Murder In America
EP. 202: NEW MEXICO - RAPED & MURDERED ON HER 10TH BIRTHDAY: The Story of Victoria Martens
Fri, 16 May 2025
In today’s episode, we explore an absolutely heinous crime committed by a mother, her boyfriend and his cousin in 2016, and hopefully raise awareness so that they can finally find the missing perpetrator. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What was the horrific crime involving Victoria Martens in New Mexico?
Our story begins in the early morning hours of August 24th, 2016. The police in Albuquerque, New Mexico were responding to a call about a domestic dispute at an apartment complex. When they finally arrived and entered apartment 808, they couldn't help but notice the smoke that filled the unit, and the smell that came with it.
The fire alarms were blaring as they made their way towards the source of that smoke, and soon enough they were led to a bathroom. But they had absolutely no idea the nightmare they were about to uncover. As it turns out, this was far more than a domestic dispute. As the officers opened up that door, they saw a body in the bathtub.
The victim had been dismembered, their organs had been removed, and they had been set on fire. But almost immediately, the officers noted how small the victim was. As it turns out, The body in the bathtub was that of 10-year-old Victoria Martins. She had been killed on her 10th birthday. But the story of how she got into that bathtub was even more devastating than the scene in front of them.
For Victoria's 10th birthday, instead of playing with her friends, she spent the day with meth users. Instead of opening presents, Victoria was raped inside of her bedroom. And instead of eating cake surrounded by her loved ones, Victoria was murdered, dismembered, and set on fire.
Major trigger warning for this episode as it is truly one of the most disturbing cases I have ever heard in my entire life. But this is the story of Victoria Martins. I'm Courtney Browen.
And I'm Colin Browen.
Thank you.
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Chapter 2: Who were the key individuals involved in Victoria Martens' life before the tragedy?
It's August of 2006 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and 25-year-old Michelle Martins is just weeks away from giving birth. But if you were to have asked her, she would have denied being pregnant at all. For whatever reason, Michelle wouldn't acknowledge the fact that she was with child. Maybe it's because the baby's father wasn't in her life. Or maybe she just wasn't ready to become a mom.
But Michelle wouldn't be able to deny it forever. On August 23, 2006, she started having contractions. And while she was at her house, all by herself, Michelle delivered a beautiful little girl named Victoria. Michelle called her her miracle child because despite not going to an OBGYN or taking prenatal vitamins, Victoria still came out as healthy as could be.
However, things weren't always easy for them. According to Michelle, Victoria's father wanted nothing to do with his daughter, so they were all on their own. Now, Michelle was born in 1981, and she was described as having a low IQ and was known to be extremely trusting and vulnerable. Originally from New York, Michelle moved to Texas before eventually settling in New Mexico.
But luckily for her, she did have the help of her parents, which she was really grateful for, given she was a single mother.
By the time Victoria was two years old, her mother Michelle started dating someone. Now, we don't know his name, but in 2008, they found out they were pregnant. And later that year, Michelle would give birth to a son named Matthew, Victoria's half-brother. Now, Michelle was actually with this man for years. He was in Victoria's life from age two to nine, so he was like a father figure to her.
And these years seemed to be the best of Victoria's life. They were a family. But in 2015, Michelle and her boyfriend decided to part ways, ending their seven-year relationship. Now, Matthew continued to have a relationship with his dad, but it was a big adjustment for them. At the time, Michelle, nine-year-old Victoria,
and seven-year-old Matthew were living at the Aurora Villa apartment complex on the west side of Albuquerque. And from the outside looking in, they appeared to be a normal family. In 2015, Victoria was going to school at Petroglyph Elementary School. And according to the people who knew her, she never met a stranger.
Victoria was the type of girl that could walk up and start a conversation with anyone. She was very social and a natural at making new friends. She was also a very energetic child. According to her family, she loved being outside, whether it was rollerblading, swimming with her little brother, riding around on her scooter, or just watching butterflies.
Victoria could always be seen with a smile, and a beautiful smile at that. When you look at pictures of her, you can just tell that she brought people joy, that her laugh was infectious. And like many girls her age, she was exploring her interests. At the time, she had really been loving gymnastics. She was good at drawing, and she loved anything sparkly and purple.
