said that Kelley held her hand over the child’s mouth and stabbed her in the stomach after Gonzales choked her, and stated that the two were responsible for dismembering her body.
Fabian Gonzales has an arrest record reaching back to 2004, including a felony child abuse charge, driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. According to the Daily Mail, it is unclear whether he was convicted of the charges, but he did plead no contest to a charge of child abandonment. His cousin Jessica Kelley also has an extensive record that includes battery, domestic violence and drug charges. However, most of them were dismissed. Martens had no past criminal history in New Mexico.
Laura Bobbs, a local minister and close family friend, told the Albuquerque Journal that Martens had no contact with Victoria’s father and was never told about Gonzales. “She’d only known him for about a month,” Bobbs said. “We didn’t even know she was dating this guy. We don’t know what made her do this.” She was reportedly planning a birthday party for the young girl before tragedy struck.
‘Who does this to a little child?” she asked. “Oh Jesus. Oh what evil.”
