Motel shooting victim dies
Man accused of kidnapping, assault, car theft, evidence tampering now faces murder charge
The man accused in a shooting Saturday at the GreenTree Inn on Cerrillos Road faces an open count of murder following the death early Thursday morning of 59-year-old Marty Little.
Little, who suffered a gunshot wound to the head, was pronounced dead around 5 a.m. Thursday, Capt. Aaron Ortiz of the Santa Fe Police Department said in a news release.
Little, a motel guest at the time of the shooting, had been living in the city since at least April, according to police. He leaves behind an adult son, police said, and possibly other family members.
Court documents say Anthony Ortiz, 27, who was arrested on unrelated charges Tuesday in Española, confessed
to the shooting in an interview with New Mexico State Police officers. He was taken into custody following a highspeed chase in a stolen Jeep, according to an affidavit, and was found with a handgun and small amounts of narcotics.
Ortiz also is accused of stealing a vehicle from motel guests at the GreenTree Inn after shooting Little. That vehicle was recovered in Albuquerque.
Ortiz was being held in the Rio Arriba County jail Thursday but was expected to be extradited to Santa Fe.
Along with murder, he is charged with kidnapping, armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, motor vehicle theft and tampering with evidence.
Santa Fe police wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit Ortiz had confessed to shooting Little in the GreenTree Inn parking lot after the two had engaged in a scu±e nearby at Vegas Verdes Drive and Cerrillos Road. Ortiz said Little had followed him to the GreenTree Inn, the affidavit says.
Ortiz said he had smashed the cellphone Little used to record him after he fired shots to scare off two people behind Firehouse Subs. When Little threw a knife at him, Ortiz told police, he “got scared” and fired two shots at the man before fleeing in a Buick he stole at gunpoint from a woman and her adult son.
Little’s death is the third slaying this year at the GreenTree Inn.
In January, officers arrested Alvin Crespin, 45, on suspicion of murder after finding the body of 50-year-old Virgil Tortalita in a bathtub at the motel.
In February, 52-year-old Arthur Loretto’s body was found in a room at the GreenTree Inn. Police have not named a suspect in his death.
Capt. Ortiz said in an interview Thursday the police department placed a mobile video trailer in the motel’s parking lot Tuesday to provide surveillance of the area.
The inn, a former Motel 6, has been the site of numerous violent crimes and drug deals over the years.
“We have a few of those trailers where we’re able to monitor it live in some cases,” Capt. Ortiz said. “In all cases, we’re able to record what is going on. We’ve placed a trailer there to try and deter any criminal behavior. Hopefully that will help in reducing any kind of threat that is there at the property.”
The police department asks people with information about the incident to contact Capt. Ortiz at 505-955-5283 or ajortiz@santafenm.gov.