18-Domestic Violence MURDERED: Landy Martinez

Hi Warriors, welcome to 1-3. I'm your host, ingrid. Today I have a story that has a tragic and horrific ending. This is a case when domestic violence ends in murder Murder at the hand of an ex-partner. This is the story of Landy Martinez. Landy was born on December 13, 1990 in Cuba. When he was 5 years old, he emigrated with his family from Cuba to Miami, florida. He came out as a gay man when he was 18 years old. Once he graduated high school, he moved to St Petersburg. He loved working with the elderly, became a certified nursing assistant and quickly found a job at an assisted living facility as the entertainment director. While there, he met and became best friends with Gail Rigg. Now that Landy had stable employment, friends and a place to live, he began to venture out to find love. He connected with Jose Adame online. The two eventually moved into a home they were renting with another couple in September 2010. Landy's friend, gail, described the relationship as initially happy and even sweet. She recalled spending a lot of time with Jose, but then the couple began to argue constantly. Jose was known to be extremely jealous. Gail said things became disturbing and inappropriate. One time she recalled Jose had invited her 11-year-old son to go back to the apartment to smoke weed and watch some porn. Landy heard the proposal and became very upset by it. In fact, the relationship ended shortly after that incident. Landy officially asked Jose to move out October 2011. Landy mentioned he was afraid of violent tendencies of Jose and by the time the relationship ended it had become extremely volatile, so much in fact even Landy's roommates had become fearful of Jose. They had security cameras installed outside the home which they could monitor from their cell phones. It wasn't long before Landy and his roommates discovered their concerns were warranted. A scorned Jose stolen SUV he and Landy had gotten together. He immediately began running red lights. Tickets started to pile up in Landy's name, as a vehicle was primarily registered under him, not one to be outwitted. Landy devised a plan of his own. He contacted Jose and said he wanted to reconsider the relationship. In the meantime, he went to the DMV to remove Jose from the title. The two men decided to meet at a fast food restaurant. Jose arrived to find Landy there with the police Title in hand. Landy asked the officers to remove Jose and his belongings from the vehicle. Landy drove away, leaving Jose fuming in the parking lot alone. After ending the relationship with Jose. Landy was soon involved with 26-year-old Jonathan Galasia Friends noted a significant difference in this relationship. The couple seemed to be more affectionate and romantic. Despite the ease of their courtship, jonathan was uncomfortable with the history and ongoing drama between Landy and Jose. He was worried Landy would eventually return to Jose, wanting to lay Jonathan's concerns to rest. Landy had Jonathan secretly joined a call between himself and Jose. During the one-hour conversation, jonathan listened silently as Landy reiterated to Jose that their relationship was over. He ended the call by mentioning he was seeing someone new and that person had been listening to them the entire time. Jose responded calmly and agreed their relationship was done. He in fact had also found a new boyfriend who bought him a red Lexus. When the three hung up, landy and Jonathan felt everything was clear and amicable. Upsettingly, though, jonathan received multiple text messages from Landy the following day. They read Landy missed Jose. He really loved Jose. Jose was the love of his life. Landy was breaking up with Jonathan and would be resuming his relationship with Jose Later that day, december 21, 2011,. A call was placed to 911. Send me your help, help, help. They want to kill me. Hurry up, please Help me. The operator is heard trying to get an address. The caller screams his name, landy Martinez, but no address. As he continues to beg for help, you can hear banging on a nearby door. When the door breaks, his screams become more desperate. There are two distinct gunshots, followed by silence. The call was made from a cell phone and no address was ever given. Working off pings from cell towers, the police hurriedly began canvassing the area. They questioned neighbors about anything strange or concerning. Meanwhile, another 911 call was received. Landy's landlord, who was out of town, was checking in on security cameras but was unable to see anything on her phone. She instantly called Landy, who didn't answer. This was not normal and, given her fears regarding Jose, she called requesting a well check. The police immediately rushed to the address she provided. The police arrived at the residence but no one answered when they knocked on the front door. Walking around the house, they found a window had been shattered, the screen had been removed from the back door and the door handle was smashed. Inside, the house was ransacked. A 70-inch TV had been removed from the wall and placed on a pool table. There was jewelry, clothes and video games in a bag left by the door. Moving through the house, the police followed a trail of blood to the bathroom. There they found the shower doors damaged and barely hanging along