Noe Martinez Jr. | Homicide Watch Chicago

'Horrific': Prosecutors say man and girlfriend slaughtered six relatives in plan to steal money

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 20 May 2016 21:27:57 -0500

By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times

Diego Uribe Cruz (left) and Jafeth Ramos | Chicago Police

Before Diego Uribe Cruz plunged a knife into his 13-year-old cousin, prosecutors said he had the boy look out the window and wait for his grandfather, who was on his way home with hot chocolate and tamales.

“Please no! Please don’t! I just want to live,” prosecutors said Leonardo Cruz cried out as he was pushed into a corner of his living room and stabbed repeatedly while the teen’s other relatives—including his 10-year-old brother, Alexis—lay in pools of blood.

After Diego Uribe Cruz’s bond hearing Friday, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez described the slaughter of the six members of the Gage Park family last winter as “horrific.”

Uribe Cruz, 22, who had allegedly come to the home with his girlfriend and a gun in tow on Feb. 2, “hung” out with the family and even ate with them before the attack Judge James Brown and Alvarez described as “pure evil.”

Uribe Cruz, the nephew of victim Maria Martinez’s ex-husband, told police he had a “lot of anger” at how she treated his uncle.

Members of the Martinez family who were slain in their Gage Park home. | Photo from family's gofundme page

But his main motivation to kill that day was to score cash, Uribe Cruz’s girlfriend, 19-year-old Jafeth Ramos, confessed to detectives, Assistant State’s Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said.

The couple, who asked the boys to show them where the money was located, used some of the $550 they swiped for diapers and milk for their 1-year-old son, Lisuzzo said.

Some of change stolen from the home, in the 5700 block of South California, was taken from a piggy bank. Uribe Cruz and Ramos also took jewelry, an Xbox One gaming system and cell phones, which they later broke and disposed of, Lisuzzo said.

Alvarez said the murders were among the most gruesome she has dealt with during her career.

“The grisly details of this crime as we now know them now are a shock to the conscience,” the top prosecutor said after Uribe Cruz and Ramos were ordered held without bond on murder charges.

“After 30 years as a prosecutor, I thought I had seen and heard just about anything and everything when it comes to violent crime, but a case like this is something I have never seen before. This was not an armed robbery, This was a methodical slaughter.”

Brown was also taken aback listening to details as Ramos and Uribe Cruz, who was wearing a Jay Cutler jersey in court, stood feet away.

The murders were an “act of barbarism that put the city on edge,” the judge said.

Outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, a woman who described herself as Ramos’ legal guardian, defended her slight “granddaughter,” who she said was so frail, she can barely carry her baby.

“She could not even kill a fly,” Lourdes Oliva said of Ramos. “She would have not killed anybody.”

Uribe Cruz was physically abusive and controlling, Oliva said. Ramos could not wear make-up, take a shower or leave Uribe Cruz’ parent’s basement—where the couple lived— unless she was given permission, Oliva said.

Oliva said she once saw Uribe Cruz push Ramos.

Ramos, who wasn’t accused of shooting or stabbing any of the victims, was probably “pressured” by Uribe Cruz, Oliva concluded.

But Alvarez said Ramos was hardly an innocent bystander.

The 5-foot-2, 100-pound woman may not have used violence against the victims, but she had one of the boys Uribe Cruz eventually killed hold the bag with the stolen items because it was too heavy for her, authorities said.

Ramos aided and abetted Uribe Cruz and took the proceeds, which the couple had hoped to use to buy a car, prosecutors said.

In addition to the boys and 32-year-old Martinez, also killed were: Martinez’s brother, 38-year-old Noe Martinez Jr.; and the Martinezes’ parents, 58-year-old Rosaura Martinez, and Noe Martinez Sr., 62.

Hours before, Uribe Cruz and Ramos socialized with the family for a bit when Uribe Cruz asked Maria Martinez to go upstairs so they could talk, Lisuzzo said, listing details from what the couple allegedly told police.

During the conversation, at which Ramos was present, Uribe Cruz pulled out a small-caliber gun and demanded Maria Martinez put money into a bag, Lisuzzo said.

Maria Martinez refused, and the two started fighting. That’s when Uribe Cruz allegedly shot his former aunt in the head several times. He told police he closed his eyes when he fired at Maria Martinez’s forehead, Lisuzzo said.

