An ‘obsessed’ father who hoarded his daughter’s underwear has fled the country after the body of the young Salt Lake County deputy was found strangled in the home they shared.
Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala, 54, had placed a tracking device on the car of daughter Marbella Martinez, 25, and filled their home with spy cameras before her body was found dead in her bed on August 1.
Investigators say his text messages were ‘more of the nature of a jealous lover than a father’, and he confessed his ‘unforgivable sin’ as he used the ID of his identical twin brother to escape the country hours later.
‘My brother, you know much I love you, I made a big mistake, an unforgivable sin, now I’m too scared and I don’t know what to do,’ he texted.
‘I think I will never come back.’
Marbella had only joined the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office on January 11, but quickly became a ‘cherished friend and an integral part of our team’, according to Sheriff Rosie Rivera.
Three days before her body was discovered, Martinez-Allen had confronted her after tracking her down to nearby Bates Canyon where she had gone with a romantic partner.
Charging documents state that she stayed in a hotel rather than return home after the confrontation but security footage records her arriving at the house on East 970 North at 11am on July 31.
Other cameras in the home record her walking upstairs at 12.23pm and her father pulling up to the home in his truck at 2.17pm.
‘Any video after (his) arrival at 2.17pm was deleted or never existed because of the disabling of the cameras after his arrival,’ the charging documents allege.
That morning she had called her mother Barbara Jimenez to tell her she was not feeling well and was going to tell work she was too sick to come in.
Jimenez, who was in daily contact with her daughter, received a final text message at 2pm and grew increasingly concerned as her messages went unanswered.
Hours later she contacted her ex-husband who at first said Marbella was at work, and then started avoiding her messages.
‘He responded that he was busy and would call me back later,’ she told KSL.com from her home in Belize.
‘Then he said he was busy feeding his cats and dogs. Later, he stopped answering me.’
The by-now frantic mother repeatedly attempted to reach her daughter and eventually called her ex-husband’s brother, Jesus Martinez, who lives in Salt Lake County and promised to drop by.
‘I think he got to the house, and it was locked, so he asked me to give him 30 more minutes,’ Jimenez said.
Martinez then called back to tell her that police had found Marbella dead in her bed and his brother gone in an 8am welfare check.
‘When Marbella’s uncle called me, he just said, ‘I’m so sorry’ and I knew it,’ Jimenez said.
‘I could just feel something had happened to my daughter,’ Jimenez said. ‘And I know Hector did something to her.’
Investigators said that Marbella had found a collection of her underwear in her father’s room in February and that text messages revealed he was ‘becoming increasingly obsessed and controlling’.
‘I really love the look!!’ he wrote to a picture she posted on Facebook of a herself relaxing on a beach less than two weeks before her death.
‘Blood was observed in the victim’s mouth, and there were visible apparent fingernail claw marks on the victim’s face and neck,’ the charging document states.
Cell phone data suggests that Martinez-Ayala, who was originally from Honduras, went to Salt Lake City International Airport after the killing, and threw his daughter’s phone out of the window as he drove down the I-80.
‘He then flew to San Francisco, then to Houston,’ investigators said.
‘There are no cell records after the defendant left Houston, but (he) used his twin brother’s identification when he landed in another country and is seen on surveillance video.
‘His whereabouts are unknown, but his last known location was outside of the United States.’
He was charged in his absence on Friday with murder, two counts of obstructing justice, stalking and unlawful possession of a bank card.
He also faces two counts of unlawful use of a bank card and unlawful possession of someone else’s identification according to charges filed in the 3rd District Court.
Meanwhile a memorial service will he held for the young deputy on Monday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in her native Belize.
Tributes to the young officer have flowed in from friends and colleagues as the search for her father continues.
‘She was such an amazing person and deputy!! I’m so glad I got to work with her!’ wrote Andrea Barnett. ‘I hope she finds peace.’
‘It was an absolute honor working beside you, and having you as such a great friend.’ wrote another colleague.
‘Please rest easy Martinez, we miss you very deeply, forever and always.’
Marbella’s mom has no doubt that she lost her life to her father.
‘We know he killed her,’ she said.
‘I just want justice for my daughter. She was beautiful and kind and had the rest of her life to live.’