Day five of testimony in three week trial
ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – Prosecutors are expected to continue questioning a former neighbor and babysitter of Victoria Martens Tuesday in the trial of Fabian Gonzales, surrounding Victoria Martens death. Facing one count of reckless child abuse resulting in death and multiple evidence tampering charges, Gonzales is now entering the fifth day of testimony amid the second week of trial.
Day 4: Investigator details cell phone data in trial on Victoria Martens killing
KRQE News 13 will live stream proceedings from day five of trial on this page. Coverage will begin around 9 am MDT.
Viewer discretion is advised through the entirety of the trial. Several witnesses have already given extensive, detailed descriptions of graphic, violent content surrounding Victoria’s death.
Testimony from Martens former babysitter marks the 14th witness to be called to stand for the prosecution. Of the witnesses, five of them have now shared stories from their perspectives as neighbors. Many of those neighbors detailed the final days and hours of Martens life, seeing the girl enter her apartment for the last time, accompanied by Jessica Kelley.
Victoria was killed on August 23, 2016. Prosecutors allege the 10-year-old girl was strangled to death by an unknown man. Victoria’s mother’s boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his cousin, Jessica Kelley, are then said to have attempted to conceal Victoria’s death by dismembering her body.
The defense argues that Fabian had nothing to do with Victoria’s death. It’s accusing Jessica Kelley of being the sole person responsible for killing and dismembering Victoria.
Monday, prosecutors and Gonzales’ defense attorneys spent the majority of the day going through text messages, location data and photos taken from the phones of Gonzales and the other two people in the case, Michelle Martens and Jessica Kelley. The data, in part, confirmed Kelley’s presence in the apartment the night Victoria died, but also Gonzales and Martens’ absence from the apartment.
By the end of Monday’s testimony, jurors heard from three different neighbors who each described seeing Victoria in the hours before her death. The final witness Monday, who’s expected to testify again Tuesday, was describing the early morning hours of August 24, 2022, when police arrived at the Martens apartment.
2nd Judicial District Court Judge Cindy Leos is overseeing the trial. Defense attorneys Stephen Aarons and Hugh Dangler are representing Gonzales in the case. The prosecution is being led by Greer Staley and James Grayson, both of whom are deputy district attorneys with the Bernalillo County DA’s Office.
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