Hearing the shots, Noe Martinez Jr. came upstairs to help his sister. But it was too late. Uribe Cruz beat Noe Martinez Jr. with his gun and continued to punch and choke him, Lisuzzo said.

When Rosaura Martinez came up, hurled a picture frame at Uribe Cruz and threatened to call police, Uribe Cruz knocked her down the stairs, causing her to lose consciousness, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz then went downstairs to talk to the boys, grabbed two knives from the kitchen and stabbed Rosaura Martinez multiple times in the face, head and body while she was passed out on the floor, Lisuzzo said.

After asking the boys where they could find money, Ramos said she and Uribe Cruz ransacked the home, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz then coaxed Alexis into the basement and told police he “got [him] there with the same knife that I got the grandma,” Lisuzzo said. Leonardo could hear his younger brother’s screams and saw Uribe Cruz emerge upstairs alone.

Leonardo, who was shaking, asked what happened to his brother. Uribe Cruz told him that Alexis was fine and to go check to see if his grandpa was coming in, Lisuzzo said.

The older boy was stabbed in the abdomen and was found lying next to the fireplace.

Uribe Cruz was initially leaving the house before Noe Martinez Sr. arrived but realized the back fence was locked, so he went back inside.

The eldest Martinez, who came home bearing the treats for his family, walked in to find Uribe Cruz bent down pretending to pick something up while holding a knife, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz then lunged at Noe Martinez Sr., stabbing him three times in the stomach, Lisuzzo said.

“Why are you killing me?” the man yelled out as he took his last breath. “I don’t owe you anything.”

Ramos allegedly told police she helped her boyfriend clean up the blood after the three generations of the Martinez family were killed. She mopped up while he washed his hands and both wiped down the door knobs, Lisuzzo said.

Ramos told detectives she didn’t want to leave any evidence behind because she didn’t want Uribe Cruz be taken away from her, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz told police he destroyed the gun and sold the stolen jewelry for $150 at a pawn shop, Lisuzzo said.

Ramos also said they got rid of the Xbox One, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz told his co-workers he had been jumped by three guys when asked about the visible cuts and scratches on his face.

But cellphone records show his mobile was at the crime scene at the time of the murders, Lisuzzo said.

Uribe Cruz’s DNA was traced to blood found on a concrete step outside the home, on a post by the back door, and in an area between the kitchen and porch, Lisuzzo said.

His DNA was also under the fingernails of Maria Martinez, prosecutors said.

Maria Martinez and the five others were discovered by police two days later after family and friends expressed concern over their lack of communication.

Neither Uribe Cruz, nor Ramos, both of the 2300 block of South Ridgeway, have criminal backgrounds, although Ramos has a pending misdemeanor theft case in the suburbs.

Assistant Public Defender Margaret Domin said Uribe Cruz, who is a manager at an electronic component company, had to drop out of Little Village High School to take care of his family.

He has received training as a barber and has worked construction, mostly doing indoor remodeling, Domin said.

Ramos attended high school in California before returning to her family in Chicago, Domin said.

She has worked as cashier in the past but was currently devoting her time to her child, Domin said.

At funeral for six family members murdered inside their Gage Park home, reverend asks, 'Was God there?'

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:15:27 -0600

Six caskets of six family members found killed in their Gage Park home on Feb. 4 line the aisle at St. Gall Church, 5511 S. Sawyer, on Sunday night. | Brian Jackson/For the Chicago Sun-Times

By JON SEIDEL
Chicago Sun-Times

Before the funeral began Sunday for the family found murdered this month in a Gage Park bungalow, somber Spanish blessings gave way to the celebratory sounds of a traditional brass Mexican band.

With the bells of its trumpets, trombones and tuba held high above six caskets at the front of St. Gall Catholic Parish, the band shook the sanctuary as mourners filed by, paying respects to victims of a crime that has shaken the Southwest Side.

But when the oompahs ended, silence filled the church—revealing a sob that rose up from the sanctuary.

Soon, the mournful tone returned to a packed-house service held to remember the six family members police think were targeted in a heinous massacre: Noe Martinez Sr., 62; his wife Rosaura Martinez, 58; son Noe Martinez Jr., 38; daughter Maria Herminia Martinez, 32; and her sons, 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz, and 10-year-old Alexis Cruz.

