CHICAGO — The slaying of a six-person family that shocked Gage Park and Chicago began as an attempted robbery by a relative of the victims, police announced in a Thursday press conference.
Diego Uribe, 22, and his girlfriend Jafeth Ramos, 19, were both charged in the city's most deadly incident of violence since 2003. Each faces six counts of first-degree murder.
Charges being announced for Feb 4 Gage Park family massacre. "This was not a random act of violence." pic.twitter.com/dX8sH1MRCG
— Alex Nitkin (@AlexNitkin) May 19, 2016
On Feb. 4, three generations of the Martinez family were found slain in their home in the 5700 block of South California Avenue in what one officer called the most "gruesome" scene he'd ever seen on the job.
An older woman and middle-aged man were stabbed and beaten, autopsy results showed. An older man and two boys were stabbed to death, and a middle-aged woman was shot. All deaths were ruled homicides.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's office identified the victims as Noe Martinez Sr., 62, Rosaura Martinez, 58, Noe Martinez Jr., 38, Maria Herminia Martinez, 32, Alexis Cruz, 10, and Leonardo Cruz, 13.
Family members said Alexis and Leonardo were Herminia's sons.
Uribe was Herminia's cousin, police said, and a nephew to Rosaura and Noe Sr. He had come to the house to demand money from the family, and eventually the visit became violent, then deadly.
The violence began on the second floor of the home, 18th District Police Cmdr. William Dunn said, where Uribe and Herminia Hernandez got into an argument. He then pulled out a gun and shot her multiple times.
Uribe then "systematically" went on to beat or stab every remaining member of the family "as he encountered each subject," Dunn said.
Detectives did not specify whether Ramos participated in the murders, but she has been charged as an "accomplice."
After police discovered the crime scene early in the afternoon on Feb. 4, Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said, detectives spent more than 18 hours inside the house collecting a "mountain of evidence."
The case broke open on Wednesday, Roy said, when DNA evidence connected Uribe with blood at the scene. Cell phone records and interviews had already pointed to him and Ramos.
"The way the victims were scattered around the home led us to believe that there were multiple attackers," Roy said. "And the fact that they were not bound, and the house was not broken into, led us to believe that the victims knew and trusted the murderers."
The evidence all indicated that the Martinez family "was specifically targeted, and that this was not a random act of violence," he added.
In separate statements, police said, Uribe and Ramos both admitted their involvement in the crime.
At the outset of Thursday's press conference, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson praised the detectives and technicians who had helped bring justice in the wake of an "act of barbarism."
"For many of our officers, this case became personal, as the Martinez family were not repeat offenders or involved in any illegal activity," Johnson said. "They were like any other family who went to work, went to school, loved each other and abided by the law."
Azucena Martinez, a niece to the slain Noe Martinez, Sr., and Rosaura Martinez, told DNAinfo in February that her slain relatives were a "quiet" and caring family. She said Leonardo, 13, was "outgoing" and that Alexis, 10, loved soccer.
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