Family members say other Dixon homicide victims were caring, helpful men
Abraham Martinez had trained as a chef and worked his way through kitchens in Colorado, Louisiana and Arizona, his father said.
He was an outdoor enthusiast with a love for hiking, gardening and fishing, and the father of a young daughter. He had posted photos on Facebook of the smiling little girl with wispy blond hair and grayblue eyes.
Martinez, 36, had been living in Prescott, Arizona, but moved earlier this year to Rio Lucio, near Picuris Pueblo, to live with his father, Robert Martinez.
“He was a good man,” Robert Martinez said. “... He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Abraham Martinez was one of three people killed in a home on State Road 580 in the tiny village of Cañoncito, a few miles east of Dixon, in the early morning of May 29. The bodies were discovered by his father and by his brother, Ezekiel Martinez.
New Mexico State Police have charged brothers Roger Gage, 33, and John Powell, 34, with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary, saying they broke into the home and shot Martinez, Kierin Guillemin, 27, and April Browne, 42, before looting the place “stealing items and suspected drugs,” according to court documents.
According to court documents, police recovered surveillance video that shows Gage and Powell enter the house just after midnight and shoot the three each in the head.
In an odd twist, the video also shows Robert and Ezekiel Martinez enter the home the next day and take things from the crime scene, police say. The two men face charges of burglary, larceny and tampering with evidence.
An affidavit for an arrest warrant says footage shows Ezekiel Martinez looking through a purse, wallet and drawers, and taking a plastic bag from Guillemin’s hands. Robert Martinez watches, the affidavit says, and then takes items that Ezekiel hands to him.
Robert Martinez recalls a different version of the events. People came to his home and told him something was wrong at the Cañoncito house, he said. There was a foul odor, they told him, and flies. So Robert Martinez and his younger son went to check on Abraham.
When he looked through a window and saw bodies, unsure if one was his son, Robert Martinez said, he made the decision to break in.
“I knew I was breaking the law,” he said, “but any normal person, if they didn’t know if that was their son or not, would not walk away . ... We didn’t go there to loot the place.”
Ezekiel did take some beads that belonged to Abraham, Robert Martinez said.
It’s still unclear how the three shooting victims came to know one another and why they were targeted by Gage and Powell. Some neighbors and family members of the victims say Powell may have lived at the house for a time.
According to Jaylon Moore, Abraham Martinez’s stepbrother, Browne, Guillemin and Martinez were friends who hiked together, went rock hunting and would relax on the patio at the Cañoncito home.
Browne’s family said she had moved back into the house, her childhood home, a few years ago, renting it from an out-of-state owner. She was a mother of two and was vibrant, independent and smart, her family said. She also was struggling with drug addiction, the family said.
Martinez had moved in with Browne sometime in the past few months, Moore said.
Robert Martinez believes Browne had been having trouble with break-ins, and she had asked his son to stay there to help.
“He was that kind of person –if somebody needed help, he did all he could to help,” Robert Martinez said.
Abraham Martinez first moved to Northern New Mexico to overcome some personal problems, family members said. They didn’t want to focus on his struggles but confirmed some were drug related.
Moore said his stepbrother seemed to be thriving in New Mexico. He’d lost weight, was gardening and cooking, and always seemed to be happy.
One of his favorite memories with Abraham Martinez, Moore said, was going on spontaneous hikes.
“I just want to go hiking with him again,” Moore said. “You would see the beauty yourself, but then he would share it with you through his eyes. This world was beautiful to him.”
Moore often went down to the house on State Road 580 to hang out with his stepbrother, he said. He’d see Guillemin there, too.
“[Abraham] and Kierin, they got along so well,” Moore said.
Omar Guillemin said Kierin Guillemin, his younger brother, had moved from New Jersey about five years ago to clear his head and focus on the things he loved: being outdoors and farming. His brother, Omar said, had been planning to buy his own plot of land.
Only days before Kierin Guillemin died, Omar texted him, telling him how proud he was.
“He was moving forward with the land, and his dream was finally coming true,” Omar said. “He was just ready to make it happen, and his life got cut short.”
He also described Kierin as a talented musician who could pick up any instrument, from a guitar to a harmonica, and start to play. He also loved to camp and hike, and he had been up Truchas Peak so many times that he could probably hike it with his eyes closed, Omar said.
Kierin had been having a hard time recently, Omar said, after getting hit by a truck while riding his motorcycle and later going through a breakup with his girlfriend of three years.
Roxanne Sanchez, Kierin’s former girlfriend, said she suspected he had started taking prescription medication to address pain from injuries he suffered in the crash.
According to locals, the house on State Road 580 had a reputation for drugs.
But Kierin didn’t live there, his brother said; on the night of the shooting, he probably had just stopped in to see Browne.
Kierin touched so many lives, his brother said, and was much more than just a name connected with a tragedy.
“Kierin truly was a star,” Omar said. “He was a great brother. He was honest. He was compassionate and caring. He was always the first to try something. He was brave.”
Robert Martinez had similar thoughts about his son. “The important thing is trying to remember Abraham and the kind of person he was. That’s the only thing that’s holding me together,” the father said.
“I’m still numb. I can’t think half the time, and it’s not over with yet,” he added. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t even cried yet, and when I do, it’s going to be a good one.”