Police believe suspect in 5 homicides in Calif. also killed 2-year-old
MODESTO, Calif. -- Police said Monday that a suspect in the homicides of five people whose bodies were found in a Northern California home this weekend is also responsible for the death of a toddler left in his care last year.
Martin "Marty" Martinez, 30, was arrested early Sunday morning as he left a San Jose movie theater with his father.
Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll said at a news conference Monday that a pathologist concluded on Thursday that 2-year-old Christopher Ripley died of "blunt force trauma" to the head on Oct. 2, 2014.
Carroll said Martinez had been under investigation since the boy's death in a local hospital and that authorities were preparing to formally charge him with homicide when five bodies were found Saturday afternoon in the Modesto home he used to share with Dr. Amanda Crews.
Crews, 38, was Ripley's mother and one of the five homicide victims found Saturday. Martinez's mother and his daughter with Crews were also found dead along with an unidentified 5-year-old girl. Martinez is a suspect in the five homicides, Carroll said.
Carroll said police obtained a warrant for Martinez's arrest for the toddler's death Saturday night, after the five bodies were discovered.
Carroll said police didn't issue a warrant earlier because they were awaiting the pathologist's written report.
"The Modesto Police did not drop the ball," Carroll said. He said the investigation of Ripley's death took nine months because the department had to hire an outside pathologist who specializes in neurology to help with the case.
"Homicides do take a great deal of time to investigate," Carroll said. Carroll said a "limited" number of law enforcement officials knew of the pathologist's verbal report delivered to police on Thursday that Ripley was a homicide victim. Carroll said he believes Martinez didn't know of the pathologist's report.
"We do not believe that played a factor in this incident," Carroll said of possible motives for the five homicides. Their bodies were found at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday after police received a call asking for a "security check" of the home.
Carroll declined to divulge the cause of deaths Saturday. He said investigators haven't yet determined a motive.
Crews was a doctor and worked for the Stanislaus County Health Service Agency, according to the California Medical Board. The agency didn't return several phone calls.
Modesto Police spokeswoman Heather Graves said counselors and chaplains are available for the officers who first entered the home and made the grisly discovery. A group of law enforcement officials could be seen huddled together and praying in front of the house shortly after the discovery of the bodies.
The house is in an upscale subdivision lined with four- and five-bedroom homes that were built less than 10 years ago.