Funeral for the 6 people killed in gage Park at St. Galls Church, 5511 s Sawyer. Sunday, February 14, 2016. Brian Jackson/ for the Chicago Sun-Times

The funeral, held largely in Spanish, took place less than a mile from the home in the 5700 block of South California, where police discovered the “bloody mess” on Feb. 4. Police are still hunting for clues in the slayings.

“We gather together as human beings, very much touched in pain, by the loss of six ... members of our family, our parish family, the community in which we live and breath and work,” the Rev. Gary Graf said as he opened the service.

Alternating between Spanish and English during his homily, Graf spoke of the regret of the surviving family members who might believe, “if we would have been there, this tragedy would have never happened.”

“We ask ourselves, was God there?” Graf said. “Was God there when his son died on the cross?”

Photographs of the family stared back at the mourners in the church, set behind the six caskets covered with flowers during the visitation before the service. Someone placed sports jerseys on the caskets of the children—No. 32 for Leonardo, No. 77 for Alexis. The family will be buried later in Mexico.

Investigators hope to speak to Armando Cruz, the boys' father, while he is in town for the funeral. He is neither a suspect nor a person of interest, CPD spokesman Frank Giancamilli said Sunday.

Police also are examining hours of video footage recovered nearby. They have downloaded video from CTA buses and a surveillance camera on a light pole at 57th and California, according to CPD.

“We still believe that this was an incident related directly to the family and not a random act of violence,” Giancamilli said in an email.

Herminia Martinez was separated from the father of her sons, who lives in Mexico but had visited Chicago as recently as Christmas, according to neighbors.

Funeral for the 6 people killed in gage Park at St. Galls Church, 5511 s Sawyer. Sunday, February 14, 2016. Brian Jackson/ for the Sun-Times

The government of Mexico has offered its assistance in the case if necessary, officials have said. Neighbors and relatives said the family was friendly and close-knit, with an extended network of relatives throughout the city, in Texas and in Mexico. Noe Martinez Sr. immigrated to the United States nearly two decades ago, and his son and daughter followed not long after.

One family friend said he grew up with Noe Martinez Jr. in La Noria, a town of a few hundred in Mexico’s Guanajuato state. Martinez Sr. and his wife also have another daughter who lives in Mexico.

Investigators believe three “edge weapons” were used in the massacre. Maria Herminia Martinez was shot to death, authorities said. But her sons, Leonardo and Alexis, died of “sharp force” injuries. So did Noe Martinez Sr.

Rosaura and Noe Martinez Jr. died of a combination of sharp and blunt-force injuries, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The bodies were discovered after a co-worker called 911 to report that Noe Martinez Jr. hadn’t shown up for his job washing windows at O’Hare Airport for the previous two days.

The victims were found in different areas of the home, police said. There were no signs of forced entry to the house nor was it ransacked, and the doors were locked from the inside, police said.

As the service wrapped up, two surviving members of the family—Armando Cruz and Violeta Martinez, the daughter of Noe Martinez Sr. and his wife, Rosaura—thanked the community in Spanish.

Meanwhile outside the church, six hearses waited for six caskets.

And as the hearses later idled in the street, the faces of several children could be seen watching from the windows of apartments across the street.

WEEK IN REVIEW: 17 killed in Chicago violence, including six members of one family in Gage Park

Jeff Mayes — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 16:00:22 -0600

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

At least 17 people were killed in violence in Chicago in the last week, including one of the most shocking crimes in the city in recent memory in which six members of the same family, including two young boys, were found slain in a home that one responding police officer called a "bloody mess."

Chicago Police said there were no signs that anyone had ransacked a house where six people, three generations of one Mexican immigrant family, had been slain. The victims—two men, two women and two boys ages 10 and 13,—were found dead Thursday afternoon after police checked on the well-being of a man who didn’t show up to work for two days.

Family members and the medical examiner’s office identified the victims as: 62-year-old Noe Martinez Sr. and his wife, 58-year-old Rosaura Martinez; their adult children, 38-year-old Noe Martinez Jr. and 32-year-old Maria Herminia Martinez; and Herminia’s sons, 10-year-old Alexis Cruz and 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz.

