To organize what we know so far:
- October 5th 2019 - Marquina fails to come home after attending a concert with friends in Sacramento
- October 6th 2019 - last contact with family.
- Morning: Martinez claims he dropped her off in Sutter Creek.
- Afternoon/Evening: Mother also claims to have seen Marquina's car parked on Main Street near Sutter Creek, mother confronted daughter in front of vehicle and daughter told her she was moving out.
- October 8th 2019 - seen at school in Sacramento
- October 9th 2019 - last known location of her cellphone in San Joaquin County. There are disputes about where she was last seen. Police believe she was killed here in San Joaquin as circumstantial evidence has been found suggesting that Marquina was murdered here by Martinez
- October 11th 2019 - Martinez stops reporting to work
- October 13th 2019 - Marquina's Car (black Honda Accord) was discovered in Escalon. An eye witness gave a description of a young hispanic couple matching the description of Martinez and Marquina and Martinez's car.
- June 12th 2020 - Martinez extradited from Mexico to the US on felony sex-related charges including statutory rape (Marquina being the victim of these charges)*
- December 18th - 22nd 2020 - Martinez served a Ramey warrant and brought back into custody for questioning, Martinez exercised his 5th amendment right was later released again. Martinez claims that Marquina stated to be older than she actually was and stated that they met on a dating app.**
Other Information:
- Amador county believes there is enough circumstantial evidence to charge Martinez with the murder of Marquina but since the murder is believed to have taken place in San Joaquin County, San Joaquin needs to be sure they have enough evidence before they charge him They do not believe there is enough evidence at this time to prove without a reasonable doubt that A. Marquina is dead and that B. Martinez was involved.
- ACSO has followed hundreds of leads from San Joaquin to San Diego, to Mexico, where Martinez fled following the disappearance of Marquina.
- Police are certain Marquina was killed by Martinez and that believe he had help.***
Sources of information:
Amador County Sherriff's Office Oct. 16 2019
Amador County DA wants to 'set the record straight'
Amador County District Attorney Dec. 28 2020
Officials Arrest Man Wanted in Connection With Amador County Girl's Disappearance
Man Arrested in Connection to Missing Sutter Creek Girl
Man Accused of Killing Amador County Girl Victoria Marquina Walks Free From Jail
Amador County Sheriff takes man believed to be connected to disappearance of missing girl back into custody for questioning
Amador County DA wants to 'set the record straight' on investigation into disappearance of 16-year-old Victoria Marquina
Sutter Creek mother asks for help in finding teen daughter missing since October
Notes:
*To me, this implies that the police found evidence that Martinez and Marquina had sex (possibly from her car?)
**New evidence was discovered on the sex-related charges Martinez was facing in Amador County that now made it impossible to convince a unanimous jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt under any theory of criminal liability. I speculate that Marquina perhaps lied about her age whatever dating app she was using so, Martinez's statement that he thought she was older could have been true or at least partially true therefor squashing their statutory rape charges
***Is this suggesting that there is evidence of someone else assisting in the murder/disappearance of Marquina?
Working theories:
- Marquina was killed in San Joaquin on the 9th or 10th as police suspect and her body was discarded somewhere (?). My best guess would be somewhere between where her phone last pinged and where her car was found. Panicked Martinez stops showing up to work, thinks about laying low or perhaps leaving the country altogether (Martinez claims he left because he was getting death threats because of Marquina's disappearance, this could be an excuse to justify leaving the country at around the same time).
- Marquina was not killed in San Joaquin on the 9th or 10th as police suspect but was in fact alive and with Martinez on the 13th (as per the eye witness statements claiming to see her in Martinez's car). An altercation occurred where Marquina was perhaps beat up and/or taken forcibly by Martinez to Mexico. Martinez and Marquina abandoning the Honda Accord in order to 'throw off' the police.
Next Steps?
- Unfortunately, in cases like these without a body, it will be very hard to prove and explain what happened. It would be prudent to look for a body between San Joaquin County and where Marquina's car was found in Escalon and following the path that Martinez took to go to Mexico (San Joaquin - San Diego). A good place to start might be by looking at unidentified bodies of girls her age, size, and description to see if a match can be made this way.
- Police seem to believe that there was a second person involved that may have helped Martinez with the murder/disappearance. Looking for leads to who this might be would also be worth pursuing. It has been difficult to find the social media accounts for both Martinez and Marquina to look into this further, but if there was a second person involved it would most likely be a friend of either Martinez alone or both Martinez and Marquina.
