ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Relatives of an Albuquerque woman whose 10-year-old daughter was drugged, sexually abused, and then brutally murdered in the mother’s apartment last week are mystified over how she got involved with two convicted criminals accused with her of causing the girl’s death, the family spokeswoman for the child’s relatives said Monday.
Laura Bobbs lived in the same apartment complex as the girl’s mother, Michelle Martens, for five years and said she and Martens’ parents saw the mother daily but never picked up clues of anything amiss.
They were also unaware she had been dating the boyfriend convicted of child endangerment for a month before the killing and letting his cousin stay at the apartment just after the cousin was released from prison.
Martens, Fabian Gonzales and his cousin Jessica Kelley are all jailed for lack of $1 million bail, facing charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence in connection with the Aug. 24 killing of Victoria Martens.
She was found dead by police in the apartment the day she was to celebrate her 10th birthday, with authorities saying her remains had been wrapped in a blanket and set on fire in a bathtub.
“This family shouldn’t be standing behind me grieving,” Bobbs said. “Let’s put our children first. They are our future.”
Martens told detectives that Gonzales injected her daughter with methamphetamine to calm her down before he abused her. Victoria was killed thereafter.
Bobbs and the grandparents saw Martens daily but did not know she was going out with Gonzales and never saw signs that she might be using drugs or have them around her.
Neighbors described Victoria as a happy and outgoing child and Bobbs said she always appeared to be well cared for by her mother. Martens worked at a grocery store near the apartment complex with a community pool where the girl was often seen swimming.
