Autopsy report provides few new facts

Autopsy report provides few new facts

July 26, 2001

By Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

The autopsy report in the murder of 16-year-old Fred Martinez Jr. of Cortez was completed this week, but the information released by the coroner and the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office sheds little new light on the case.

"The official manner of death was ruled a homicide," according to a press release by the sheriff’s office Tuesday. "The official cause of death was ruled undetermined."

Martinez’s badly decomposed body was found June 21 in a rocky canyon near the southern sewer ponds on the skirts of the Cortez city limits. Detectives have speculated that Martinez died from a combination of blunt trauma to the head and exposure.

Dr. Robert Kurtzman of Community Hospital in Grand Junction performed the autopsy and confirmed that Martinez had suffered a skull fracture and wounds to the wrists and abdomen. He was unable to conclusively determine what ultimately killed the teen.

"There was definitely a skull fracture but it was a small fracture," Kurtzman told the Journal. The type of fracture Martinez sustained could have been fatal, but ordinarily would not be, he added.

The toxicology results were limited as well because decomposing bodies naturally produce alcohol, Kurtzman explained.

"There was nothing significant. He (Martinez) did have a little alcohol that was listed but it was probably more from decomposition than anything else."

Kurtzman would not speculate about what caused the wrist and abdomen injuries, re-emphasizing that the advanced state of decomposition made it nearly impossible to reconstruct certain aspects of Martinez’s death.

According to a police report, a bloody rock was found near the body, but investigators have not confirmed that the rock was used to inflict the blow to Martinez’s head. Additionally, the police report suggested that the boy lost a substantial amount of blood at the scene.

MCSO Detective Lt. Kalvin Boggs could not comment further about the autopsy report but did say the cause of death was definitely a combination of factors.

He added that it will never be known exactly how long Martinez lived after the attack because of the condition of the body.

"There’s no way to ever go back and say for sure. You’d have to be a magician," Boggs said.

Shaun Murphy, 18, of Farmington has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Martinez’s death. Although he has not reportedly confessed to the crime, he has made incriminating statements to police, detectives said at a press conference July 11.

District Attorney Joe Olt was out of town on vacation Wednesday and could not be reached for comment as to whether the inconclusive autopsy results would significantly affect prosecution of the case.

The sheriff’s office is still in the investigative stage of the case, interviewing numerous young people who reportedly attended a party both Murphy and Martinez had also been at on the night Martinez died.

"There’s been nothing earth-shattering come out of them (the recent interviews), though," Boggs said. "Anything we’d have to say right now would be redundant."

Originally thought to have occurred outside of town, the crime scene has since been deemed to be within city limits. Although technically the crime occurred in the Cortez Police Department’s jurisdiction, the sheriff’s office continues to be the primary investigating agency.

Murphy is scheduled to appear in county court Aug. 13 for a preliminary hearing. He is being held in the Montezuma County Jail on a $500,000 bond and has been granted representation by the public defender’s office.

Second-degree murder is a Class 2 felony. If convicted, Murphy faces a jail sentence ranging from 4-48 years and up to $1 million in fines.