Police: GreenTree shooting victim dies; suspect faces murder charge

Jun. 3—The man accused in a shooting Saturday at the GreenTree Inn on Cerrillos Road is facing an open count of murder following the death early Thursday morning of 59-year-old Marty Little.

Little, who sustained a gunshot wound to the head, was pronounced dead around 5 a.m. Thursday, Santa Fe police Capt. Aaron Ortiz said in a news release.

Little, a motel guest at the time of the shooting, had been living in the city since at least April, according to Santa Fe police. He leaves behind an adult son, police said, and may have other family members.

Court documents say Anthony Ortiz, 27, who was arrested on unrelated charges Tuesday in Española, initially confessed to the shooting in an interview with New Mexico State Police officers. He was taken into custody following a high-speed chase in a stolen Jeep, according to an affidavit, and was found with a handgun and small amounts of narcotics.

Ortiz also is accused of stealing a vehicle from motel guests at the GreenTree Inn after shooting Little. That vehicle was recovered in Albuquerque.

Ortiz was being held in the Rio Arriba County jail but was expected to be extradited to Santa Fe.

Along with murder, he is charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, motor vehicle theft and tampering with evidence.

Santa Fe police wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit that Ortiz had confessed to shooting Little in the GreenTree Inn parking lot after the two engaged in a scuffle nearby at Vegas Verdes Drive and Cerrillos Road. Ortiz said Little had followed him to the GreenTree Inn, the affidavit said.

Ortiz said he smashed the cellphone Little had used to record him after he fired shots to scare off two people behind Firehouse Subs. When Little threw a knife at him, Ortiz told police, he "got scared" and fired two shots at the man before fleeing in a Buick he stole at gunpoint from a woman and her adult son.

Little's death is the third slaying this year at the GreenTree Inn.

In January, officers arrested Alvin Crespin, 45, on suspicion of murder after finding the body of 50-year-old Virgil Tortalita in a bathtub at the motel.

In February, 52-year-old Arthur Loretto's body was found in a room at the GreenTree Inn. Police have not named a suspect in his death.

Capt. Aaron Ortiz said in an interview Thursday the police department placed a mobile video trailer in the motel's parking lot Tuesday to provide surveillance of the area.

The inn, a former Motel 6, has been the site of numerous violent crimes and drug deals over the years.

"We have a few of those trailers where we're able to monitor it live in some cases," Capt. Ortiz said. "In all cases we're able to record what is going on. We've placed a trailer there to try and deter any criminal behavior. Hopefully that will help in reducing any kind of threat that is there at the property."

The police department asks people with information about the incident to to contact Capt. Ortiz at 505-955-5283 or ajortiz@santafenm.gov.