with a significant amount of blood on the toilet. As they left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom, they found Landy face down in just a t-shirt and underwear. He had been shot in the chest and in the back of his head. Two bullet shells were found in the room. The amount of blood and apparent brutality didn't initially measure up to a robbery gone wrong. The investigation team found a cell phone in Landy's room. On it a video of Landy begging for his life. He has duct tape around his wrists. As he is standing in the shower in his t-shirt and underwear, it is clear someone else is holding the phone and recording as he cries and pleads in Spanish Please, please, forgive me for everything. The same phone revealed the text messages sent to Jonathan earlier, which set the investigator's sights on him. After breaking the news to Jonathan, he appeared distraught, but he asked if he needed an attorney. Of course, that sparked more of an interest in him. He, however, was officially ruled out following review of surveillance videos at his place of employment, interviews with his colleagues and the location of his cell phone when he received the text messages from Landy. According to cell tower pings, he was home over an hour away from the scene. Also cleared quickly were Landy's roommates. They were out of town and had solid alibis. Neighbors had noted two magazine salesmen in the area who were found to be legitimate. Now police needed to track down two other individuals mentioned by witnesses. Two Hispanic men were noted to be rushing away from the crime scene toward a car at the end of the street. Following their talk with Jonathan, they decided to check out Jose. A week later, with the assistance of the US Marshal Service, jose was found in North Carolina. He was arrested for an unrelated case. They took this opportunity to also question him about Landy. Jose stated he found out about Landy from a friend and was in North Carolina when it happened. The police, however, had already investigated Jose's cell phone records, which proved he was in Florida during the time of the murder. When the police pointedly asked Jose to explain that, he began to vomit, the interrogation lasted hours. Jose was sick about a dozen times. However, he denied everything the entire time. Because of the other charges in his arrest, jose remained behind bars. During this time, investigators put the pieces together of what really happened that night and early morning. They believed Jose enlisted the help of his 16-year-old nephew by promising electronics and games. First they knew to cut the lines to the security cameras. Landy was alerted when they broke the glass. When he investigated the sound, jose and his nephew dragged him to the bathroom where they bound his wrists with duct tape. A bottle of Drano and a knife were found and the autopsy report confirmed knife marks on his body as well as burns to his eyes and throat from the Drano. Police think the video was unintentionally filmed on Landy's phone. You see Jose's phone was identical. The 42nd message was most likely supposed to have been recorded on Jose's phone, not Landy's. After translating more of the video, landy has heard saying I was a stupid one who screwed up everything. Jose is the best. He had nothing to do with our breakup. The torture lasted approximately two hours, after which Landy was put in his bedroom. At that time Jose and his nephew ransacked the house. That's when Landy was able to grab the phone somehow and call 911. Once the attackers broke through the door, landy shoved the phone under the mattress. Jose and his nephew realized Landy had called 911 and took off running. Their vehicle description was given to the police by witnesses. They were able to locate the car at the trailer park where Jose's mom lived Up until the getaway car was impounded. All police had was circumstantial evidence. The duct tape on Landy's wrists and ankles only produced a partial print. The only DNA found at the scene belonged to Landy. Evidence found in the car was damning, however. Duct tape that was identical to what was used on Landy was found in the car. More incriminating was drops of Landy's blood on the steering wheel. The trial against Jose Adame lasted two days, in which all of the evidence was presented. The cell phone video and the 911 calls were played. The jury deliberated for just a short period before returning with a guilty verdict. Jose had continued with his stance of not guilty, but was convicted of first degree murder in July 2016. He was sentenced to life without parole. Although evidence points to Jose's nephew having been involved with the torture and murder of Landy, there was not enough to officially charge him. Landy is remembered as a kind and compassionate man. He loved music and dancing. Okay, warriors, i will be back next week with another story for you. Until then, stay strong and, wherever you are in your journey, always remember you are not alone. To learn more information, register as a guest or leave a review by going to the website 1and3podcastcom. That's the number 1-IN the number 3-podcastcom. Follow 1and3 on Instagram, facebook and Twitter at 1and3podcast. To help me out, please remember to rate, review and subscribe. 1and3 is a.5 Pinoy production music written and performed by Tim Crow.