DNA on Victoria didn’t belong to Gonzales
Samples taken from Victoria Martens’ back showed partial mixture from at least 2 people
A state forensics expert testified Wednesday that samples taken from 10-year-old Victoria Martens’ back showed a partial mixture of male DNA from at least two people and excludes Fabian Gonzales as a contributor.
The DNA evidence is central to the prosecution’s theory that an unknown man strangled Victoria in her mother’s Northwest Albuquerque apartment in 2016.
Roslynd Archuleta, a DNA specialist with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s Forensics Laboratory, testified in Gonzales’ trial for his role in Victoria’s 2016 strangling and dismemberment.
Prosecutors allege that Gonzales’ actions put Victoria in danger, and that he and his cousin, Jessica Kelley,
worked together to dismember Victoria’s body and clean the apartment in an effort to destroy evidence of the crime.
Gonzales’ attorney, Stephen Aarons, counters that Kelley killed Victoria and attempted to conceal the crime without the knowledge of Gonzales or the girl’s mother, Michelle Martens.
Gonzales is charged with child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12, seven
counts of tampering with evidence and conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
Kelley, 37, pleaded no contest in 2019 to six felony charges, including child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12. She was sentenced to 44 years in prison, although she will be eligible for parole in half that time.
Martens, 40, pleaded guilty in 2018 to child abuse, recklessly caused, resulting in the death of a child under 12. She faces 12-15 years in prison. Her sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
In her daylong testimony, Archuleta described the Victoria Martens investigation as possibly the largest ever undertaken by the state’s forensics laboratory. Archuleta said she tested more than 300 samples collected from the crime scene and produced some 1,800 pages of reports for the investigation.
Officials who performed Victoria’s autopsy took swabs of a number of locations on her body, including four from her back.
Swab samples taken from Victoria’s middle and lower back revealed a mixture of male DNA in sufficient quantity to exclude Gonzales, Victoria’s younger brother, and other known males as contributors, Archuleta told jurors.
Swab samples taken from other parts of Victoria’s body, including those under her fingernails, revealed male DNA in quantities too small to allow additional testing, Archuleta said.
No sperm was found on Victoria’s body, she said.
Only Michelle Martens’ DNA was found on multiple blood stains from the basketball shorts Gonzales was wearing at the time of his arrest, the morning after Victoria’s Aug. 23, 2016, murder, Archuleta said.
Swab samples taken from Gonzales’ hands did not find DNA in quantities sufficient to allow further DNA testing, she said.
Kelley testified last week that she decided the morning after Victoria’s murder to kill both Gonzales and Martens. Kelley said she entered the master bedroom and struck Martens in the face with an iron, leaving Martens with a gash in the center of her forehead.
Gonzales grabbed the iron from Kelley and threw it over the balcony, then jumped over the balcony himself, Aarons has said.
Martens also fled the apartment and joined Gonzales outside, neighbors testified this week. The two remained together until police arrested them.
Blood found on both pant legs of Kelley’s jeans matched the DNA of Michelle Martens, Archuleta said. Victoria’s DNA “can’t be eliminated” as a contributor to blood stains found on Kelley’s right pant leg, she told jurors.
Testing from swab samples taken from Martens’ hands did not find DNA in usable quantities, she said.
Attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense also asked Archuleta about a black sock found in a laundry basket where Victoria’s severed arms were found wrapped in a trash bag.
Archuleta testified that Gonzales was identified as a major contributor to DNA found inside the sock. DNA inside the sock indicated a mix of two or more contributors, with Gonzales being the major contributor, she said.
Archuleta did not elaborate on the significance of the finding.