ALICIA MARTINEZ - 16 yo (11/2010) Suspect: Edward Romero - Denver CO

Denver Police say a 26-year-old man faces first degree murder charges after a missing 16-year-old girl was found dead inside his home.

On Sunday detectives suspected the teenager may be dead and identified Edward Timothy Romero as a suspect.

Authorities arrested Romero at 41st Avenue and Clay Street.

During a search of the crime scene, at 4148 Decatur Street, detectives discovered the body of the 16-year-old girl.

Romero is currently being held in the Denver City Jail.

The name of the victim was not released.

The body of a girl found inside a Denver home on Sunday is believed to be a 16-year-old who has been missing since Friday. A 26-year-old neighbor has been arrested, accused of shooting her and then cutting her up, according to the suspect's family members.Edward Timothy Romero is being held on investigation of first-degree murder.Police started looking into the case over the weekend, when they received word of a missing teenager, who disappeared on Friday. Family and friends posted pictures of Alicia Martinez in the neighborhood, saying she was last seen at 42nd Avenue and Clay Street on Friday.
Neighbors report that there was apparently some kind of party or get-together in the garage of Romero's house at 4148 Decatur St. on Friday night. Some neighbors heard at least two gunshots.A family member of the suspect claims that Romero was very quick to anger and that he apparently shot the victim and cut her up.Another family member, a cousin of the suspect, said, "What possessed him to do that, we don't know. My heart goes out to the family of that child."Denver police aren't saying what happened on Friday and haven't identified the victim.Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Romero was arrested at his home without incident on Sunday. During a search of the home, detectives said they discovered the body of a young female."We don't know of any established relationship between the two," police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.Romero's arrest warrant has been sealed. He has an extensive criminal history, with convictions for aggravated robbery, vehicle theft and menacing, according to Colorado state records.Police are not identifying the victim until the Office of the Medical Examiner notifies her family and determines her cause of death.

The coroner's office in Denver on Tuesday said the body of a 16-year-old murder victim is that of a girl who went missing over the weekend.

Edward Romero, 26, was arrested on Sunday and faces first degree murder charges in the case. He was arrested shortly before Alicia Martinez's body was found inside a home near 42nd and Decatur.

Officials on Tuesday said the victim's body was partially disfigured but they haven't stated exactly how she died. Police also haven't said if Martinez and Romero knew each other.

One neighbor observed that after the arrest, police were searching for evidence in dumpsters and garbage cans in the area.

"I didn't know what exactly happened, but they indicated it was related to that, so I figured it was probably something pretty crazy, unfortunately," Doug Alvarez said.

Authorities at first were not releasing the murder victim's identity and on Sunday and Monday relatives and friends of Martinez were out in the neighborhood putting up fliers notifying people that she was missing. She had gone missing after a party at some point over the weekend and didn't return home.

A vigil for the victim was set to be held on Tuesday evening.

Romero has a lengthy criminal record that includes robbery, assault, and weapons charges.

Woman Accused Of Covering Up Teen's Death



DENVER -- Denver prosecutors have charged a 25-year-old woman as an accessory to murder in the case of a teen who was killed and dismembered.


Police arrested Francesca Pagliasotti earlier this week.


The charges allege Pagliasotti cleaned up the crime scene and lied to police to protect her boyfriend.

Edward Romero is charged with killing 16-year-old Alicia Martinez. Her body was found in four black garbage bags stored in a blue plastic tub that police found in Romero's basement. According to the autopsy, she was shot twice in the head, and her body was cut apart after she was dead.


Pagliasotti has been released from custody on $5,000 bond.


She is scheduled to appear in Denver County Courtroom on Dec. 28 to be formally



http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26165000/detail.html

Woman Who Reported Teen Missing Now Charged

Perea Took Alicia Martinez To Party At Suspect's House

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26809675/detail.html
UPDATED: 4:15 pm MST February 9, 2011

A 30-year-old woman who brought a 16-year-old girl to house party where
she was eventually killed and dismembered was charged this week with
contributing to the delinquency of a minor.Jacquelyn Perea took
Alicia Martinez to a party at Edward Romero's home at West 41st Avenue
and Decatur Street on Oct. 22. Perea knew that alcohol and drugs would
be present and even provided her with marijuana, the district attorney's
office said.Perea reported Martinez missing the following day, and the teen's body was found on Oct. 24.

snipped from the article above.......