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Chapter 3: What warnings and previous incidents foreshadowed the tragedy?
On the 4th of July, the entire family got together at the pool and spent the day swimming, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, and just enjoying each other's company. But little did they know, their life was about to change forever when another man entered into Michelle's life.
Now, like we mentioned, Michelle broke up with her previous boyfriend, David Hernandez, after he had tried to kiss her nine-year-old daughter. But after their breakup, she was longing for some companionship. So in the summer of 2016, Michelle visited the online dating website called Plenty of Fish.
Their website reads, quote, we are committed to help ensure that you feel welcomed, safe, and free to be yourself while online dating. So that night, Michelle started scrolling, looking through all of the eligible men in her area. And eventually, she came across the profile of Fabian Gonzalez. He was 31 years old, Hispanic. He had children of his own.
And after looking through his pictures, Michelle thought he was attractive. So that night, the two started a conversation on the dating website. And before they knew it, they had plans to meet up in person. Now, one would think that after what happened with her previous boyfriend, that Michelle would be a little apprehensive about bringing new men around her children. But that wasn't the case.
In fact, after just a couple weeks of dating, Fabian moved into their apartment.
Michelle must have known that her family wouldn't approve of this because she kept her new relationship a secret, which, according to Michelle, was Fabian's idea. But that summer, there was one instance where Michelle's parents came over unannounced, while Fabian was in the apartment.
When Michelle looked through the peephole and saw her parents at the door, she rushed Fabian over to her bedroom and made him hide in a closet until her parents left.
maybe she knew that her parents wouldn't approve of him or maybe she was scared that they'd look into his criminal record because of course fabian gonzalez was also a criminal his rap sheet dated all the way back to 2004 and included charges of felony child abuse battery involving great bodily harm driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest
In August of 2014, Fabian was charged with assaulting his girlfriend as she drove with their young child in the backseat. In February of 2015, Fabian pled guilty to two misdemeanor charges and received two years supervised probation under the New Mexico Department of Corrections.
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Chapter 4: How did Michelle Martins' relationships impact Victoria's safety?
But immediately upon doing so, a fight ensued, and Fabian ended up fighting a pregnant woman who punched him so hard he got a black eye. Following this fight, he was even angrier than he was before, and as he left the house, he screamed out that he was going to come back with his brothers.
Now, according to court documents, Fabian's brothers were founding members of the TCK gang in New Mexico, a gang that has had an extremely violent, homicidal history. And apparently, Fabian and his brothers were still active in the gang. So, after he threatened to bring his brothers to the barbecue, the family was worried.
They even put some armed men outside to guard the doors, just in case he came back. Now, throughout that entire night, Fabian kept texting his family at the barbecue, threatening them. And they had every right to be frightened, because cell phone records would later show that Fabian called his brothers over 20 times that evening. He was also researching gun purchases.
But luckily, Fabian never came back to the family barbecue that night. However, I think the story goes to show just how dangerous he was, how volatile. And this is the man that Michelle Martins chose to have a relationship with. The man she let move into her home. Hey everybody, Courtney and I have a favor to ask of you.
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But let's get back to the story.
Now, even though Fabian had this beef with his family members, he and his cousin Jessica were still on good terms. She was still living with him in Michelle's apartment. And like Fabian, she too started taking advantage of Michelle. Within two days of living there, Jessica invited her two teenage kids to come over and stay the night. Another night that week, Jessica invited a man to come over.
And while everyone was sleeping, Jessica had sex with this man in the living room, right outside of nine-year-old Victoria's bedroom. Now, during the day, Jessica also took Michelle's car to go run errands around town. And keep in mind, they had only known each other for a few days.
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Chapter 5: What happened on Victoria Martens' 10th birthday?
They tried to gain entry into the apartment, but Jessica had slammed the door in their faces and deadbolted it. But inside apartment 808, Jessica Kelly was panicking. She ran out to the balcony and decided that she was going to try and escape. However, when she jumped off the second story, Jessica fell and broke her ankle. And from there, the officers were able to detain her.
