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June 26, 2001
By Aspen C. Emmett Montezuma County Sheriff’s detectives have tentatively identified a body that was found Thursday night as a Montezuma-Cortez High School student and are now searching for answers in what they believe was a homicide. According to Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Kalvin Boggs, the body is believed to be that of a 16-year-old Native American and a sophomore at MCHS, Fred Martinez Jr. of Cortez. "Positive identification is pending further testing procedures," Boggs told the Journal. Specifics on how the boy was killed were not being released at press time nor will investigators say whether there are any suspects or potential motives in the case. "The investigation is ongoing and several leads are being followed," Boggs said. Martinez was last seen at his home on June 16 and had stated he was going to the carnival at the Ute Mountain Roundup Rodeo. Martinez never returned home. His family did not report him missing until Saturday — one week later. Thursday evening, residents of the nearby Happy Valley Trailer Park found the decomposing body lying between two rocks just off of a dirt road and reported it to officials. Boggs said the body was not in a highly visible location, but it did not appear that anyone had attempted to conceal it. "It was off the road far enough that you would have to be looking for something in that area to be able to see it as you were driving by," Boggs said. Initially law-enforcement officials were struggling to identify the boy’s body because it did not fit any of the missing-persons reports and the decomposed state of the body made it difficult to estimate the victim’s age or even determine his ethnicity. Because of limited local resources, the body was transported on Saturday to Grand Junction, where a forensic autopsy was performed. Boggs would not comment on whether Martinez had been killed where his body was found or if he had died elsewhere and someone had dumped the body in the remote location. No information was available on exactly how long he had been dead or whether Martinez had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his death. "Those tests have not been released by the pathologist’s office yet," Boggs said. The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in solving the crime. Anyone with information about this case should call 565-8452 and ask for the detectives’ division. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
All rights reserved. |
