A man was arrested in San Jose in connection with the deaths of three girls, including his daughter, and two women found in a Modesto home over the weekend, Modesto police said.
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Modesto police said the five victims are all related and the deceased children are between 6 months old and 6 years old. His suspicion of Martinez in Christopher’s death surfaced early, making the accusation in divorce filings as police conducted a parallel investigation, which is usually automatically triggered in child deaths.
Before a catastrophic killing spree Saturday that claimed the lives of his ex-girlfriend, the 6-month-old daughter they had together, his own mother, and two more children, Martin “Marty” Martinez was already on the radar of Modesto detectives.
Heather Graves of the Modesto Police Department told local ABC News affiliate ABC10 that police had arrived at the home around 3:30 p.m. after a family member called them Saturday afternoon.
Martinez was taken into custody in San Jose at about 1 a.m.as he was walking through a mall parking lot off Blossom Hill Road with his father, according to police. Martinez is the father of Crews’ 6-month-old daughter. Graves said counselors and chaplains are available for the officers who first entered the home and made the grisly discovery. Investigators had named Martinez as a “person of interest” in the case Saturday and said he was last seen driving a red Lincoln Navigator.
In San Jose, police spokesman Albert Morales said officers found the large, luxury SUV on Lucerne Way, near Reid-Hillview Airport on the East Side. Martinez switched vehicles and drove off with a relative, Morales said. Martinez is in a Santa Clara County Jail in San Jose, but not for long.
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Martinez was spotted walking back to the vehicle and was arrested without incident roughly 15 minutes later, according to Morales. The 30-year-old is awaiting transfer to Modesto where he will be arraigned.
