COLUMBUS — The wife of a man killed in New Hope in 2015 has pleaded guilty to his murder, but is not expected to be sentenced until after the District Attorney’s Office presents new evidence in the case to a grand jury.
Christina Martinez, 42, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Manuel Vasquez, 40, in Lowndes County Circuit Court Thursday. However, 16th District Judge Lee Coleman deferred her sentencing until Feb. 20. In the meantime, District Attorney Scott Colom said, investigators plan to present more evidence which he said could result in further indictments in the murder.
“We now believe there was more than one person, that Christina Martinez was not the only person involved in the murder of Manuel Vasquez,” Colom told reporters after Martinez entered her plea.
Neither Colom nor one of Martinez’s attorneys, public defender Donna Smith, would elaborate on the new evidence. Colom noted the case captured headlines when Vasquez’s remains were first discovered in July 2015. However, he said, the public only knows about a quarter of the story.
“Once the full story comes out about what happened here and what eventually led to Mr. Vasquez’s murder and the attempt to cover it up, I think it’s going to be too unbelievable for a Lifetime movie,” Colom said.
Investigators discovered Vasquez’s remains in the side yard of his home on Windchase Drive in New Hope in July 2015, a few days after Martinez reported him missing. Martinez had previously told friends and family that Vasquez had gone on a religious retreat. After Vasquez’s remains were found, investigators arrested Martinez and her mother, Lydia Martinez, who previously told The Dispatch she helped her daughter dispose of Vasquez’s body by burning it.
Christina Martinez was indicted in October of that year for murder, as well as domestic violence-aggravated assault for allegedly forcing Lydia Martinez to drink antifreeze. Lydia Martinez was indicted for accessory after the fact.
The case has sat in the court system in the four years since, but Colom called Martinez’s plea Thursday the “next step” in solving it.
“I feel like the case is moving forward,” Colom said, adding, “It’s taken a lot of work, even a trip to San Antonio (Texas, where Vasquez and Martinez lived before moving to New Hope).”
Martinez’s public defenders, Jay Hurdle and Smith, also learned further information from Martinez, which they turned over to the DA’s Office and which led to the plea.
“There is a lot more to come,” Smith told reporters after Martinez’s plea hearing. “In the long run, I think she is relieved to have pleaded guilty today. It was a long process, a long time to get her to where she is today.”
Martinez has entered an open plea, meaning she has not made a deal with prosecutors, but Colom told Coleman during the plea hearing that a deal may be on the table later if Martinez continues to cooperate with the investigation.
State statute dictates the punishment range for second-degree murder is 20 to 40 years in Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Martinez will remain in custody on $200,000 bond and be transferred to another jail.
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