Prosecutors in Tooele, Utah charged a 54-year-old man, Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala, with murder for allegedly killing his daughter, Marbella Martinez, who was a Salt Lake City sheriff’s deputy. Martinez-Ayala confessed in a text message to his brother about making a grave mistake before fleeing the country and using his daughter’s bank card to withdraw money, according to court documents.
Tooele Police spokesman Colbey Bentley confirmed that the victim, Marbella Martinez, 25, had been working as a corrections officer with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office since January. Her death was described as “suspicious” and was under investigation by Tooele police, as mentioned in a Facebook post by the sheriff’s office.
Court documents revealed that Martinez had been living with her father in Tooele, Utah, but moved into a hotel temporarily due to his escalating behavior of obsessive texting, surveillance, and stalking. The stalking incidents were said to have lasted for months, with prosecutors noting that the text messages from Martinez-Ayala to his daughter were more akin to those of a jealous partner than a father. Additionally, Martinez discovered a bag of her underwear in her father’s room.
On the morning of July 31, upon her return home, Martinez was strangled by her father. Surveillance cameras at the residence were reportedly disabled, but Martinez-Ayala left traces such as location data on both his and his daughter’s phones, as well as a message to his brother indicating fear and remorse over his actions. Martinez-Ayala fled to California and Texas, and then used his brother’s identification to pass through customs in another country.
Martinez’s body was found in her bedroom on August 1 after police conducted a welfare check. In addition to the murder charge, Martinez-Ayala faces charges related to obstruction of justice, theft of a bank card, stalking, and misdemeanor identity theft. As of now, there is no attorney listed for Martinez-Ayala in Utah’s online court records, and efforts to reach him through other means have been unsuccessful.
