HomeMARLENY CRUZ - 14 yo - (1988) / Arrested: James David Martin - Bronx, NY
2 posters
MARLENY CRUZ - 14 yo - (1988) / Arrested: James David Martin - Bronx, NY
by twinkletoes Thu May 10, 2012 11:42 pm
Slain girl’s DNA bags 1998 ‘killer’ who once strangled buddy over Air Jordans
By KENNETH GARGER and JAMIE SCHRAM
Last Updated: 5:30 AM, May 10, 2012
Posted: 2:19 AM, May 10, 2012
Christopher Sadowski
James D. Martin being walked from the Bronx Homicide Precinct Wednesday.
On a winter’s night in 1998, 14-year-old Marleny Cruz struggled in vain
against a brutal rapist, scratching him as he strangled her in a
deserted Bronx park.
Thirteen years later, the DNA collected from
beneath her corpse’s fingernails has led to the arrest in a
Pennsylvania prison of James David Martin, a now 40-year-old monster who
has served nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a string of
crimes — including two other strangulations.
At age 17, Martin had choked the life out of a 15-year-old basketball buddy at his
Maryland high school to steal the victim’s $115 Nike Air Jordans, a pair
of sneakers that didn’t even fit him.
Fifteen years later, in Allentown, Pa, he strangled his live-in girlfriend, Cecilia Santiago,
30, leaving her body in a shopping- center Dumpster.
Both those murders were solved quickly.
But young Marleny’s death would go unsolved until a Bronx homicide cop
retrieved her nail scrapings from evidence storage, allowing the tragic
girl to essentially finger her killer from beyond the grave.
WNBC Marleny Cruz
“God made her do that — swipe at him,” Cruz’s foster mother, Alice McLeod,
told The Post yesterday, speaking tearfully from the same
housing-project kitchen in the borough’s Morrisania neighborhood where
the girl once shared family meals.
“She nailed him,” the foster mom said, “so that later they could nail him, too.”
It was Detective Malcolm Reiman of the Bronx Homicide Task Force who
cracked the girl’s long-cold case, requesting the DNA profile in
September 2011 and — once he got his hit — personally driving Martin
from the Somerset Correctional Facility to the 41st Precinct station
house.
Martin’s extradition temporarily interrupts the 22- to 40-year sentence he is serving for his girlfriend’s murder.
Back in 1998, cops had feared Marleny’s murder was one in a pattern of several brutal rapes of young females in The Bronx.
Police would not comment on whether they still think so — or whether Martin is now under suspicion for those attacks.
“The detectives never gave up,” McLeod said, lauding Martin’s arrest as an early Mother’s Day present.
“They are my angels,” she said through her tears.
Alice McLeod was Marleny Cruz's foster mother.
“He just turned 40,” the foster mom said of Martin. “And he already has
killed three people. They need to bring the electric chair back and fry
him.”
Martin’s first murder, of 15-year-old Michael Eugene
Thomas, landed him in a Sports Illustrated cover story on the increasing
number of senseless, violent robberies spurred by high-priced,
sports-celebrity-endorsed sneakers and clothing.
“I can’t believe it,” Michael Jordan himself was quoted as commenting on the boy’s
murder in the May 1990 SI piece. “Choked to death,” the sports legend
said, his voice cracking with emotion.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nailed_from_grave_TezV6quVg0EpSg2D3NnjSP#ixzz1uSw2NTdH
By KENNETH GARGER and JAMIE SCHRAM
Last Updated: 5:30 AM, May 10, 2012
Posted: 2:19 AM, May 10, 2012
Christopher Sadowski
James D. Martin being walked from the Bronx Homicide Precinct Wednesday.
On a winter’s night in 1998, 14-year-old Marleny Cruz struggled in vain
against a brutal rapist, scratching him as he strangled her in a
deserted Bronx park.
Thirteen years later, the DNA collected from
beneath her corpse’s fingernails has led to the arrest in a
Pennsylvania prison of James David Martin, a now 40-year-old monster who
has served nearly his entire adult life behind bars for a string of
crimes — including two other strangulations.
At age 17, Martin had choked the life out of a 15-year-old basketball buddy at his
Maryland high school to steal the victim’s $115 Nike Air Jordans, a pair
of sneakers that didn’t even fit him.
Fifteen years later, in Allentown, Pa, he strangled his live-in girlfriend, Cecilia Santiago,
30, leaving her body in a shopping- center Dumpster.
Both those murders were solved quickly.
But young Marleny’s death would go unsolved until a Bronx homicide cop
retrieved her nail scrapings from evidence storage, allowing the tragic
girl to essentially finger her killer from beyond the grave.
