Nearly seven years after a pregnant high schooler vanished from her California hometown, her boyfriend is behind bars for her murder.
A grand jury indicted Joshua Anthony Martinez this week on murder and minor sex crime charges in connection to the 2019 disappearance of 17-year-old Victoria Marquina, the Amador County District Attorney’s Office announced in a media release.
Victoria’s body has never been found.
Martinez, 28 – who was an early suspect in the case, but released due to a lack of evidence – had been engaged in a “very short relationship” with Marquina before her disappearance, San Joaquin District Attorney Ron Freitas said Monday.
“They had met just about a month before her disappearance and she became pregnant,” Freitas said. “It was a whirlwind, very fast relationship and very short.”
Marquina, an Amador County native, was last seen in Livingston with Martinez, then 21, on Oct. 9, 2019, according to a missing person’s flyer.
Four days later, cops discovered her abandoned car in Escalon – more than 50 miles away from her home, according to Fox News.
Martinez — who had fled to Mexico soon after Marquina’s disappearance – was extradited back to the US, where he told California authorities he had dropped the missing teen off in Sutter Creek before leaving, the outlet reported.
Before his release from custody in 2020, he claimed to investigators he met Marquina on a dating app, where she lied about her age.
The girl’s family didn’t give up hope over the following years as the case grew cold – raising $60,000 in reward money for information on her whereabouts, Fox News reported.
Despite Freitas’ announcement Monday that “Victoria is dead and we are looking for her remains and the remains of her unborn child,” her optimistic mother believes she could still be alive.
“She had many dreams. Many dreams. Unfortunately, someone cut us off. But I still have faith, I still have hope that she will return home,” Blance Valencia told CBS News Sacramento.
“If you know something, if you heard something, if you know where my daughter is, please communicate,” the desperate mother pleaded.
Martinez – who faces life in prison on first-degree murder, if convicted – will appear in court next on April 6.
His defense attorney could not be reached for comment.
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