Here is the video of her arrest.
No, I didn't do nothing. There's some shit that went down. No, I didn't do nothing.
Hey, stop. Stop. Stop it. Stop it.
I'm scared, you guys. All right, relax. Go on.
Stop flipping. Stop it. You guys.
Hold her.
My leg. My leg. Why'd you lock the door?
Somebody just started a fucking fire and it went over the fucking balcony, dude. Okay, there's a tent sitting there. Hey, sit down. Sit down. Sit down.
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Chapter 6: How did the police and emergency responders uncover the crime scene?
Walk! I don't care if your leg's broken.
You're gonna walk.
I can't walk, Doodle Duck.
You're gonna walk.
My leg is broken. I just got thrown off the fucking balcony.
You didn't get thrown off. You jumped off. I saw you close the door. You told me you jumped.
Come on. Dude, my whole leg is broke though.
Keep walking.
I'm trying! Go ahead. Can you advise what we're looking at here? Male, female, crossbreeding?
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Chapter 7: What was revealed during the police interviews with Fabian Gonzalez and Michelle Martins?
Come on. This is, that's sick. That's disgusting. That's gross.
But you're putting this on your cousin. I'm not buying it.
Now, at the time of Fabian's interview, Michelle Martins is also being interviewed, and she's being a lot more open about what happened on August 23rd, her daughter's 10th birthday.
Victoria's birthday was... Just yesterday. Just yesterday, right? Okay. And what were you guys going to do for Victoria's birthday?
We were going to celebrate it today. Okay.
What was the... Did you guys have a... The parka ballet. The part at the hospital, it's up at the intervention. Oh, okay. Okay. Nice. We guys just, we just had friends and cake.
Okay.
It is.
Okay. She was your baby?
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Chapter 8: What were the challenges and failings in protecting Victoria Martens?
We'll get into that a little later, but that night, Michelle even went into the kitchen and made everyone tacos, while her daughter's body was in the other room. According to her, it never crossed her mind that Victoria never ate dinner that night. But sometime after making the tacos, according to them, Michelle went into her bedroom to go to sleep.
And that's when Jessica and Fabian started the dismemberment process. And here is how that played out, according to Jessica. Once Michelle was in the bedroom, Fabian grabbed a kitchen knife and some trash bags. They then went into Victoria's room and put the trash bags beneath her body so that they wouldn't get blood on the carpet.
And then from there, they began cutting Victoria's arms off with a kitchen knife. Jessica said that she held the arms as Fabian stabbed them. Now kitchen knives are not usual tools people use for dismemberment, so it was incredibly messy and difficult. The process took them several hours, but once the arms were removed,
Jessica put them in a trash bag and then put the trash bag in Victoria's laundry basket. She then took that basket and put it by the front door. But Jessica said that when she returned to Victoria's room, she saw Fabian cutting open Victoria's chest. She said that he put a trash bag around his hand so that it wouldn't get bloody. And he then reached into Victoria's chest
and started removing her organs. He removed her heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys. But at that point, Jessica said that she told him to stop. When asked why, Jessica said this.
Because I just figured it's a mess to cut up a body. Why don't we just get rid of the body? Not make a bigger mess.
So from here, Jessica said that she took over. Fabian went into the bedroom to check on Michelle while she started cleaning up. She said she wiped the blood off Victoria's body and she even put her pink pajamas back on. She then wrapped her body up in some trash bags, then a blanket, and she carried Victoria over to the bathroom.
After placing her in the bathtub, Jessica got a bowl and filled it with soapy water. She then went to Victoria's room and attempted to clean the blood out of the carpet. From there, she put some bloody towels into the washing machine. Now, at this point, Fabian came out of the bedroom and Jessica said that he cleaned off the bloody knives and then put them back into the knife block.
But investigators would later find pieces of flesh still attached to it, as well as Fabian's fingerprints. By this point, they had been dismembering Victoria for hours, and it's here where they decided that they were going to dump her body out in the mesa. However, those plans would soon change. In her paranoid state, Jessica said she lost it.
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