Police believe suspect in 5 homicides also killed 2-year-old

MODESTO, Calif. (AP) — Police said Monday that a suspect in the homicides of five people whose bodies were found in a Northern California home this weekend is also responsible for the death of a toddler left in his care last year.

Martin "Marty" Martinez, 30, was arrested early Sunday morning as he left a San Jose movie theater with his father.

Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll said at a news conference Monday that a pathologist concluded on Thursday that 2-year-old Christopher Ripley died of "blunt force trauma" to the head on Oct. 2, 2014.

Carroll said Martinez had been under investigation since the boy's death in a local hospital and that authorities were preparing to formally charge him with homicide when five bodies were found Saturday afternoon in the Modesto home he used to share with Dr. Amanda Crews.

Crews, 38, was Ripley's mother and one of the five homicide victims found Saturday. Martinez's mother, his daughter with Crews and two other girls were also found dead. Martinez is a suspect in the five homicides, Carroll said.

Carroll said police obtained a warrant for Martinez's arrest for the toddler's death Saturday night, after the five bodies were discovered.

Carroll said police didn't issue a warrant earlier because they were awaiting the pathologist's written report.

"The Modesto Police did not drop the ball," Carroll said. He said the investigation of Ripley's death took nine months because the department had to hire an outside pathologist who specializes in neurology to help with the case.

"Homicides do take a great deal of time to investigate," Carroll said. Carroll said a "limited" number of law enforcement officials knew of the pathologist's verbal report delivered to police on Thursday that Ripley was a homicide victim. Carroll said he believes Martinez didn't know of the pathologist's report.

"We do not believe that played a factor in this incident," Carroll said of possible motives for the five homicides. Their bodies were found at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday after police received a call asking for a "security check" of the home.

Carroll declined to divulge the cause of deaths Saturday. He said investigators haven't yet determined a motive.

Crews was a doctor and worked for the Stanislaus County Health Service Agency, according to the California Medical Board. The agency didn't return several phone calls.

Modesto Police spokeswoman Heather Graves said counselors and chaplains are available for the officers who first entered the home and made the grisly discovery. A group of law enforcement officials could be seen huddled together and praying in front of the house shortly after the discovery of the bodies.

The house is in an upscale subdivision lined with four- and five-bedroom homes that were built less than 10 years ago.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-21

If there's no doubt this happened, then he should be put through a wood chipper, feet first. RIP all, but my heart goes to the toddler.

Edited July 21, 201510 yr by Friendly Stranger

Doctor, her two daughters among five dead in apparent homicide in Modesto

MODESTO

Modesto police say the two women and three girls found dead in a Village I home over the weekend include the homicide suspect’s daughter and the daughter’s mother.

While police have not released the victims’ names, family and friends identified three of them as Dr. Amanda Crews, 38, and her daughters, 6-year-old Elizabeth and 6-month-old Rachael, and said suspect Martin “Marty” Martinez, 30, was Rachael’s father.

Martinez was taken into custody early Sunday by San Jose police after Modesto police alerted them that Martinez could be heading to San Jose. Authorities say he has family there. Graves said Martinez was arrested on suspicion of murder. His family could not be reached for comment.

Police spokeswoman Heather Graves said only that the five victims were related and the ages of the girls were 6 months to 6 years. She said the suspect and one of the women were the parents of one of the children and that they had had a previous relationship. She declined to provide more details on the victims’ relationships, their names and other details regarding the homicides.

Graves said she cannot recall a homicide with more victims during her 14 years with the Police Department. Police Chief Galen Carroll said the weekend slayings increase the number of homicides in Modesto this year to 15, with eight of them linked to domestic violence.

More here - modbee.com

Child killer. Prisoners will take care

Of this trash in jail.