ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Recently leaked police video gives a look at the arrest of one of the suspects in the murder of 10-year-old Victoria Martens. It captures the moments after Jessica Kelley jumped from the balcony of a northwest Albuquerque apartment to try to escape from police the night Martens was murdered in August 2016.
Albuquerque police said they don’t know how the video was leaked onto YouTube last week. It’s clear when police nabbed Kelley for fighting at the apartment, they had no idea what they were about to find inside.
“Come here,” an officer is heard yelling at Kelley.
“I didn’t do nothing [sic],” Kelley responded. “There’s some s* that went down. No! I didn’t do nothing [sic].” Kelley was just moments away from being a suspect in the strangling and dismembering of 10-year-old Martens.
Kelley is seen limping from jumping off the second-story balcony. “Whose apartment is that?” the officer asked. “It’s my cousin, Fabian,” Kelley explained.
Officers tried to piece together what happened and asked about an earlier argument, possibly with Victoria’s mother, Michelle.
“She woke up and asked where her daughter was,” Kelley stated. “I don’t know where she’s at, dude.”
After other officers go to the apartment, it’s clear this was more than a fight. They yelled twice for Kelley to be put in the back of the cruiser. “Put her in your car, man!” one officer said.
Kelley, who was on a meth binge, was home alone with Victoria earlier in the evening when police say the girl was murdered. It’s unclear what police know at this point during the arrest, but an officer lost patience with her.
“You’re going to walk,” the officer told Kelley while trying to put her in the cruiser. “My leg’s broken. I just got thrown off the f***ing balcony, dude,” Kelly cried.
“You didn’t get thrown off. You jumped off. I saw you close the door,” the officer yelled back.
Meanwhile, an officer can be heard talking to dispatch and describing someone that could be Victoria. “Can you advise what we’re looking at here? Male? Female? Conscious? Breathing?” the dispatcher asked.
“Female 10. (Inaudible),” the officer responded.
“No! No!” Kelley cried while denying doing anything wrong. “Don’t tell me that. I have kids of my own.”
A couple of minutes later, the officer asked what happened to another unidentified man who left the scene. “He took off. He started trying to wipe blood off and he started panicking,” Kelley said. “I don’t know his name. They call him (inaudible).”
Kelley has pleaded no contest to child abuse resulting in death. She claims a “well-dressed Mexican” walked into the apartment and killed Victoria to get back at Fabian Gonzales over a drug debt.
Kelley and Victoria’s mother, Michelle Martens, both took plea deals on child abuse-related charges and will be sentenced after they testify against Gonzales. Police and prosecutors originally thought Gonzales was the killer. Now he’s charged with trying to dispose of the body and for leaving the girl alone with his unfit cousin.
No one is charged with the murder.
Related Coverage
- Court documents reveal complications in Victoria Martens murder case
- Appeals court backs Albuquerque judge in Fabian Gonzales case
- Judge requires suspect in Victoria Martens case to keep GPS monitoring, allows unsupervised contact with kids
- Suspect in death of Victoria Martens accused of violating terms of release
- Fabian Gonzales seeks changes to conditions of release
- Court upholds ruling to release suspect in Victoria Martens case
