A star witness who was set to testify next week in the murder trial of a defendant accused of killing a pregnant woman in 2013 has been found dead in Denver.
Roxann Martinez was found shot and killed at a Denver intersection on February 25, according to a report, with the Denver Police Department offering a $2,000 reward for information on the woman’s death.
Martinez was set testify in the murder trial of Kelsie Schelling, 21, who disappeared on February 4, 2013, when she was planning to visit her boyfriend, Donthe Lucas.
Roxann Martinez was found shot and killed at a Denver intersection on Thursday, according to a report, with the Denver Police Department offering a $2,000 reward for information on the woman’s death.
Schelling’s body was never found, but Lucas – who she was going to visit in Pueblo, Colorado, was charged with her murder in 2017. He has pleaded not guilty.
At the time of her alleged murder, Schelling was eight weeks pregnant.
Messages on her phone showed that she texted her boyfriend that she was pregnant, and that he was not happy about the news.
On the day of her disappearance, GPS on Schelling’s showed it had traveled to the same location in Pueblo that Lucas’ phone was.
Martinez, 31, had been ‘endorsed as a prosecution witness,’ according to Jeff Chostner, the 10th judicial district attorney, who spoke to FOX 31 in Denver.
Chostner said he was unable to speak further on the nature of her testimony because of the on-going investigation into Schelling’s death.
Martinez was found dead on February 25 at around 11 p.m. at the intersection of East Kenyon Drive and South Wabash Street in the Hampden South neighborhood of Denver.
‘Denver police officers were notified of a woman down in the streets,’ Denver Police Department spokesperson Christine Downs told CBS4.
But Denver police told the station that they did not believe Martinez’s death is connected to the case of Kelsie Schelling.
‘Investigators are aware of her connection to that trial, but at this time do not think her death is connected to that case,’ police told the news station.
‘We don’t have anybody in custody at this time. We don’t believe there is a danger to the community at this time,’ Downs also said.
‘And, we don’t believe it was related to any trials or any other issues that are going on right now. We don’t believe that there are any connections to anything else.’
Left: Kelsie Schelling, who was allegedly murdered in 2013. Right: Donthe Lucas, who was charged with her murder in 2017. Martinez was set testify in the murder trial this week
In the trial on Tuesday, a geologist testified that the soil in Schelling’s abandoned car likely came from an area west and southwest of Pueblo, and not from Denver where she lived.
Schelling’s car was found abandoned in a Pueblo parking lot a few days after her disappearance in 2013.
An FBI agent involved n the investigation and the former neighbour of 28-year-old Lucas also testified for the prosecution on Tuesday, according to Fox News.
Schelling’s family and friends have also previously testified about her troubled relationship with Lucas, with one friend saying that he physically abused her.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
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