Curtis Martin III killed his girlfriend’s 17-month-old son, authorities say, and soon found himself with a problem: Little Jashon’s mother kept asking where the boy was.
The Oakland resident hatched a plan to put an end to it all, prosecutors say. He allegedly beat and shot Zoelina Williams, 23, and dumped her body at Berkeley’s Aquatic Park.
Before Jashon Williams’ body was found at the nearby city marina, Martin told police that the boy’s whereabouts were “not his problem,” investigators said in court records released Tuesday.
On a day when Martin, 38, appeared in an Oakland courtroom on charges that he murdered both Williams and Jashon – a case that could bring the death penalty – authorities painted a portrait of an uncaring, abusive man whose behavior evoked comparisons to how he acted in 1994, when he killed the 3-year-old son of his then-girlfriend.
In that case, his girlfriend initially backed up his story that the boy fell from a play structure at an Oakland park. She later recanted, saying Martin had asked her to cover for him.
Two counts of murder
Martin was charged Tuesday with two counts of murder and special circumstances for allegedly killing Williams, who lived around the corner from him in West Oakland, and her son.
Authorities, confirming for the first time that the body of a child found in the bay Sunday was that of Jashon, theorize that Martin murdered the boy first. Then he killed Williams early Friday to keep her from revealing what he had done, police believe.
Martin did not speak as Judge Robert McGuiness of Alameda County Superior Court read the criminal complaint aloud.
Relatives of the victims wept as McGuiness told Martin that besides being accused of the two murders, he faces special circumstances alleging that he committed multiple murders and that he murdered Zoelina Williams because she was a “witness to a crime.”
Martin, who did not have a lawyer present, did not enter a plea and was ordered to return to court Thursday. If convicted of murder and either of the special circumstances, he could face the death penalty.
Not seen for days
Sources close to the investigation say police believe Martin killed Williams because she knew he had killed her son, although they don’t know when or how he died.
Williams’ relatives say they last saw the boy around Halloween. Williams told them Jashon was with Martin and that she was repeatedly asking to see the boy, family members say.
Martin is accused of fatally bludgeoning Zoelina Williams with the barrel of a .22-caliber Ruger rifle and shooting her in the stomach and the back of her head, before dragging her body to the shoreline at Aquatic Park.
He wore rubber gloves to avoid getting Williams’ blood on him, police said in court documents. When he was surprised by Berkeley police Officer Darren Kacalek near his van at 4 a.m. Friday, Martin explained that “he had just been kicked out of the Berkeley Marina,” on the other side of Interstate 80, authorities said in a court affidavit. Jashon’s body was later found floating near the marina.
Kacalek checked Martin’s identification, warned him the park was closed and sent him on his way, police said. He also noticed that Martin had a “speck” of what appeared to be blood on his face, the affidavit said.
Ran over rifle
As Martin drove away in his van, the tires ran over what the officer thought was a stick. It turned out to be a rifle, and Kacalek then saw drag marks that led from the van to Williams’ body, sources said.
Several of Williams’ teeth were found at the scene, apparently knocked out when she was struck by the weapon, court records said. Also found at the park were seven to eight .22-caliber rounds, authorities said. Martin was arrested later Friday.
1994 killing
Some elements of the case are similar to the 1994 case in which Martin was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for fatally beating 3-year-old Devin Brewer of Oakland, the son of his then-girlfriend.
Devin had suffered burns and other injuries in the weeks before he died of blunt force trauma to the head, court records said. When asked at one point about a burn mark on his hand, Devin said, “Curtis did it,” records said.
Martin was originally charged with murder but agreed to plead no contest to manslaughter. In sentencing him to the maximum 11 years, Judge Larry Goodman of Alameda County Superior Court alluded to unspecified “proof problems” in the case and made clear he was reluctantly accepting the deal.
“If it was my daughter who had been killed, I would be a raving maniac and I would probably try to kill Mr. Martin myself,” Goodman said at the sentencing hearing.
Martin was released in 2000 but repeatedly went back to prison for parole violations.
Distraught families
Relatives of Devin joined members of Williams’ family Tuesday in court.
“To do something like that to a child is real evil. If there would have been justice in 1994, there would not have been another life taken,” said the Rev. Anthony Hall, Devin’s cousin.
Orlando Williams, 44, Devin’s uncle, held up a picture of his slain nephew. “We have a new family hurting, so I want to be here to support them,” he said.
Zoelina Williams’ aunt, Elois Windmon, sobbed after the hearing and said she wanted Martin to go straight to the “chair.”
“I know he’s going to get his,” she said. “He better.”
[Source]
