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Victoria Martens: Mother Of Slain 10-Year-Old Admits To Finding Men To Rape Girl On Multiple Occasions [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 10:57 PST, Sep 14, 2016

Ten-year-old Victoria Martens’ life came to a violent, tragic end on August 24, the day after her birthday and before she’d had the opportunity to celebrate the event. According to authorities, Victoria Martens’ last few hours alive were hours of terror and inexplicable horror. Reportedly, throughout the late night and early morning hours, Victoria Martens was drugged, sexually assaulted, strangled, stabbed, dismembered, and her remains lit on fire. Authorities have called the brutal murder of Victoria Martens, which took place in the Albuquerque apartment she shared with her mother, one of the worst crimes in New Mexico history.

While, at first glance, it would appear that nothing could make the horrible abuse and murder Victoria Martens endured any worse, the fact is that her case is even more disturbing than the heartbreaking surface details indicate. That’s because, according to investigators, one of the three people implicated in Victoria’s torturous abuse and murder is the girl’s own mother.

Victoria Martens’ mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, was implicated in Victoria’s death almost immediately after police responded to the bloody crime scene. According to New Mexico authorities, Michelle Martens had two accomplices, her 31-year-old boyfriend Fabian Gonzales and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley.

Gonzales and Kelley are accused of physically carrying out the violence that ended Victoria Martens’ short life; Michelle Martens, her own mother, is accused of sitting by and watching her daughter’s drugging, sexual assault, murder, and dismemberment without intervening.

Now, as the Albuquerque Journal reports, new and disturbing details regarding the tragic life and violent death of Victoria Martens are emerging as a result of the ongoing police investigation into her murder. Based on Michelle Martens’ statement to law enforcement following her daughter’s violent murder as well as search warrants in the case, it has come to light that the night of Victoria Martens’ untimely death was far from the first time the New Mexico 10-year-old had endured unthinkable abuse.

Indeed, according to reports, New Mexico child protective services had been alerted to potential abuse in Victoria Martens’ life, and the girl was interviewed by social workers twice before her murder.

According to statements made by Victoria’s mother, Michelle Martens, to police, Victoria had been repeatedly raped in the past. Michelle reportedly admitted to law enforcement that she had personally arranged for her own daughter to be sexually assaulted by at least three men prior to the night of her daughter’s murder.

Michelle Martens told investigators that she met the men whom she would allow to sexually assault her daughter both at work and online, and that she had made the arrangements for Victoria’s repeated rapes because she “liked to watch.”

According to Michelle Martens’ statement to Albuquerque investigators, Fabian Gonzales (a man who had been reported to be Michelle’s boyfriend for roughly a month at the time of Victoria Martens’ death) was one of the men she’d met online for the express purpose of sexually assaulting her daughter.

According to search warrants related to the Victoria Martens murder case, law enforcement has collected DNA evidence from all three suspects in her death (all of whom are currently incarcerated in Bernalillo County Jail on $1 million bail each), and have confiscated multiple recording devices that they believe may have been used to record sex crimes against Victoria Martens and/or other minors. Reportedly, authorities also found a safe at the scene of Victoria Martens’ murder.

New Mexico authorities believe it is possible that Michelle Martens’ younger child, who lives with his biological father, may also have been a victim of repeated sexual abuse. They are currently investigating that possibility. Reportedly, the father of Michelle Martens’ younger son has sought a restraining order against all three suspects in Victoria’s murder, in case they are released from custody.

“Michelle said ‘yeah’ when asked if she would agree with them over the internet or over the phone that they would come over and have sex with her children.”

According to Officer Tanner Tixier of the Albuquerque Police Department, both local and federal investigators are working in tangent to decide whether or not additional federal charges could be handed down to Michelle Martens or anyone else found to have used the internet to perpetuate sex crimes against children.

As for whether or not anyone other than the three suspects currently incarcerated and awaiting trial for Victoria Martens’ murder could face criminal charges related to her prior abuse, authorities are still unsure. Because they are in the middle of a lengthy and complicated murder investigation, they are declining to comment on other potential charges in connection with the case.

“This will be a very thorough, long investigation.”

It is not yet known exactly how long Victoria Martens had been subjected to sexual abuse for her mother’s enjoyment prior to her murder.

In addition to revealing heartbreaking details about the life Victoria Martens led leading up to her violent final hours, Michelle Martens’ statement and the search warrants in the Victoria Martens case have uncovered other disturbing details about the girl’s final hours.

When the case of the murder of Victoria Martens was initially reported, it was indicated publicly that the violence was the work of Kelley alone, but that version of events quickly fell apart.

Since her arrest, Michelle Martens reportedly told law enforcement that Victoria was forced to orally inject methamphetamine to “calm her down” (previously, it had been reported that the girl was injected with the drug). Michelle Martens told investigators that she then watched while Kelley held Victoria down as Gonzales raped then choked her. According to Michelle Martens, Jessica Kelley also stabbed the girl, then Gonzales and Kelley cut her body into pieces, put her remains in a bathtub, and set her on fire.

The newly released statements and warrants in the case indicate that Michelle has stated that Victoria Martens died from a methamphetamine overdose. Investigators don’t believe that to be the case. According to law enforcement, Victoria Martens was alive throughout much of the torturous assault and most likely died from the strangulation and/or stabbing.

[Featured Image by Russell Contreras/AP Images]

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