While Cochise County Sheriff’s detectives announced last week that new information has been received about a double-murder cold case from 1994, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in another case involving a 1994 double killing that a woman is not entitled to a new review of her case.
Texas authorities and the U.S. Marshal Service confirmed on Sept. 24 that the body of Mark S. Martinez was found in New Mexico by a U.S. Marshal Service fugitive taskforce. He had been named a person of interest the day before after his wife Norma was found shot to death in the couple’s home outside El Paso.
Martinez, 57, was a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent who in 1994 was assigned to the Douglas area. In August 1994, he became the prime suspect in the deaths of Eddie Posada Jr. and Sergio Tapia, whose decomposing bodies were found in a remote area east of Douglas often used by young people for parties.
Posada, 23, had been shot in the face while on his knees and Tapia, also in his early 20s, was shot in the right temple while sitting in his vehicle. Martinez, then 30, was identified by witnesses as being alone with then me on the early morning of Aug. 5, 1994 at the same place the bodies were found three days later.
Investigators with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office never identified anyone else known to have seen Posada and Tapia alive after that time despite claims by Martinez that two “Mexican” men were with Posada and Tapia when he left the party area.
Detectives even executed a search warrant at Martinez’s home in 1994, but no charges were filed. Fast forward to last week and now the cold case has been moved to the front burner due to “information” obtained by the sheriff’s office after Martinez reportedly murdered his wife and then killed himself.
“The investigation into the most recent murder/suicide resulted in information being provided to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, thus updating the 1994 case,” spokeswoman Carol Capas announced.
A key problem for investigators in 1994 was the lack of the murder weapon. Martinez admitted owning a 9mm handgun when first interviewed by detectives, but he was not asked at the time to show them the gun. It was only later that authorities learned Posada and Tapia were killed with a 9mm. By then Martinez’s gun could not be found, as he claimed he lost it.
USBP brass attempted to remove Martinez from the agency but he held on to his job, albeit not in the Douglas area. He was assigned to various duties including several years with a USBP tactical unit before retiring in 2015 after 28 years of service.
A family member reportedly found Norma Martinez dead inside the couple’s home on Sept. 23. Martinez was tracked by multiple agencies and his body was found the next day in New Mexico.
Capas, the spokeswoman for Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, did not comment on what new information has now come available.
But the 1994 killing of Posada and Tapia wasn’t the only double murder from 1994 to make news last week.
Christy Nicole Simental was indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury in 1994 for the kidnap and first-degree murder of two people whose bodies were recovered in a neighboring county.
The young mother of three was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences with the possibly of release after 25 years after being convicted as an accomplice to crimes committed by her brother Johnny E. Peralta.
Simental’s sentencing order also included two 10.5-year terms for kidnapping to be served during Simental’s second life sentence followed by another four years for an old marijuana conviction.
Court records show the Arizona Court of Appeals upheld Simental’s convictions and sentences in 1996. Since then, the now 49-year-old grandmother has petitioned Maricopa County Superior Court judges for post-conviction relief five times based on a variety of claims.
Her most recent petition in May 2019 alleged prosecutorial misconduct and violations of a defendant’s protection against double jeopardy.
Foster Jr. of the Maricopa County Superior Court denied Simental’s petition, after which she wrote to the court of appeals with details of various alleged errors in her case.
On Sept. 30 the appellate court released a 3-0 decision denying review of Simental’s filing. The decision also notes Simental’s claims of errors must first be addressed in superior court.
“Insofar as this document seeks review of the trial court’s order dismissing her most-recent effort to obtain post-conviction relief, it does not comply in any meaningful way with (court rules),” the decision notes. “Accordingly, our summary denial of review is justified.”
Peralta, the brother, was sentenced to consecutive natural life sentences followed by 22 years for kidnapping. He is not eligible for early release, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.