Perea has been released from custody on $5,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 16.
Perea is the fourth person charged in connection to the murder.
Romero has been charged with first-degree murder.
Manuel Gonzales, 20, was charged with being an accessory to first-degree murder. He is accused of intentionally stalling the investigation into the victim’s disappearance by making false statements.
Francesca Pagliasotti has also been charged with accessory to murder. She is accused of cleaning up the crime scene and lying to police to protect Romero, who was her boyfriend.
No other additional charges are anticipated in this case, said Denver District Attorney spokeswoman Lyn Kimbrough.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26809675/detail.html

Edward Romero pleads insanity in murder of Alicia Martinez, 16
Posted: 06/07/2011
The day after 16-year-old Alicia Martinez failed to return from a house party, the man now accused of killing her showed up at her mother's home in northwest Denver.

Edward "Tim" Romero, 27, offered to help Vanessa Martinez pass out fliers asking for help finding Alicia.

Police believe that as he made the offer, Romero was fully aware that Alicia was dead — he knew because, they say, he killed her.

Romero on Monday pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to a first-degree-murder charge pending against him.

But the act Martinez said Romero put on for her before his arrest has convinced her that his plea is a ploy.

"He deserves a Grammy for the way he fooled us all in the beginning," Martinez said after the court proceeding. "He's a very sick person. . . . There's no way they're going to find him insane."

Romero was ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation at the Denver County Jail in the next 90 days.

The plea means that defense attorneys will have to show that he was insane at the time he killed Alicia, said Denver criminal defense attorney R. Scott Reisch.

Anything Romero discusses in his psychological evaluation can be used against him, and juries sometimes have a tough time believing the defendant if there's not documentation of his illness, Reisch said.

"They may have a very valid defense, but these are very tough cases to prove. You're walking a tightrope," Reisch said. "You're looking for some documented history of mental illness where you can say the voices told him to do something; he wasn't with us; he was in a different reality."

It also means that if found not guilty by reason of insanity, Romero could spend the rest of his life in a mental institution



Read more: Edward Romero pleads insanity in murder of Alicia Martinez, 16 - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18219852#ixzz1U626ERFc

Woman pleads guilty to leaving murder victim Alicia Martinez, 16, at party
Updated: 06/28/2011

The woman who left 16-year-old Alicia Martinez at a house party the night the teen was murdered pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a misdemeanor marijuana-possession charge.

Jacquelyn Perea, 29, received a two- year deferred sentence.

If she doesn't have any more offenses, the felony conviction will be wiped from her record. She will serve probation for the misdemeanor.

Alicia's father, Jesus Paniagua, spoke for the first time publicly at the court hearing.

Alicia lived with him all her life, and she wasn't the type of girl who typically attended parties where there were drugs and alcohol, Paniagua said.

"She was special. All I am asking is for justice for such irresponsible people who brought my daughter to such an ugly death," he said through an interpreter. "It's not fair that because of irresponsible people, my daughter has died the way she died."

Perea was a neighbor to the girl's mother. Prosecutors say she took the girl to a house party at the Denver home of Edward Timothy Romero, 27, on the night of Oct. 22. They say Perea left the girl passed out at Romero's home. She was never seen alive again.

Prosecutors say Romero shot and dismembered Alicia and hid her body, with the help of his girlfriend, in plastic storage bins in his garage.

Romero has pleaded not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.

His girlfriend, Francesca Pagliasotti, 25, has pleaded not guilty to a felony count of obstruction of justice for allegedly helping Romero conceal the body.

Perea has agreed to assist in Romero's prosecution, according to the Denver district attorney's office.

The girl's mother, Vanessa Martinez, and her family were also at the hearing, blotting tears as a judge read the plea agreement to Perea.

"I trusted (Perea). It's not that I'd just let my daughter go with anybody," Martinez said. "I want (Perea) to know I'll never forgive her."

In court Monday, Perea admitted to causing Alicia to break curfew laws and for possessing between 6 and 12 ounces of marijuana.

Perea's criminal history includes a municipal charge for wronging a minor in 2000 and a misdemeanor count of drug possession in 2001.



Read more: Woman pleads guilty to leaving murder victim Alicia Martinez, 16, at party - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18366441?source=pkg#ixzz1U63om9lK

As written and opined by Chelsea Hoffman ~
The murder of missing teen Alicia Martinez was described in gruesome
detail this week during the trial of Francesca Pagliasotti, a woman
accused of aiding in the disposal of the slain girl's body parts.
Pagliasotti reportedly admitted to participating in covering for her
boyfriend after the crime was committed. She is accused of lying for the
man, who murdered the 16-year-old missing girl, after helping him in
cleaning up evidence related to the murder.
Francesca
Pagliasotti referred to herself as a "snitch" after revealing details
of the murder of the missing teen in a police interview, and is not
denying the allegations facing her in court. However, her defense team
is using the tired defense of abuse and control leading her to obey her
abusive boyfriend -- including participating in a gruesome crime.
Francesca
allegedly helped in cutting the 16-year-old up into pieces and then
flushing them down the toilet. Other body parts belonging to Alicia
Martinez were bagged up, which were later discovered by investigators.
The slain girl was reportedly shot twice in the head before she was cut
up with the young woman and her boyfriend. Since she took such an active
role in this crime, it's only suitable that she be tried in the same
manner as her partner.
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981173902

Accomplice to grisly murder of Denver teen testifies she was too terrified not to help

03/09/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

By Kristen Leigh Painter
The Denver Post

Francesca Pagliasotti took the witness stand
Friday afternoon to retell in gruesome detail the three-day process of
dismembering the body of 16-year-old Alicia Martinez after she had been
murdered.

Pagliasotti's defense attorney Victor Stazzone led his client
through three hours of meticulous testimony that moved many in the
courtroom to tears or caused them to leave the room.
The 26-year-old is being tried in Denver District Court as an accessory to murder.

Pagliasotti said that she returned home late on the night on
Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 and was told by her boyfriend Edward Timothy
Romero that he had shot and killed Martinez.
What unfurled from there, Pagliasotti said, was a multi-day saga of lies, coercion, body mutilation and methodical attempts to hide the evidence.

Pagliasotti cried as she testified that she saw nearly every step of the process.

Aside from brief moments when she left to check on their children or
his grandmother, who was living in the house with them, or to fetch
supplies he demanded, she and Romero were not apart from the moment he
showed her the body that Friday night, until she and the children her
two were taken into police custody two days later. The children were
ages 2 and 4 at the time.

Pagliasotti said that Romero brought her
to their garage when she returned home Friday and showed her Martinez's
body laying unclothed on a couch with blood covering her face. She said
repeatedly questioned him as to why he would do such a thing. He
told her he had "blacked out and she was dead when he came to."

She said Romero swore her to secrecy and then told his grandmother what he
had done as well. Both of the women were frantic, Pagliasotti said, but
Romero threatened them both to keep quiet.

He then went to the garage, and according to Pagliasotti, instructed her to fetch tools and supplies while he cut up the body.
Throughout the retelling, the courtroom rippled with moans, hands covering heads, and sobs from Martinez's family and others in the room.

Throughout the testimony, the defense questioned Pagliasotti as to why she did not
call 9-1-1 at any point, each time emphasizing her mental and emotional
state at the time.

"You're going to help me or you're f------
next," Pagliasotti said, quoting what Romero said when she tried to
resist his demands that night. "I was scared for my life. I was scared
for my children's lives. I was scared for his grandma's life."

Stazzone questioned the nature of Romero and Pagliasotti's 10-year relationship, which is a linchpin of her defense.

The final hour of the day was spent chronicling Romero's habitual abuse of
Pagliasotti, including testimony that he taken a piece of broken glass and
sliced her arm, whipped her with a straightened coat hanger, beaten her
with a baseball bat, and fired bullets as she kneeled on their bed.

Judge Shelley Gilman adjorned the court and 14-member jury for
the weekend. The defense will resume its examination of Pagliasotti on
Monday at 10:30 a.m.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20142371/accomplice-grisly-murder-denver-teen-testifies-she-was#ixzz1ogxocbhj

Edward Romero murder trial opens with grisly details of 16-year-old Alicia Martinez's dismemberment
Defense says Romero is insane

Posted: 01/23/2013
Last Updated: 21 hours ago
Tyler Lopez

DENVER - Opening statements in Edward Romero's murder trial Wednesday began with a prosecutor revealing grisly details about how the Denver man allegedly shot and killed 16-year-old Alicia Martinez after a house party in 2010 and then -- with the help of his girlfriend -- dismembered the body in an effort to flush it down the toilet.