Autopsies found the boys suffered “sharp force” injuries, which a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office defined as either a stabbing or cutting wound, or both. Herminia Martinez died of gunshot wounds. Noe Martinez Sr. died of “sharp force” wounds. And his wife and his son, Noe Jr., died of “multiple sharp and blunt force injuries,” autopsies showed.

While a police source said the family was targeted, no motive for the crime has been given, and no suspects were in custody four days later.

The last homicide of the week left one man dead and another wounded in a Humboldt Park neighborhood shooting Sunday afternoon. About 12:45 p.m., 21-year-old Dwight Hughes Jr. was outside in the 3900 block of West Augusta when three people walked out of an alley and one of them started shooting, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

Hughes, of the 3400 block of West Foster, was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:06 a.m. A 20-year-old man was also shot in the head, right arm and torso at the same location, police said. His condition was stabilized.

The man was shot in the neck and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. His name had not been released as of late Monday afternoon. A 20-year-old man was also shot in the head, arm and torso at the same location, police said. He took himself to Norwegian American Hospital and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

A 21-year-old man was fatally shot through the window of a home in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood late Friday.

Matthew W. Williams was shot in the back in a basement apartment in the 7100 block of South Calumet about 11:25 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Williams, of the 1000 block of East 46th Street, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:08 a.m. Saturday.

Tony Jones was shot and killed Thursday evening in the Austin neighborhood. The 18-year-old was walking in the 5900 block of West LeMoyne Street about 7:40 p.m. when he heard gunfire and felt pain, according to police.

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the abdomen and back, and was able to make it to the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue, where authorities were notified, police said. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he died at 11:13 p.m. An autopsy showed he died of a gunshot wound to the back.

25-year-old Aaren O'Connor died Sunday, two days after she was struck by a stray bullet in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood on the South Side. About 7:30 p.m. Friday, she was sitting in her car in the 2000 block of West 21st Place, where she lived, and talking to her father on her cellphone when she was struck by gunfire, according to police.

O’Connor, who lived on the same block, was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced brain dead at 4:48 p.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office. Police said O’Connor was not the intended target of the shooting, which started with a fight on the block where she was killed.

Two men were shot, one fatally, Thursday evening in Humboldt Park. John Mackey, 18, and a 20-year-old man were inside a restaurant in the 3700 block of West Division just before 5:30 p.m. when someone came in and opened fire, according to police and the medical examiner’s office.

Mackey was shot in the head, while the older man suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, authorities said. They were both taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where Mackey, of the 2600 block of West Potomac Avenue, died. The older man’s condition was stabilized.

Maria Ramos was stabbed to death Thursday morning in a laundromat where she worked in the Pilsen neighborhood. Police believe the incident was a domestic-related attack.

The 34-year-old was stabbed in the head in the Spin Cycle in the 1700 block of West Cermak at 8:23 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Sixteen-year-old Martel Anderson was fatally shot Wednesday morning on his way to school in Austin. The teen was walking on the sidewalk in the 5000 block of West Ferdinand about 8:10 a.m. when two males walked up and one pulled out a handgun and opened fire, according to police.

The boy was shot in the face, and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

A 21-year-old man was killed Tuesday night in a South Chicago neighborhood drive-by shooting. Hector Del Rio was standing with another person on the sidewalk in the 8100 block of South Houston about 10:30 p.m. when a minivan drove past and someone inside fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner's office.

Del Rio suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the buttocks and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died at 11:42 p.m. He lived in the block where the shooting happened.

Matabias Biles was stabbed to death Tuesday evening during a domestic incident in the Homan Square neighborhood.

The 34-year-old was stabbed in the face and chest about 7:40 p.m. in the 3400 block of West Flournoy, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Biles, who lived on the same block, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:57 p.m. Police said the stabbing was domestic-related, but no one was in custody.

A 31-year-old man was shot to death Monday morning in the South Side Washington Heights neighborhood after answering his front door.

Paul C. Sappington answered the door of his home in the 9000 block of South May about 10:15 a.m. and was shot by two male suspects, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 42-year-old west suburban man was shot to death early Monday in Austin. The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. in the 500 block of South Cicero, police said.

Edward Flowers was shot in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. He lived in Cicero.