WNBC Marleny Cruz
“God made her do that — swipe at him,” Cruz’s foster mother, Alice McLeod,
told The Post yesterday, speaking tearfully from the same
housing-project kitchen in the borough’s Morrisania neighborhood where
the girl once shared family meals.
“She nailed him,” the foster mom said, “so that later they could nail him, too.”
It was Detective Malcolm Reiman of the Bronx Homicide Task Force who
cracked the girl’s long-cold case, requesting the DNA profile in
September 2011 and — once he got his hit — personally driving Martin
from the Somerset Correctional Facility to the 41st Precinct station
house.
Martin’s extradition temporarily interrupts the 22- to 40-year sentence he is serving for his girlfriend’s murder.
Back in 1998, cops had feared Marleny’s murder was one in a pattern of several brutal rapes of young females in The Bronx.
Police would not comment on whether they still think so — or whether Martin is now under suspicion for those attacks.
“The detectives never gave up,” McLeod said, lauding Martin’s arrest as an early Mother’s Day present.
“They are my angels,” she said through her tears.
Alice McLeod was Marleny Cruz's foster mother.
“He just turned 40,” the foster mom said of Martin. “And he already has
killed three people. They need to bring the electric chair back and fry
him.”
Martin’s first murder, of 15-year-old Michael Eugene
Thomas, landed him in a Sports Illustrated cover story on the increasing
number of senseless, violent robberies spurred by high-priced,
sports-celebrity-endorsed sneakers and clothing.
“I can’t believe it,” Michael Jordan himself was quoted as commenting on the boy’s
murder in the May 1990 SI piece. “Choked to death,” the sports legend
said, his voice cracking with emotion.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/nailed_from_grave_TezV6quVg0EpSg2D3NnjSP#ixzz1uSw2NTdH
twinkletoes- Supreme Commander of the Universe With Cape AND Tights AND Fancy Headgear
- Job/hobbies : Trying to keep my sanity. Trying to accept that which I cannot change. It's hard.
Re: MARLENY CRUZ - 14 yo - (1988) / Arrested: James David Martin - Bronx, NY
by mermaid55 Wed Apr 23, 2014 1:18 pm
Next Appearance
Date:June 19, 2014
Court:Bronx Supreme Court - Criminal Term
Judge:Moore, J
Part:85
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Detail?which=case&docketNumber=qNpoIOQ_PLUS_hT5LoQ3f_PLUS_qT9Bw==&countyId=FstEr2LUtlPbqBzUv1dQCw==&docketId=/DPpoQim_PLUS_HnquXiY/zqmqg==&docketDseq=o6PDyKIx4BvSfbvyCgDnHw==&defendantName=Martin,+James&court=Bronx+Supreme+Court+-+Criminal+Term&courtType=S&recordType=C&recordNum=LH7rmftzFomIYnneZ73njA==
Date:June 19, 2014
Court:Bronx Supreme Court - Criminal Term
Judge:Moore, J
Part:85
https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/webcrim_attorney/Detail?which=case&docketNumber=qNpoIOQ_PLUS_hT5LoQ3f_PLUS_qT9Bw==&countyId=FstEr2LUtlPbqBzUv1dQCw==&docketId=/DPpoQim_PLUS_HnquXiY/zqmqg==&docketDseq=o6PDyKIx4BvSfbvyCgDnHw==&defendantName=Martin,+James&court=Bronx+Supreme+Court+-+Criminal+Term&courtType=S&recordType=C&recordNum=LH7rmftzFomIYnneZ73njA==
mermaid55- Supreme Commander of the Universe With Cape AND Tights AND Fancy Headgear
Similar topics» JOI LITTLE - 9 yo - (1988) / Convicted: Boyfriend, Robert Fleming - Bronx, NY
» FREDDY MARTIN - 9 yo - / Charged: Casmine Aska, 17 - Bronx, NY
» RYAN FERRER - 9 months - / Accused: Martin Quirindongo Bronx NY
» DANIQUA JAMES - 13 yo - Edenwald/Bronx/ NYC NY
» CARMEN EILLIS - 3 yo/ Accused: Jose Cruz (Mother's boyfriend) - Indianaplois IN
» FREDDY MARTIN - 9 yo - / Charged: Casmine Aska, 17 - Bronx, NY
» RYAN FERRER - 9 months - / Accused: Martin Quirindongo Bronx NY
» DANIQUA JAMES - 13 yo - Edenwald/Bronx/ NYC NY
» CARMEN EILLIS - 3 yo/ Accused: Jose Cruz (Mother's boyfriend) - Indianaplois IN
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum