Mother, Bf & Cousin Arrested For Brutal Rape And Murder Of Girl Who Was Strangled & Set On Fire On Her 10th Birthday

On the day a girl was going to celebrate her 10th birthday, she was found murdered in her family's apartment in New Mexico by police officers, her dismembered remains wrapped in a burning blanket.

Details of what Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged Thursday in a criminal complaint made public and filed against the girl's mother, her boyfriend and his cousin. The three were arrested late Wednesday night.

Police say the girl, identified Thursday afternoon as Victoria Martens, was injected with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. 


Early Wednesday morning, police received a call about a disturbance inside a unit at the Arroyo Villas Apartment Complex on Irving Boulevard. Officers who responded to the address came upon a gruesome crime scene in the bathroom, said Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden. 

'This is a horrific tragedy for our community,' Eden told reporters. 'I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.'

The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

Gonzales and Kelley have also been charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

According to the criminal complaint, Martens made a confession, telling police Gonzales drugged the girl so he could 'calm her down' and have sex with her. She said Kelley held her hand over the child's mouth and she stabbed the girl in the stomach after Gonzales had choked her.

The complaint also states that the mother, who also has a younger son, told investigators that Gonzales and Kelley dismembered Victoria.

One of the police officers who arrived at the apartment found the girl's body in a bathroom, rolled up in a blanket that had been set on fire. The officer put it out.

Some of her remains were found in a plastic bag in a hamper near the kitchen, reported The Albuquerque Journal, citing court records.