According to reports from Gwinnett County police, a man and four children were found dead in a Loganville home on the morning of Thursday, 6th July. The report alleges that the man and his four children were stabbed to death.
On arrival at the home on Emory Lane, the Authorities confirmed that the victims had already succumbed to the injuries. The police also confirmed that there was a fifth child that was still alive and was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
According to the report, the police believe the killings had occurred between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.
The victims were identified by police as Martin Romero, 33, Isabela Martinez, 10, Dacota Romero, 7, Dillan Romero, 4, and Axel Romero, 2. The fifth child Diana Romero, 9, is in serious, but stable condition at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
The mother of the children Isabel Martinez, 33 has been charged with 5 counts of murder for allegedly stabbing the victims. Police said she made the 911 call on Thursday morning.
According to Jim Hollandsworth who runs Path Project, a local non-profit organization that works with children in the area the family had just moved into the area a few months ago.
“The kids were fantastic kids. They had tons to live for and a future ahead of them, so it’s awful and devastating,” he expressed.
Neighbors said the victims’ family is having a hard time processing what happened. “They don’t know what to do, where to go, what to believe,” Debra Klingman a neighbor said.
Neighbors suspect her actions are as a result of depression that seemed to affect Martinez as a result of her father’s death in Mexico but otherwise seemed to be a loving mother and wife.
“She seemed so normal, like a regular mother,” a neighbor who goes by the name Letty Perez explained. “She was good, went to our church last weekend. She was there with us.”
“She said her dad passed away months ago, she was in depression and we go to her house and pray sometimes for her dad,” Perez Continued.
One neighbor said the family hadn’t been seen all Wednesday. It was so unusual they sent a cousin to check on them around 4 p.m. “One of the cousins came and knocked on door, no one answered… suspicious,” the neighbor said.
The mother was arraigned in court on Friday morning and appeared to smile and give the “thumbs up” to cameras. With the help of a translator, she told the Gwinnett County judge that she will defend herself in court and that her “attorney is the people we are fighting for.”
Martinez who allegedly suffers from mental problems according to her cousin was charged with multiple counts of murder and was not granted bond.
