Victoria Martens: Murdered Girl’s Mother Faces Eviction Trial, Plus Lawmakers Demand Changes To Sex Offender Law [Video]


Victoria Martens’ drugged, battered, sexually assaulted, and burned body was found in the early morning hours of August 24, the day after the New Mexico girl’s 10th birthday. Her brutal murder has now become one of the most horrifying crimes in the history of the state, something made even more appalling by the fact that her own mother has been implicated in her death. Now, as the State of New Mexico struggles to build cases against the three suspects in the Victoria Martens murder, her mother (who is currently incarcerated pending trial related to her daughter’s rape and murder) is facing additional, unrelated legal woes.

As KRQE reports, Michelle Martens, the mother and alleged killer of 10-year-old Victoria Martens, is now facing an eviction trial related to the apartment that she was living in at the time of Victoria’s senseless, tragic murder. The apartment, located in The Arroyo Villas Apartments in Albuquerque, was also the scene of the horrific events leading up to the death of Victoria. Reportedly, the property management company/owners of the New Mexico apartment wants Victoria Martens’ mother to pay for the damages done to the unit, as well as to pay her alleged back rent.

While the extent of the damage to the apartment where Victoria Martens was found dead is unknown, it is likely very extensive given the brutal nature of Victoria Martens’ death. How the apartment management expects to collect any award they win for damages in the case is anybody’s guess; Michelle Martens’ bail has been set at $1 million cash only.

According to law enforcement that responded to the horrific scene where Victoria Martens’ body was found, hers was one of the most vicious and violent deaths that the city of Albuquerque has ever seen. When authorities got to the apartment, the carpet in Victoria’s room was reportedly covered in blood. Court records in the Victoria Martens case indicate that the 10-year-old was forcibly drugged with an injection of methamphetamine to “calm her down” while she was sexually assaulted. Victoria was then reportedly raped by the other two suspects, her mother’s boyfriend, Fabien Gonzales, and his cousin Jessica Kelley. After the sexual assault, Kelley allegedly choked Victoria Martens to death while Gonzales allegedly stabbed her in the abdomen, as her mother reportedly looked on and did nothing to stop the violence being committed against her young daughter.

Investigators say following the painful and brutal death Victoria Martens endured, her body was further desecrated. It has been reported that Jessica Kelley dismembered the girl, then wrapped her body in a blanket, put it in a bathtub in the damaged apartment, and lit Victoria Martens’ remains on fire. When law enforcement arrived at the scene of the unconscionable crime, Kelley reportedly tried to flee by jumping from a balcony as what was left of Victoria Martens’ body lay burning in the tub.

The details of the murder of Victoria Martens were so horrible and heartbreaking that her tragic death and the events leading up to it has prompted New Mexico lawmakers to push for changes to the state’s sex offender laws, particularly since two of Victoria Martens’ alleged killers had extensive criminal records.

As KOAT 7 reports, Jessica Kelley had previously pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual assault while incarcerated for other charges back in 2013. In that incident, which took place at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the alleged killer of Victoria Martens reportedly stood watching while another inmate allegedly raped a woman that Kelley had pulled out from under a jail bed. Because Jessica Kelley’s conviction was for conspiracy to commit sexual assault rather than the actual object rape that reportedly occurred, she wasn’t required to submit to listing on the New Mexico sex offender registry.

At the time of Victoria Martens’ death, Kelley had been out of jail for only about two weeks.

Following the murder of Victoria Martens, some New Mexico lawmakers are working diligently to get a piece of legislation to close the loophole that prevented Jessica Kelley from being forced to register as a sex offender brought before the state’s legislators.

“It’s totally frustrating because these are common sense pieces of legislation that we really must pass.”

Fabian Gonzales, who is believed to be the man that drugged and raped 10-year-old Victoria Martens after worming his way into her life by dating her mother for approximately a month, has an extensive history of violently violating the law, too. Included among his decade-long list of crimes were felony child abandonment and domestic battery, which reportedly took place in 2014, reports KOAT 7.

At the time of Victoria Martens’ murder, Fabian Gonzales was supposed to have been on supervised probation, but he somehow slipped through some cracks in the legal system. If he had been on supervised probation, he would have been subjected to the monitoring of a probation officer as well as forced to undergo random and regular drug testing.

In the wake of Victoria Martens’ death, authorities in New Mexico are reportedly working diligently to protect other children from suffering her fate.

[Photo by Russell Contreras/AP Images]

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