Man charged with murder after body found in alleyway
A Las Vegas man has been charged with first-degree murder after a man’s body was found in an alleyway Friday afternoon.
Las Vegas police located the body of 37-year-old Colin Gonzalez in an alleyway between Grand Avenue and Railroad Avenue after responding to a call of shots being fired in the area.
Following an investigation, Joseph “Jo Jo” Martinez, 42, was arrested and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center.
Chief of Police Adrian Crespin on Friday confirmed the death was the result of a homicide, and that a suspect had been arrested, but Crespin repeatedly refused to answer further questions about the incident, or even confirm the name of the suspect.
According to a statement of probable cause filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court on Tuesday, police arrested Martinez after viewing surveillance camera footage from a nearby business. Gonzalez was riding a bicycle in the area around 2 p.m. Friday when a silver car turned into the alley and stopped. Gonzalez leaned his bike against a wall, and got into the vehicle without fully closing the door, according to police.
A man wearing shorts and a black baseball hat approached the vehicle and got in with Gonzalez. The man moved close to Gonzalez, then “moved back in a sudden manner,” according to the probable cause statement. The man also seemed to conceal something in the pocket of his shorts, according to the probable cause statement. Gonzalez fell out of the vehicle, and the man drove away, leaving Gonzalez’s body in the alleyway.
During the investigation, police spotted Martinez, who was dressed like the man seen in the video footage, walking away from the area and arrested him.
In 2007, Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter in the February 2006 beating death of 44-year-old Ronnie Padilla of Mora. Martinez was 28 at the time when he and another man beat Padilla following a night of drinking, according to the Associated Press. Martinez was sentenced to six years in prison, plus an additional year for being a habitual offender.
This March, Martinez was arrested following a fight at a home near Lincoln Park. When LVPD officers responded, Martinez shouted at them and “took an aggressive stance,” according to a probable cause statement filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court. Police attempted to handcuff Martinez, but he struggled, and the officers took him to the ground to handcuff him.
Gonzalez was previously convicted of murder when he was 14 after he and another teen shot and killed a man in the village of Trujillo after breaking into his home, according to previous Optic reporting. Gonzalez was sentenced in 1999 to 19 years in prison, but was released early on parole. The case received national media attention, and Gonzales was the first juvenile in Las Vegas to be sentenced under a state law that allows juveniles as young as 14 to be sentenced as an adult.
Martinez is charged with first-degree murder, and one count of tampering with evidence. He remained in custody at SMCDC as of this writing, pending a hearing to determine if bond will be set for his release.
