The family of Manuel Vasquez has spoken out after the woman charged with helping dispose of his body following his murder bonded out of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center on Friday.
Manuel Vasquez’s mother sent an open letter to Lydia Martinez, Vasquez’s mother-in-law, calling her “nothing but a liar” and “cruel and evil.” WCBI, a local TV station, published the letter on its website.
Manuel Vasquez’s children, however, told The Dispatch they believe Lydia Martinez was forced to help their mother cover up and hide the murder.
Authorities say Lydia Martinez helped Manuel Vasquez’s wife, Christina Vasquez, burn his body after he was shot and killed inside his New Hope in June. Christina Vasquez has been charged with murder. Lydia Martinez has been charged with accessory after the fact.
Christina Vasquez remains in jail on a $500,000 bond.
Lydia Martinez’s bond was initially also $500,000. However, it was reduced to $30,000 and she subsequently bonded out and went to Colorado to stay with family while awaiting trial. That is what led to Mary Sanchez’s open letter.
In the letter, Sanchez condemned Lydia Martinez for her role in Manuel Vasquez’s death and said, “you don’t deserve one day of freedom.”
“I hope you burn — there are no words that can express how I feel about you — I hate you,” Sanchez wrote. “I can’t understand how any human could have let you walk out into the street again.”
Lydia Martinez, in an interview with The Dispatch on Friday, said she helped dispose of Manuel Vasquez’s remains because Christina Vasquez threatened to kill her and Manuel’s three children if she did not help.
In response to the letter, Manuel and Christina’s daughter, Alexia Vasquez, 19, told The Dispatch that she and her brothers do not want to be associated with Mary Sanchez’s letter. Alexia said she and her brothers believe Martinez was saving them from their mother by helping dispose of Manuel’s body and not alerting authorities to the murder.
Manuel Vasquez’s remains were discovered at his New Hope home on July 21-22, more than a week after Vasquez was reported missing. Family said he had not been seen since June 24. Investigators with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation now believe that was the date his wife shot him.
Messages left with Christina Vasquez’s lawyer, William Starks, went unreturned.
Christina Vasquez and Martinez’s trial dates have been tentatively set for February 2016.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 29 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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