Key officers testify in Gonzales trial

Jul. 26—Jurors on Monday heard from two Albuquerque police officers who played key roles at different stages in the investigation of Victoria Martens' death — the first officer on scene who kicked in the door to the apartment and found the 10-year-old girl dead and on fire in a bath tub, and a cold case detective who brought a fresh pair of eyes to the investigation a year later. The trial against Fabian Gonzales, 37, continued Monday in 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque. A jury was seated July 13 and Judge Cindy Leos is presiding over the case. Gonzales is facing charges of child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12, seven counts of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. Sgt. Harold Sennett, who was a patrol officer the night Victoria was killed, testified Monday and jurors also watched the graphic video recorded by his on-body camera early the morning of Aug. 24, 2016, when police found Victoria's body. Police were originally called to the Northwest Albuquerque apartment complex on a reported battery or assault, Sennett said. He entered a first-floor apartment and found Gonzales and Michelle Martens, Victoria's mother, with a neighbor. Martens was bleeding from her head and Gonzales was holding her hair back. They both told Sennett and another officer that Jessica Kelley, who had attacked them, was still in Martens' apartment upstairs, according to the recording. "When I left to come here she said my daughter's dead," Martens told Sennett, according to the recording. When officers tried to enter that apartment they said Kelley shut the door on them and then jumped off the balcony. She was quickly taken into custody, which is when officers heard the smoke alarm coming from the apartment. Sennett kicked in the door to the apartment, busting off the chain lock at the top. He could see and smell smoke and he and another officer started searching for Victoria. "Oh my God," Sennett said as he entered the bathroom and saw Victoria dead and on fire. He grabbed a sheet off the ground and started trying to pat the fire out while another officer poured water on the flames. "I saw that she was dismembered and she was on fire," Sennett said. He left the apartment and reported over his radio that there was a child "10-7," which is the code police use to report a death. He can be heard repeatedly taking deep breaths. Deputy District Attorney Greer Staley asked Sennett if that was a difficult moment. "Absolutely difficult," he responded. Victoria's death rocked the Albuquerque community because of its brutality. Gonzales, Kelley and Martens were originally charged with rape and murder in the case. About two years after they were arrested, some of the more serious charges against Gonzales and Martens were dropped. Kelley, 37, has already pleaded no contest to six felony charges, including child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12. She was sentenced to 44 years in prison, although she will be eligible for parole in half that time. Martens, 40, pleaded guilty in 2018 to child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12. She faces 12 to 15 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. Rich Lewis, a retired Albuquerque police officer, was assigned to the case in 2017. A cold case detective, Lewis brought a new perspective to the criminal investigation, which he said was far and away the largest investigation he had ever been a part of. "I can't even put a scale on it," he said. "I've never seen anything like it in 40 years." He pored over the case records and transcripts before even talking to the police detectives already assigned to the case. "Original investigators sometimes can get so wound up in their investigation that they can't see the whole picture," he said. For a year and a half, Lewis worked on nothing but the investigation into Victoria's death. It was during that time that investigators and prosecuting attorneys learned the original charges and theory of the case were flawed. "I started seeing something," Lewis said. "There might be somebody else involved."

The District Attorney's Office has alleged that an unknown man killed Victoria over a dispute the man had with Gonzales, and that Gonzales and Kelley then tampered with evidence. Gonzales' attorneys say Kelley killed Victoria and then acted alone to try to clean up the crime scene. Lewis said that part of the reason the original theory of the case was problematic was because it relied heavily on Martens' interview with police. Lewis said when Martens was asked questions it was almost as if she accepted the question as a fact and then expanded on it to try to please the detectives questioning her. Lewis said Martens has since been diagnosed with a condition that explains that behavior. "She's probably the most difficult person I've had to deal with in my career," he said. Lewis said because the Office of the Medical Investigator found that Victoria was strangled, he wanted to look for male DNA on her neck, hands and fingernails. But police were not able to find evidence in those samples to prove who killed her. Authorities have indicted a DNA profile in connection with her death. "Victoria fought like a hero for her life," Lewis said. He will continue to testify on Tuesday morning.