Family stabbings:
Woman charged with killing four of her children and their father gives a thumbs-up to news cameras.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — A woman charged with killing four of her young children and their father smiled and flashed a double thumbs-up to news cameras during her first court appearance Friday in metro Atlanta before telling a judge she doesn’t want an attorney.
An immigration official also said the woman, who is from Mexico, entered the U.S. illegally.
Isabel Martinez, 33, appeared before Magistrate Court Judge Michael Thorpe a day after police said she stabbed the five to death and seriously injured another child at her home outside Atlanta. The injured child, a 9-year-old girl, survived but remained hospitalized with injuries police described as serious.
Before the hearing began, Martinez sat with other inmates and struck poses for cameras — smiling, giving the thumbs-up, putting her hands in a prayer position and spreading her arms out wide.
As Judge Thorpe listed the charges against her — five counts of malice murder, five counts of murder and six counts of aggravated assault — Martinez smiled, shook her head “no” and wagged her finger at him. The judge advised her sharply not to perform for the cameras.
When Thorpe informed her of her right to have an attorney, she said through a Spanishlanguage interpreter that she doesn’t want one. She later added that her attorney will always be the people and her faith. Thorpe advised Martinez to hire a lawyer or to allow one to be appointed for her.
Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Bryan Cox said in an email Friday that Martinez — whom he identified as Maria Isabel Garduno-Martinez — is from Mexico and entered the country illegally. This is her first encounter with immigration authorities, and it’s not clear how long she has been in the U.S., Cox said.
Local officials called the killings “horrendous.”
“What prompts a person to take the life of such innocent children and her spouse is something we may never understand,” Gwinnett County police said in a statement. “This is a horrendous crime not only for the victims but for the extended family, neighborhood and community.”
Some neighbors in the small, largely Hispanic neighborhood in Loganville, about 30 miles east of Atlanta, said they had no clue anything was amiss in the home until police mobbed the scene Thursday morning. The neighbors said the Spanishspeaking family had moved to the community recently, and their children seemed happy playing with other neighborhood kids.
Victoria Nievs said Martinez had recently suffered the death of her father.
The four children killed were identified as Isabela Martinez, 10; Dacota Romero, 7; Dillan Romero, 4; and Axel Romero, 2. Their slain father was Martin Romero, 33, Pihera said.