Monday, April 20, 2009

Man accused of killing wife tried to dispose body in reservoir

Clay (WSYR-TV) - State police say he killed his wife -- with their infant son in the apartment -- and then took the child and her body for a long trip to try and cover up the crime.

Alex Martinez, 22, is accused of killing his 21-year-old wife Angela Harris at their apartment on Grampian Road in Clay at about 11:30 Saturday morning. He allegedly admitted to choking her to death.

Investigators say several hours later, Martinez drove the body nearly 200 miles southeast to the Beacon Reservoir in the Dutchess County Town of Fishkill, where he grew up. 

They say he arrived there at 4:30 Sunday morning, spent a couple of unsuccessful hours trying to hide the body and then turned himself into Beacon police. 

State police investigators say after Martinez allegedly killed his wife, he spent the next several hours on a frantic shopping spree to come up with what he needed to sink Angela Harris’s body in the reservoir.

"We've got -- and are in the process of getting more -- evidence in terms of receipts, video surveillance cameras of when he went to, for instance, Home Depot to purchase the concrete, when he went to Wegmans to purchase the trash bags," says Onondaga County DA Bill Fitzpatrick.

Investigators say two men who apparently didn't know Martinez at all were outside the apartment complex on Saturday night and saw him struggling to get something into his truck, so they decided to help him out, not knowing what was inside those plastic bags.

"When he transported the body, he had the child with him and some family pets in the pick up truck, drove back to Beacon, where he is from,” possibly due to his familiarity with the area, says State Police Captain Mark Lincoln.

When several attempts to sink the body with cement went unsuccessful, Lincoln says Martinez decided to drive to the Beacon Police Department and turn himself in.  Investigators are not revealing a motive for the murder, but say they and the DA’s office are putting together a substantial amount of evidence with what they say is detailed, lengthy statement from Martinez. 

The couple's young child is now in the custody of Angela Harris's parents.  Martinez is scheduled to be back in Clay Town Court on Friday. 

Both police and the district attorney say the two men that helped Martinez will not be charged, because it appears they didn't know what they were helping him load into the truck.

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