'I should have stopped it': Mother admits to watching daughter's murder
A New Mexico mother has admitted that she sat back and watched as her boyfriend and his cousin raped, strangled and dismembered her 10-year-old daughter.
Michelle Martens, 35, this week told police that her daughter Victoria begged for mercy as her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales and his cousin Jessica Kelley laced her with methylamphetamine before killing her in an albuquerque apartment complex on August 24.
“Jessica comes into our bedroom and asks me if I believe in God,” Martens said.
“She kept hitting me, hitting me, hitting me, punching.”
Martens then alleged that Kelley shouted “your daughter's dead” as she fled the scene.
Victoria had just started fourth grade at an Albuquerque elementary school and was due to have a birthday party on the day she was murdered.
Instead, her body was reportedly dismembered and her remains placed in a bathtub and set on fire, according to court records.
All three suspects have been charged with kidnapping, child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence, conspiracy and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The mother initially told police she and Gonzales were attacked by Kelley and were unaware of anything happening to Victoria. The couple was investigated separately and after hours of questioning, Martens story collapsed on itself and she confessed.
“I should have stopped it,” Martens confessed to police.
She told detectives she watched Gonzales and Kelley sexually assault Victoria at least three times in the days before the murder. She claimed that Gonzales had also been sexually assaulting her daughter for a month while she was at work.
During the interview with police, Martens admitted that she regularly set up the sexual encounters with Victoria, but it wasn’t about the money she made, she said she just liked to watch the assaults.
She told authorities she set up a profile on dating site Plenty of Fish to find men interested in having sex with her daughter and possibly her younger son as well.
Kelley, who has been convicted of rape before, remained tight lipped during interviews with detectives, while Gonzales’ recount of the evening changed several times throughout questioning.
All of the suspects are expected to face court early next year and remain in custody on $1 million cash bonds.
A public funeral will be held for Victoria on October 29, where her favourite hymns will be played.
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