September 17, 2024
At 8am on August 1, 2024, the body of a Utah Sheriff’s deputy, Marbella Martinez, was discovered in her own home. The discovery was made during a welfare check by police who were checking in on the 25-year-old.
She was found dead in her bed, with a blanket pulled up to her neck. An officer at the scene reported she had scratches on her face and neck, and blood on her mouth. Autopsy would later reveal that she had been strangled to death.
Martinez was a corrections officer with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office. She was sworn in as a Corrections Officer at the start of 2024 after graduating the academy, and lived with her father, Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala, 54, in Tooele City.
The pair had started having issues a few days before Marbella’s death, and she had moved into a hotel room to get some space. Her father had allegedly been stalking her for several months, which involved obsessive texting, described as the messages of a “jealous lover,” rather than a father, as well as surveillance cameras, and a tracking device secretly attached to her vehicle.
Disturbingly, Marbella had even discovered a bag of her own underwear in her father’s bedroom several months earlier, in February. Also found in the bag were her used sanitary products. Some reports state that Marbella confronted her father about his behaviour, and he allegedly promised to change his ways.
A photograph of Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala circulating across various online platforms shows a man with dark, greying hair and beard, dressed in a white T-shirt and denim jacket. He is shown wearing a gold bracelet in a design of linked bones and skulls, as well as a left hand with large gold rings on each finger, a large gold skull on the index and middle finger, as well as a matching gold Baphomet ring on his ring finger, and a satanic pentagram on his pinkie.
Media outlets report that in addition to the tracking device, he also put a hidden camera in his daughter's vehicle, which he used to track and survey her while Marbella was on a summer vacation in other country with an individual she was romantically involved with. Martinez-Ayala would later track down Marbella’s love-interest using the tracking device while they were on a hiking date in Bates Canyon, a 9.2-mile out-and-back trail that takes over 6 hours to complete.
It was after this incident that Marbella stayed at a hotel for several days, before returning to the home she shared with her father on July 31.
Footage from the home surveillance cameras show that Marbella returned at around 11am on July 31. She was still alive at 12:32pm, as the last piece of haunting footage captured her ascending the staircase to her room.
Martinez-Ayala would have received a notification when his daughter returned.
Police believe Marbella was strangled to death by her father on July 31. Around this time, cameras looking over the home were likely disabled, and any footage there may have been after 2:17 pm July 31, 2024, when Martinez-Ayala arrived at their home, was missing, or never recorded.
Martinez-Ayala did, however, neglect to turn off his phone, allowing investigators to later track his movements before and after his daughter’s death, as well as access any calls and messages he made afterwards.
One such piece of evidence was a damning text message he sent to his twin brother at 4:34pm, in which, according to documents, he wrote:
“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. I think I will never come back.”
Martinez-Ayala then left the scene of the crime.
He took his daughter’s credit card and withdrew money from her account, $1000 in two separate transactions, then travelled to Salt Lake City Airport. Along the way, he likely tossed his daughter’s cell phone out of a moving vehicle. It would later be found along the I-80 Eastbound, near mile marker 101.
Using his brother's identification, he then took a flight to San Fransisco, California, followed by a connecting flight to Texas, and eventually left the U.S, entering a different country, which has not yet been published in the media.
Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayalahas has not only been charged with murder, but also faces charges of stalking, identity theft, using a stolen bank card, and obstruction of justice.
Sheriff Rosie Rivera of the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office said of Marbella Martinez's passing: “Deputy Martinez was a dedicated member of our Sheriff’s Office family. In her short time with us, she became a cherished friend and an integral part of our team. Her untimely and tragic death is a profound loss for us all. Our thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones during this heartbreaking time. We hope that the investigation will provide answers and some measure of justice for our Deputy and her family.”
The whereabouts of Martinez-Ayala is, at the time of writing, unknown.
If you have information pertaining to the suspects whereabouts, or any information regarding the case, you are encouraged to call Tooele County Dispatch Center at 435-882-5600, and select option 1.
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