Police: Mother and two others drugged, raped, killed 10-year-old girl
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The brutal murder of a 10-year-old girl shocked the community, even devastating the most seasoned police officers. Even more shocking are the people accused of doing it, one of them the girl’s own mother.
That little girl is 10-year-old Victoria Martens. Details of the torment she endured early Wednesday morning are emerging. KRQE News 13 wants to warn you, those details are very graphic.Criminal Complaint: The criminal complaint is very graphic and contains disturbing details. Read at your own risk.
Albuquerque police say the people behind the crime include her own mother, Michelle Martens, her mother’s boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales and Gonzales’ cousin, Jessica Kelley.
Police say it all happened in the mother’s apartment at Irving and Golf Course early Wednesday morning, after someone reported a disturbance. When police arrived, they found the little girl’s remains under a burning blanket.
Police soon learned the girl had been dismembered in what they believe was an attempt to cover up the crime. And police say the torment she endured before that is hard to even fathom.
“They injected this little girl with methamphetamines to make her calm down so they could do what they wanted to, to this little girl,” said Albuquerque Police Officer Tanner Tixier.
All three suspects are charged with the girl’s murder, child abuse, kidnapping and other charges. Kelley and Gonzales are both also charged with rape.
Gonzales and Martens were seen being taken into custody by police Wednesday night, with bruises on their face they claim are from Jessica Kelley attacking them with an iron during all of this.
They were both escorted out of the APD Main Station in handcuffs and transported to the Metropolitan Detention Center. When pressed for answers about what happened, Gonzales pinned everything on Kelley.
“I tried my best to protect Michelle and the baby,” said Gonzales. “Jessica Kelley did it.”
KRQE News 13 has learned the suspects in the girl’s death are no strangers to the law. Jessica Kelley does have a long rap sheet, but so does Gonzales.
Both Kelley and Gonzales have violent histories with multiple charges of battery against a household member. Gonzales has four battery charges on his record, two resulting in great bodily harm. He was also charged with an open count of child abuse in 2014 and abandonment of a child that same year.
Jessica Kelley’s record is somewhat similar. She also has four battery charges on her sheet, plus one pending domestic abuse charge she’s supposed to appear in court for on August 29th. Those charges were filed back in 2011.
Kelley pleaded no contest to assaulting a peace officer in 2007 and to DWI in 2011. She was found guilty for another DWI in 2010. Kelley also has two shoplifting and one drug trafficking charge.
According to New Mexico Courts, Kelley and another woman were previously charged with raping a woman. Those charges were dismissed, but Kelley was convicted of being there, which is a sex crime. A judge gave her three years and she served them all after violating her probation.
According to Kelley’s Facebook page, she was released just ten days ago. That’s when she moved in with her cousin and his girlfriend, and tragically, Victoria.
Kelley’s conviction for conspiracy to commit rape did not require her to register as a sex offender, or keep away from children.
Michelle Martens on the other hand, appears clean, according to NM Courts. The only cases found for her were related to child support.
Michelle Martens and Fabian Gonzales are set to appear in court Thursday. A judge set their bond at $1 million cash-only.