Mother charged in slaying of her four kids and their father

LOGANVILLE, Ga. — Gwinnett County mother Isabel Martinez was charged with multiple counts of murder in the stabbing deaths of four of her children and their father, law enforcement said Thursday.

Martinez was detained Thursday morning after calling 911 at 4:47 a.m. from inside the Emory Lane home, located in unincorporated Loganville, a suburban area north of Atlanta. Authorities found the four children and their father stabbed to death.

A fifth child was also stabbed and flown by helicopter to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. There was no immediate word on the young girl’s condition.

All of the children were under the age of 10 and the father was in his mid-30s, according to police.

Martinez was charged Thursday with five counts of malice murder, five counts of murder and six counts of aggravated assault. She was being held at the Gwinnett County jail.

She has also been put on an immigration hold.

The stabbings reportedly occurred between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. Thursday, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Atlanta JournalConstitution.

The woman is the “primary suspect,” and police are “not searching for anyone else,” Gwinnett police Cpl. Deon Washington said earlier in the day.

“What prompts a person to take the life of such innocent children and her spouse is something we may never understand,” Gwinnett police said in an emailed statement. “This is a horrendous crime not only for the victims but for the extended family, neighborhood and community. We are hoping and praying that the remaining victim survives his/her injuries and makes a full recovery.”

“It’s reasonable to believe they were in the home all night,” Washington said.

A search warrant was obtained and detectives along with the medical examiner’s office worked for several hours inside the mobile home Thursday morning.

Neighbors said the family had moved to Georgia from Illinois about a month ago, and that the woman’s father had recently died.

Jim Hollandsworth, said the children had recently enrolled in an after-school program he runs nearby. They were new to the area, but had extended family here, he said.

“Everyone is in complete shock,” Hollandsworth said. “The last few weeks our staff has gotten to know these kids very well.” He described the children as “great, happy, participating in our programs … they just jumped right in.”

Neighbor Pedro Ramirez, 15, said the slain children would ride bikes all the time in the neighborhood. They always came out to play when their cousin knocked on the door, he said. However, that didn’t happen when the cousin knocked about 4 p.m. Wednesday, Ramirez said.

Ramirez has lived in the community four years. He said although the family just moved to Loganville a few months ago, he knew some of the daughters through his sister, who was their friend.

Ramirez used to watch the girls at the park. He found out about their deaths as he was getting ready for summer school. He saw an ambulance.

“And I was shocked,” he said.