Prosecutors say that Romero suffers from mental illness, but he knew right from wrong when he killed Martinez and tried to cover it up.

But the defense says Romero suffers from a multiple-personality disorder, blacked out during the killing and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

-- EDITORS NOTE: This story contains some gruesome descriptions of the alleged crime --

Denver District Judge William Robbins cautioned people in the court room before the trial began.

“I understand this is a very emotional situation," Robbins said. "I don't tolerate drama in my courtroom. You will all need to behave, … suppress your emotions or you will have to leave."

Denver Chief Deputy District Attorney Henry Cooper began his opening statement by showing jurors a photograph of Alicia Martinez on a large monitor.

He described Martinez as a high school student who liked to hang out with friends, text boys and was "especially fond of Hello Kitty."

Then the prosecutor shifted to what Romero allegedly did to the girl who came with a neighbor to a party on the night of Oct. 22, 2010, at Romero's grandmother's Denver home, where he lived in the basement.

After the party, Cooper said Romero "intentionally shot" the girl twice in the head with a semiautomatic handgun and later "cut, dismembered, de-skinned and mutilated the body to where she was barely distinguishable as a human being."

As the prosecutor spoke, Romero sat at the defense table in a gray jail uniform, appearing engaged in the trial.

The party was held in the grandmother's garage, which Cooper described as a "man cave," outfitted with a stereo and TV, some couches and a "stripper pole."

Over about three hours, people at the party drank, smoked marijuana and socialized. Cooper said Martinez didn't drink alcohol, but she did smoke some pot.

Cooper said Romero was attracted to Martinez from the moment she arrived at the party with her friend, Jackie Perea. Romero pulled aside a friend, Manuel Gonzales, and asked him to get Perea to go outside so he could "hit on Alicia," Cooper said.

Gonzales persuaded Perea to go outside. But Perea eventually left the gathering, which was winding down. This left Romero in the garage alone with Martinez.

-- DA: Romero tells friend 'I Had To Kill Her' --

When Gonzales when back inside, Romero told his friend, "I did something bad. Things got out of hand and I had to kill her. I shot her," Cooper told jurors.

Gonzales told Romero to drive him back to his Westminster home. Romero left the girl's body in the garage.

"Don't tell anybody," Romero told Gonzales when he dropped him off, Cooper recalled.

Later, Romero's girlfriend, Francesca Pagliasotti, arrived at Romero's home. Cooper recounted a conversation between the two during his opening statement.

"I just killed a girl in the garage," Romero told Pagliasotti, showing her the body.

"We’ve got to do something," Romero said.

He began to dismember the body, cutting off the arms and legs as Pagliasotti watched, Cooper said. He stuffed the body parts in plastic garbage bags.

Romero and Pagliasotti then went to bed. They got up the next morning and cleaned the garage -- "cleaner than it's ever been" -- including pulling up floor tiles and mopping the floor with bleach, Cooper said.

Perea came back to Romero's home and asked him, "Where’s Alicia?"

Romero vaguely said she walked away from the party. The Martinez family filed a missing person report with police.

Meanwhile, Romero and Pagliasotti put the girl's remains into a blue plastic tub and took it into the house.

The night after the murder, Romero systematically cut the body into smaller and smaller parts -- even using a blender.

-- DA: Romero Tries To Flush Body Parts Down Toilet --

"It’s his plan to flush Alicia down the toilet piece by piece," Cooper said.

The girlfriend helped, the DA told the jury. Afterward, the couple got into the shower together to wash off the blood.

In a separate trial last year, Pagliasotti was found guilty of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Cooper says a man named Francisco Aguirre somehow learned of the killing and "gets a conscience" and calls anonymously to tell police there’s a dead girl in Romero's garage.

Police came to the home, but Romero denied any wrongdoing. He again said that Martinez had the left the party on foot.

Police continued to receive tips that the missing teen's body was hidden in Romero's home.

But when officers returned to question Romero, he grew indignant, saying: "What have I done?" Cooper recounted.

Two days after the killing, Romero talked with Alicia's family and offered to help them look for her.

-- Romero Offers To Help Girl's Family Find Her --

Romero rode with the girl's family to the police department and talked with investigators about what he knew -- without admitting any role in her disappearance, Cooper said.

Soon police returned to Romero's home with a search warrant and found the girl's remains in the blue plastic tub in the basement, Cooper said.

