East Hartford murder suspect has died

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Jan. 18—A man who was free on $1.25 million bond while facing a murder charge in an April 2021 shooting in an East Hartford parking lot has died, according to court records.

SUSPECT DIES

DECEASED DEFENDANT: Angel "Bebe" Martinez, 37, of Hartford.

CHARGES: Murder and criminal possession of a handgun in shooting of William Gonzalez of East Hartford in the parking lot of 47 Burnside Ave. on April 24, 2021

PENDING: Second-degree hindering prosecution charge against Martinez's sister, Ashley Quintana, 33.

The murder defendant — Angel "Bebe" Martinez, 37, of Hartford — was pronounced dead Nov. 26, according to a motion to dismiss the murder case, filed in Hartford Superior Court by his lawyer, Walter D. Hussey.

Hussey wrote in the motion that he had provided a copy of Martinez's death certificate to the Hartford state's attorney's office. But he didn't attach a copy to the motion, and he hasn't returned calls seeking comment on the case in recent days.

Judge David P. Gold on Friday granted the motion and dismissed the case, court records show.

Martinez's obituary, available online, says he died at Hartford Hospital but sheds no further light on the circumstances of his death.

A spokeswoman for Connecticut's chief medical examiner's office in Farmington said today that the office did an autopsy on Martinez but doesn't yet have information on the cause and manner of his death.

Martinez was accused of fatally shooting William Gonzalez of East Hartford in the parking lot of 47 Burnside Ave. around 7:15 a.m. on April 24, 2021.

Witnesses reported that Gonzalez had been arguing with his child's mother, Ashley Quintana, and her brother, Martinez, according to an affidavit by East Hartford police Detective Frank Napolitano.

East Hartford police charged Martinez in the murder less than six weeks after it occurred, on June 2, 2021.

Martinez was held on $1.25 million bond for more than a year. He posted the bond and was released from jail on Sept. 7 of last year, court records show.

Police also arrested Quintana, now 33, who has listed an address on Dudley Street in Manchester, charging her with second-degree hindering prosecution based on the accusation that she had provided a false alibi for her brother. She is free on $50,000 bond in the case, which remains pending, court records show.

The evidence against Martinez included statements by two witnesses that they heard him arguing with Gonzalez immediately before the shooting. One witness reported hearing Martinez tell Gonzalez that he would shoot him, and the other reported that Martinez said he would shoot anyone who was with Gonzalez, according to Napolitano's affidavit.

In addition, doorbell camera video from a neighboring home shows a dark-colored Audi A7 speeding away from the scene, according to the detective. He reported that the car fit the description of one registered to Martinez's younger brother, also named Angel Martinez.

Cellphone data show that Martinez's phone made a call to Gonzalez's around 5:53 a.m. on the day of the shooting. The call lasted about 15 minutes and would have ended about 6:08 a.m., according to the detective.

Cellphone location data put Martinez's phone "directly in the area of the crime scene" from about 6:08 a.m. to 7:14 a.m. that day, Napolitano wrote. The latter time was four minutes before East Hartford police received the 911 call reporting the shooting.

At Martinez's arraignment, Hussey said there were no eyewitnesses or video showing that Martinez shot Gonzalez.

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