Gruesome Killing of New Mexico Girl Stuns Friends, Neighbors

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man sporting a black eye ...
Gruesome Killing of New Mexico Girl Stuns Friends, Neighbors
A memorial for a 10-year-old girl who police said was sexually assaulted, strangled then dismembered is seen at an Albuquerque, N.M., apartment building Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. On the day the girl was going to celebrate her 10th birthday, she was found dead Wednesday in her family's apartment by Albuquerque police, her dismembered remains lying under a burning blanket. The girl's mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, are facing charges. AP Photo/Russell Contreras
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—It was in early morning darkness that officers scrambled to sort out the chaos at an Albuquerque apartment complex where a couple had reportedly been attacked, the woman bleeding from a head injury and the man sporting a black eye and wearing blood-stained shorts.

The woman told officers her 10-year-old daughter was still inside apartment number 808 from which they had escaped.

What the officers didn’t know was that the child was already dead, her battered and dismembered body partially wrapped in a blanket and set ablaze.