A 32-year-old Arizona man is facing first-degree murder charges after he allegedly strangled his girlfriend to death in front of their three young children, then admitted to police exactly how he did it.
Martine Mayorquin has been charged with the murder of 28-year-old Katlynne Roy, along with three counts of child abuse, according to Tucson police. Officers were called just before 6 p.m. on Monday to a home on the 600 block of North Dodge Boulevard after multiple 911 callers reported hearing a “commotion” coming from a nearby residence.
The sequence of events that led to Roy’s death began when neighbors heard screaming and the sound of crying children coming from an apartment and alerted the property manager. When the manager opened the door, they found Roy lying on the ground, unresponsive, with Mayorquin standing over her.
The couple’s children aged seven, five, and three were found huddled together in a bathroom, crying. By the time officers arrived, Roy was already unresponsive on the floor, showing what police described as “apparent strangulation trauma.” She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the local KOLD.
Mayorquin was taken into custody after he “admitted to strangling the victim twice in front of their 7-year-old, 5-year-old and 3-year-old until she was no longer responsive,” prosecutors stated at his first appearance hearing. Following the reading of his Miranda rights, Mayorquin allegedly told investigators he placed Roy in a “rear naked choke hold” for three minutes, paused for approximately two minutes, and then applied the hold again for a further five minutes.
Scratches found on his chest and back, he told police, came from Roy fighting back. At his first court appearance, Mayorquin’s public defender argued for a reduced bond, noting his client had no prior criminal history. The judge rejected that request and granted the prosecution’s request for a $1 million bond.
Mayorquin remains held at the Pima County Jail, with his next court date scheduled for April 24. The case has drawn widespread attention, given the presence of the children during the alleged attack, witnesses, in effect, to their mother’s death.
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