Carrick man sentenced for killing Point Park instructor
A Carrick man who in June pleaded guilty but mentally ill in the killing of a longtime Point Park University vocal instructor will serve 14- 28 years in prison.
Joseph Martin, 37, was sentenced Tuesday by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alex Bicket. The plea allows Martin to serve his sentence in a facility with mental health treatment.
Martin in June admitted to killing his longtime roommate, 71- year- old vocal instructor Ricardo Tobia, two summers ago.
According to a criminal complaint, police arrived at Mr. Tobia’s home in the 500 block of Kirk Avenue on July 7, 2018, after receiving a request from Martin’s sister to check on Mr. Tobia.
When officers arrived on the porch, they noted a foul stench and saw the front door was open. When they entered the home, they found Mr. Tobia in a bedroom, deceased and partially decapitated. His dog was also found dead with its throat cut and a gunshot wound in its head.
Investigators said there was blood on the walls and ceiling and bloody prints throughout the house. A sword and a knife were found near Mr. Tobia’s body, which had stab wounds in the torso and neck.
Martin’s mother, Margaret Martin, arrived at her home on July 5 and found her son shirtless, wearing dirty pants, sweating and breathing heavily. He was admitted to a psychiatric unit after she called 911.
Ms. Martin spoke to her son the next day, and he said he’d been having nightmares and that “demons took over, and he thinks he hurt Rick,” she told police. She then called her daughter, who alerted 911 to check Mr. Tobia’s home.
On July 9, she called police after she found a gun and bullets in her son’s vehicle, along with a box of ammunition and shoes that both seemed to be smeared with blood.
The next day, police interviewed Joseph Martin. He told them, “The only thing I remember is Rick was acting funny and the neighbors across the street were screaming, ‘ Kill the zombie, kill the zombie.’ I said, ‘ I can’t stand it, I’m going down to sleep.’
“I went downstairs and went to sleep and woke up, all three cats were downstairs with me, and I just grabbed them and I said, ‘ I’m getting ... out of here.’”
He was then arrested.