Police are searching for a man who allegedly strangled his adult daughter to death after jealously stalking her and texting to a family member that he had committed an “unforgivable sin.”
54-year-old Hector Ramon Martinez-Ayala had been named as a person of interest after his 25-year-old daughter Marbella Martinez was found dead on August 1 at the home she shared in Tooele with her father. An autopsy found that she had died from strangulation.
‘I made a big mistake, an unforgivable sin … I think I will never come back.’
Martinez was a Salt Lake County sheriff’s deputy.
On Friday, Martinez-Ayala was charged in her murder, and an arrest warrant was issued after he appeared to have fled the country with the aid of a family member.
Charging documents described a bizarre and disturbing series of incidents where Martinez-Ayala allegedly stalked his own daughter and appeared to confess in a text to his twin brother.
“My brother, you know (how) 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,” Martinez-Ayala allegedly texted on July 31 at about 4:30 p.m.
“I think I will never come back,” he reportedly added.
Prosecutors said before the murder of his daughter, Martinez-Ayala “was becoming increasingly obsessed and controlling” about her and using electronics to track her and stalk her.
His texts reportedly sounded “more of the nature of a jealous lover than a father.”
Charging documents said the stalking escalated when the father found his daughter with her love interest on July 29 and she fled his home to stay at a hotel. Cameras allegedly showed her entering the home on July 31 and Martinez-Ayala arriving about two hours later.
Her body was later found on top of her bed.
“Blood was observed in the victim’s mouth and there were visible apparent fingernail claw marks on the victim’s face and neck,” prosecutors said.
Tooele police say that Martinez-Ayala likely fled the country with the aid of friends and family, and they are urging them to come forward to help police catch the suspect.
A news video report from KSL-TV showed images of the victim and her father before the horrifying incident.
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