City denies charges in Martens suit
Response to grandparents’ claims argues police didn’t contribute to death
The city of Albuquerque said in an answer to a complaint brought by the grandparents of a child who was raped and killed that police officers’ actions did not contribute to the death of 10-yearold Victoria Martens in August 2016, one of the allegations in the lawsuit against the city.
The city also said in its response that two relatives knew months before Victoria’s death that one of her mother’s boyfriends tried to kiss the child, and they didn’t report it to law enforcement. City officials didn’t say Wednesday who those relatives were.
John and Pat Martens, Victoria’s grandparents, filed a lawsuit against the city and individual officers claiming that the city owed them damages for Victoria’s death. The lawsuit also calls for Albuquerque police to receive additional training and change policies for dealing with reports of suspected child abuse.
The suit, which is pending in federal court, says police failed to investigate a referral from the state Children, Youth and Families Department in March 2016 that a man had tried to kiss Victoria.
Five months later, Victoria was raped, tortured and partly dismembered in a West Side apartment
where she lived with her family.
Michelle Martens, Victoria’s mother; Fabian Gonzales, Martens’ boyfriend; and Jessica Kelley, Gonzales’ cousin, have been charged with rape, murder and other crimes.
The Journal has reported that Albuquerque police received a tip from CYFD about possible abuse of Victoria and the police didn’t investigate it, even though officer Fred Duran, a former police spokesman, told the Journal that they had.
The city’s Civilian Police Oversight Agency found that Duran “did lie” to the Journal, and the city’s Police Oversight Board recommended that he be suspended.
The city, in its response to the Martens lawsuit, backed the former spokesman and said he told the Journal that “investigators” reviewed allegations but didn’t say whom the investigators worked for.
The Journal reported that Duran said the investigators were “our detectives,” based on audio recordings of the interview.
Attorneys for the city, as well as attorneys for John and Pat Martens, couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.