Modesto Man Pleads Guilty to Killing 6, Including Children

By Associated Press

Published 5 years ago on

February 19, 2020

A Modesto man who killed five people in 2015 was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without possibility of parole.

In addition to five life sentences, he was given an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of a 2-year-old boy.

Martin Martinez, 35, entered pleas of murder with special circumstances of lying in wait and committing multiple murders in the 2015 attack. In addition to five life sentences, he was given an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of a 2-year-old boy.
Prosecutors said that on July 18, 2015, Martinez entered the home through a garage and stabbed to death his mother, Ana Brown-Romero, 57, in the laundry room. He then went into the home and suffocated Elizabeth Ripley, 6; Esmeralda Navarro, 5, and 6-month-old Rachael Martinez.

The Murders Occurred as Martinez Was About to Be Charged

He then waited for Amanda Crews, 38, to return home and stabbed her to death, prosecutors said.
Martinez and Crews had been dating and Rachael was their daughter, authorities said. The other girls were the daughters of Crews from a previous marriage.
The murders occurred as Martinez was about to be charged with killing 2-year-old Christopher Ripley, a son of Crews by a previous marriage who died of blunt force trauma to the head in October 2014.
Martinez had told investigators that he was lifting the boy off the ground when he fell back and hit his head on the floor, KCRA-TV reported.