Modesto man accused of killing two women, four children returns to court
A Modesto man charged with capital murder in the killings of four children and two adults is set to return to court Tuesday.
A status hearing is set for 8:30 a.m. in the case of Martin Martinez, Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney John Goold said in an email message sent out Friday afternoon.
Martinez, 35, faces five counts of murder in the 2015 deaths of his girlfriend, Amanda Crews; her two daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth; his mother, Anna Brown Romero; and his niece, Esmeralda.
Martinez is separately charged with murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher Ripley. Christopher died of head injuries while in Martinez’s care.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Police doing a welfare check at Crews’ north Modesto home found the five bodies on July 18, 2015. Crews and Romero had been stabbed to death. And 6-month-old Rachael, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 5-year-old Esmeralda Navarro had been suffocated with plastic bags fastened around their necks.
Martinez was arrested later that day in San Jose, where he attended a family barbecue, family members testified in a preliminary hearing last year.
Martinez has remained in custody in Stanislaus County Jail since his arrest.
