Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

'Please Don't! I Just Want To Live!' Murdered Gage Park Boy Pleaded: Court

By Erica Demarest | May 20, 2016 11:45am | Updated on May 23, 2016 8:38am
 Diego Uribe, 22, and his girlfriend Jafeth Ramos, 19, are each charged with six counts of first-degree murder.
Diego Uribe, 22, and his girlfriend Jafeth Ramos, 19, are each charged with six counts of first-degree murder.
View Full Caption
Alex Nitkin/DNAinfo / Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The couple charged with murdering a Gage Park family of six earlier this year was ordered held without bail Friday as horrifying new details of the crime emerged.

Diego Uribe Cruz, 22, and girlfriend Jafeth Ramos, 19, are accused of sharing a meal with several members of the Martinez family before brutally slaughtering all six of the them during a three-hour robbery on Feb. 2.

Uribe Cruz, who walked into court Friday wearing a Jay Cutler Bears jersey, is the nephew of victim Maria Martinez's ex-husband, prosecutors said. Those killed included Martinez, her two children, her brother and her parents.

At one point, one of the children slain that day pleaded, "Please no. Please don't! I just want to live," Assistant State's Attorney Guy Lisuzzo said during a bond hearing Friday.

The last person killed, Noe Martinez Sr., was just arriving home with tamales and hot chocolate when Uribe Cruz allegedly plunged a knife into the 62-year-old man. "Why are you killing me?" the man asked, according to prosecutors. "I don't owe you anything."

"The acts described in this courtroom today — the slaughter of an entire family including two innocent children — I only have two words to describe: pure evil," Cook County Judge James Brown said Friday.

Brown went on to call the attacks an "act of barbarism" that rocked the city before ordering Uribe Cruz and Ramos held without bail.

Uribe Cruz and Ramos, who share a 1-year-old son, are each charged with six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of armed robbery. If convicted, they face life in prison.

"After 30 years as a prosecutor, I thought I had seen and heard just about anything and everything when it comes to violent crime," Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said after court Friday. "But a case like this is something I have never seen before. This was not an armed robbery, This was a methodical slaughter.”

Officers found the three slain generations of the Martinez family inside their home in the 5700 block of South California Avenue on Feb. 4 after friends, relatives and a work supervisor became concerned at the family's absence.

Maria Martinez, 32, had been shot multiple times in her head, according to authorities. Her brother, Noe Martinez Jr., 38, was beaten in his head. Maria Martinez's sons, 10-year-old Alexis Cruz and 13-year-old Leonardo Cruz, were stabbed multiple times in their bodies. And her parents, Noe Martinez Sr., 62, and Rosaura Martinez, 58, were stabbed multiples times in their heads and bodies.

Prosecutors said the attack lasted from 4 to 7 p.m. Feb 2.

Uribe Cruz and Ramos spent time with several members of the Martinez family on the first floor of their home, sharing a meal with the family, before Uribe Cruz and Ramos headed upstairs to confront Maria Martinez, prosecutors said.

Ramos later told police Uribe Cruz was armed with a gun that day and planning to kill the entire family for money. She also said Uribe Cruz was still angry that Maria Martinez had divorced his uncle, according to Lisuzzo.

When Uribe Cruz demanded cash from Martinez that afternoon, she fought back, Lisuzzo said. That's when Uribe Cruz pointed a gun, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger, shooting Martinez multiple times, according to prosecutors.

Her brother, Noe Martinez Jr., rushed upstairs, where Uribe Cruz beat him multiple times in the head with the gun, Lisuzzo said.

Rosaura Martinez tried to throw a picture frame at Uribe Cruz, according to authorities, but Uribe Cruz kicked the 58-year-old woman down a flight of stairs before eventually grabbing two knives from the kitchen and stabbing her repeatedly.

At that point, Uribe Cruz and Ramos forced Maria Martinez's 10- and 13-year-old sons to point out valuable items around the home, prosecutors said. The couple allegedly stole cash, jewelry, an Xbox and a piggy bank.

Uribe Cruz then lured 10-year-old Alexis into the basement and "got [him] there with the same knife that I got the grandma," he later told police. The boy's scream could be heard upstairs, Lisuzzo said.

When 13-year-old Leonardo asked what happened to his brother, Uribe Cruz said the boy was fine and that Leonardo should look out the window to watch out for the family's grandfather, prosecutors said. That's when Uribe Cruz allegedly stabbed the boy multiple times.

As he was being killed, Leonardo pleaded for his life, prosecutors said, saying, "Please no! Please don't! I just want to live!" Ramos would later tell police.

Soon, Noe Martinez Sr. came home, carrying tamales and hot chocolate for his family, and Uribe Cruz stabbed the man in the stomach and stole his wallet, prosecutors said.

After the murders, Uribe Cruz and Ramos tried to clean the house: Uribe Cruz washed his hands, Ramos mopped the floor and the couple washed off door knobs to try to remove fingerprints, prosecutors said. After leaving the house, Uribe Cruz allegedly took apart the gun and threw it away.

The day after the murders, Uribe Cruz showed up for work with visible cuts and scratches, prosecutors noted. He allegedly told his co-workers that he had been jumped and beaten up by three men.

Uribe Cruz and Ramos were able to pawn several of the items they stole from the Martinez family, prosecutors said. They used the cash to buy milk and diapers for their own 1-year-old child, according to Ramos' confession.

She told police the couple wanted to buy a car and made out that day with $250 in change, $300 in cash and jewelry that were later able to sell for $150.

At one point during the attack, Lisuzzo said, Ramos made one of the two boys hold the bag full of stolen items for her because it was too heavy.

According to detectives, police spent more than 18 hours collecting a "mountain of evidence" inside the Martinez home in February. The case broke open this week when DNA evidence linked Uribe Cruz to the scene.

Prosecutors said Uribe Cruz's blood was found smeared on a pole outside the home, as well as inside the home and on the outside steps. Additionally, Maria Martinez's fingernail scrapings were a match to Uribe Cruz's DNA.

Cellphone records and interviews had already pointed to him and Ramos, officials said.

"The way the victims were scattered around the home led us to believe that there were multiple attackers," Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said Thursday. "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."

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.

In court Friday, prosecutors said Uribe Cruz has no prior criminal history. Ramos has a pending misdemeanor case for retail theft.

According to the couple's public defender, Uribe Cruz is a Chicago native who is a manager at an electronic-component company. Ramos is originally from California, previously worked in retail and has been staying home with her son as of late, the attorney said.

Outside the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, 2600 S. California Ave., a woman claiming to be Ramos' former legal guardian told reporters she's convinced Ramos is innocent and that the woman "couldn't hurt a flea."

The whole situation "really shocks me and really hurts my soul because I'm a mother," Lourdes Oliva said.

She claims Uribe Cruz was abusive and controlling toward Ramos, and that she once saw Uribe Cruz push the woman. Oliva said she believes Ramos went along with Uribe Cruz's plan out of fear for her own safety: "He had control over her."

Contributing: Alex Nitkin

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: