A jury found Jose Franco Martinez (58) guilty of brutally stabbing his ex-girlfriend Maria Larin (51) 23 times after traveling 1,000 miles overland from Kansas to kill her at her workplace, a Long Island (NY) racetrack.
The verdict came Wednesday, nearly five years after the crime happened in June 2018 in Nassau County. At the time of his arrest, Franco Martinez was an undocumented immigrant, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Franco Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced next May 19. He faces 25 years to life in prison.
Larin worked at Belmont Park Racetrack in Elmont, where he walked horses after races to help them cool off. She was at those duties when on June 17, 2018, Franco Martinez showed up and attacked her, stabbing and slashing her with a kitchen knife.
A co-worker of Larin’s who witnessed the incident hit the suspect in the head with a shovel, but that didn’t stop him from escaping, the Daily Voice recalled.
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Franco Martinez was eventually caught by New York Racing Association (NYRA) personnel after a brief chase. As he fled, he threw the murder weapon into nearby bushes.
According to the prosecution, Franco Martinez had moved out of New York State and was working in Kansas, from where he traveled overland to commit the crime. He became angry with Larin after she ended their relationship and suspected she might be dating another man.
Franco Martinez paid an acquaintance to drive him from Kansas to New York to commit the crime. “Our prayers are with the Larin family as they mourn this completely senseless loss,” District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said Wednesday.
“Without warning, on the morning of Father’s Day 2018, (Franco Martinez) showed up at the Belmont racetrack where she worked, waited for her to show up, and, without uttering a single word, brutally attacked her with a knife. He stabbed and slashed her 23 times as her co-workers ran to try to save her life,” the prosecutor summarized, quoted by Patch.com.
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