Man accused of killing Modesto doctor, her children and two others pleads guilty
The Modesto man who killed five people, including three children, inside an east Modesto home in the summer of 2015, pleaded guilty to their murders and other crimes on Tuesday.
“He will die in prison, there is no question about that,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees said after the hearing.
Her office had sought the death penalty against Martin Martinez for killing his girlfriend, Dr. Amanda Crews; her two daughters, Rachel and Elizabeth; his mother, Anna Brown Romero; and his niece, Esmeralda inside a home on Nob Hill Court on July 18, 2015 .
With Tuesday’s plea, the death penalty was taken off the table and Martinez will instead serve five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and has waived his right to appeal.
Martinez also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Crews’ 2-year-old son, Christopher, who suffered a brain injury while in his care in October 2014. For that he was sentenced to 11 years to be served concurrently with the five life sentences.
In the murders of the five women and children, Martinez also admitted enhancements for premeditation and using a knife and special circumstances because there were multiple victims and for lying in wait.
Rees said Martinez entered Crews’ home on Nob Hill Court through the garage door and stabbed his mother, Anna Romero, to death in the laundry room. He then went upstairs to the master bedroom, where he found 6-year-old Elizabeth and 5-year-old Esmeralda Navarro and suffocated them using plastic bags fastened around their necks. Martinez then suffocated 6 month-old Rachel, who was also his daughter, in her crib inside a downstairs bedroom.
Amanda Crews, a Modesto doctor, was at a health conference that morning and stopped to buy batteries for her garage door opener before returning home.
Rees said Martinez knew Crews wouldn’t be coming through the garage and was waiting for her by the front door.
“We know the door was locked so we know she turned to lock the door and that’s when he set upon her,” Rees said.
Martinez stabbed Crews to death then left through the garage door.
“We believe he had a key because the door was locked when the victims were discovered,” Rees said. “That is the way he let himself in and then he locked it, after stepping over his mother in the laundry room, and left that way.”
Police doing a welfare check at Crews’ north Modesto home found the five bodies.
Martinez was arrested later that evening in San Jose, where he attended a family barbecue, family members testified in a preliminary hearing last year.
On Tuesday morning in court, Martinez showed little emotion as he answered with one or two words when judge Ricardo Córdova asked if he understood the terms of his plea.
Rees said Martinez’s attorneys approached her several weeks ago and offered to settle the case.
She went to the family members of all the victims to get approval before agreeing.
Half the courtroom gallery was filled with family of the victims.
Timothy Ripley, the father of Christopher and Elizabeth, and Amanda Crews’ twin sister, Kimberley Crews, declined to comment after the hearing.
A few weeks after the murders, Kimberley Crews told The Bee she wanted the death penalty for Martinez.
Speaking on behalf of all the families on Tuesday, Rees said they agreed to the settlement because, “Their feeling was, in regard to the years and years of appellate process that would occur if we had a death penalty verdict, they preferred to see it over now so they could move on with their lives.”
The victims family members will have an opportunity to read victim impact statements at Martinez’s next hearing on March 12.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