Romero "never comes clean" about how the girl died, the prosecutor told jurors.

After Romero's arrest, he eventually pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

While Romero had been previously diagnosed with several mental illnesses -- including mood, bipolar and anti-social disorders -- Cooper said two medical experts have found him to be sane.

-- Defense: Romero Has Multiple Personality Disorder --

However, during the defense team's opening statement, public defender Arnold Beckman told jurors a defense psychologist determined that Romero also has Dissociative Identity Disorder resulting from abuse he suffered as a child.

Beckman said the disorder causes people to develop an "unconscious survival mechanism," involving multiple personalities. People with the condition live in secrecy and fear losing control, he said.

Beckman said for several years Romero has experienced repeated blackout "episodes," where he comes to without knowing what has just happened.

-- Defense attorney: Romero Blacked Out During Killing --

On the night of the killing, Beckman said Romero blacked out and "emerged back into consciousness" to find himself alone and saw Alicia Martinez's lifeless body on a couch in the garage.

Beckman said Romero didn't know how she had died because the disorder caused him to have a lapse in memory -- or "a skip in the tape of his conscious mind."

As Romero always did when he blacked out, he tried to piece together what had just happened, Beckman said.

Romero decided he must have been the one who killed Alicia, but he had no clue why, the defense attorney said.

Romero decided he had to conceal the killing, Beckman said.

"So began, the gruesome, grisly, post-mortem dismemberment of Alicia Martinez," Beckman said.

The defense attorney called the dismemberment an "unconscionable cover-up," but Beckman said as shocking as it is, jurors "have to set that aside."

"You can’t decide this on emotion. You have to look at facts," Beckman said, telling jurors the mental health evidence will show Romero wasn't conscious when the girl was killed and had no "ability to know right from wrong."

Beckman said Romero suffers from a mental disease or mental defect and asked jurors to find him not guilty by reason of insanity.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/jury-seated-for-edward-romero-murder-and-dismemberment-trial-opening-statements-to-begin-wednesday

Murderer gets maximum sentence for killing teen girl
Posted on: 8:50 pm, March 19, 2013, by Tammy Vigil

DENVER — Justice Tuesday for the family of a teenager brutally murdered and dismembered nearly two-and-a-half-years ago in Denver.

Judge William Robbins sentenced Edward Romero, 28, to the longest prison term possible—life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Moments after the sentence, a member of Romero’s family left the courtroom in tears—with sobs that grew increasingly louder.

But for the family of victim Alicia Martinez, walking out of the courtroom lifts a heavy burden off their shoulders.

“I’m going to walk out of this courtroom and never look back and close these doors, these old doors and start opening new ones and focus on getting some closure. And, just know that my daughter got justice,” says Alicia’s mother, Vanessa Martinez.

Romero shot the 16-year-old twice in the head at his home after a party in October 2010–then chopped up her body.

His common-law wife, Francesca Pagliasotti, is serving 10 years in prison for helping him.

Romero’s attorneys say he was insane, but the jury didn’t believe them.

“This guy could win a Grammy for how good he acted,” says Martinez about what she calls a performance in pretending he was mentally ill.

Judge Robbins said in court, “Whether or not this case is a referendum on our mental health system, that is a conversation for another day. Mr. Romero was offered help and he refused it.”

The judge also told Romero: “…the things you did to her after you murdered her were unspeakable. This is as severe a case, as horrible a case, as I have ever seen. It deserves the severest penalty I can impose.”

But for Alicia’s family, a life sentence without their daughter is much more severe. And they must learn to move forward.

“I’m a believer in the Bible. If I ever want to see my daughter again, I mean, in order for God to forgive me and my sins I have to forgive Romero for what he did to my daughter,” she says.

But forgiveness does not mean forgetting.

“Hopefully, this is going to taunt him for the rest of his life,” says Martinez.

We also learned today several jury members were very touched by Alicia’s death. They took flowers to her grave site after reaching a guilty verdict in February.

Romero’s attorneys say they will appeal the sentence.

http://kdvr.com/2013/03/19/murderer-gets-maximum-sentence-for-killing-teen-girl/

Not the death penalty but at least justice. William

This POS is going to appeal. Too bad Alicia can't appeal her death.

The guilty always prolong sentence and judgement. :( The rights of the guilty are more important that the right of the dead. I heard once that we have more lawyers than any other country in the world. More people speak for the murderers than the victims.
William