May 21, 2025 • 53 mins
This is a replay of Enrique's story. It's been almost 5 years since the remains of Enrique Roman-Martinez washed ashore in North Carolina. Someone knows something.
In May 2020, Fort Bragg Paratrooper SPC Enrique Roman-Martinez was reported missing at Cape Lookout on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Days later, his decapitated head washed onto shore. Many questions about the circumstances surrounding Enrique’s murder have gone unanswered. Why did it take 19 hours for Enrique’s fellow soldiers to make a 911 call? Why was information withheld that could have helped in the investigation? Where was the loyalty that was expected of soldiers when wearing the uniform of the United States Army?
Today, Dawn is joined by a very special guest - Enrique’s sister, Griselda Martinez. Griselda is a warrior in this fight for justice.
___________________________________
Call to Action:
If anyone has any information about the murder of Enrique Roman-Martinez, please contact Army CID special agents:
910-396-8777.
Persons who wish to remain anonymous will be honored to the degree allowable under the law, and the information will be held in the strictest confidence allowable.
Go Fund Me
Change.org
For more information on Enrique’s case and to view timelines, interactive maps, and more - visit my friends at Uncovered.com.
The link to Enrique’s case is here
___________________________________
Method & Madness is researched, written, hosted, & produced by Dawn Cate
Sound Editing by moInspo
Music by Tymur Khakimov from Pixabay
Additional episode Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay
____________________________________
REACH OUT:
methodandmadnesspod@gmail.com
CONNECT:
DIVE INTO MORE:
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
____________________________________
Sources:
For a list of sources used, visit the podcast website: MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
Thank you for listening!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/method-madness--6241524/support.
In May 2020, Fort Bragg Paratrooper SPC Enrique Roman-Martinez was reported missing at Cape Lookout on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Days later, his decapitated head washed onto shore. Many questions about the circumstances surrounding Enrique’s murder have gone unanswered. Why did it take 19 hours for Enrique’s fellow soldiers to make a 911 call? Why was information withheld that could have helped in the investigation? Where was the loyalty that was expected of soldiers when wearing the uniform of the United States Army?
Today, Dawn is joined by a very special guest - Enrique’s sister, Griselda Martinez. Griselda is a warrior in this fight for justice.
___________________________________
Call to Action:
If anyone has any information about the murder of Enrique Roman-Martinez, please contact Army CID special agents:
910-396-8777.
Persons who wish to remain anonymous will be honored to the degree allowable under the law, and the information will be held in the strictest confidence allowable.
Go Fund Me
Change.org
For more information on Enrique’s case and to view timelines, interactive maps, and more - visit my friends at Uncovered.com.
The link to Enrique’s case is here
___________________________________
Method & Madness is researched, written, hosted, & produced by Dawn Cate
Sound Editing by moInspo
Music by Tymur Khakimov from Pixabay
Additional episode Music by Ashot-Danielyan-Composer from Pixabay
____________________________________
REACH OUT:
methodandmadnesspod@gmail.com
CONNECT:
DIVE INTO MORE:
MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
____________________________________
Sources:
For a list of sources used, visit the podcast website: MethodandMadnessPodcast.com
Thank you for listening!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/method-madness--6241524/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Method and Madness is a true crime podcast and contains
descriptions of violence. Listener discretion is advised. All witnesses, persons
of interest, and or suspects are considered innocent until proven
guilty in a court of law.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You lost our friend. We don't know where he's been gone,
and kind of words, something happened to him.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
This is Method and Madness, Episode fifty five, Loyalty Enrique
Roman Martinez. Cape Lookout a string of Barrier islands on
(01:07):
North Carolina's outer banks. It's recognizable by its distinctive lighthouse,
like something out of a Lewis Carroll's story book. A
black and white diamond pattern adorns the still functioning beacon,
its light shining over the Atlantic at night. Private boats
and ferries traveled to the islands, bringing visitors to the
(01:30):
beaches for horse watching, fishing, swimming. It was a couple
of months into the COVID lockdown Memorial Day weekend twenty
twenty when eight Army soldiers from nearby Fort Bragg boarded
a ferry for Cape Lookout. They were going to spend
a few days camping on one of the beaches. On
(01:52):
the second day of their excursion, at around seven PM.
A nine to one to one call was made from
that island. Caller said that his friend and fellow Army soldier,
twenty one year old specialist, Enrique Roman Martinez, was missing.
The group had last seen him at their campsite the
night before. A search was launched to find the missing soldier,
(02:17):
who had, according to his group, walked off in the
dark without his wallet, phone, or glasses. The only way
on or off the island was by boat. It was
several days later when Enrique's severed head washed up on
the shore. Today I'm joined by Griselda Martinez, who is
(02:40):
fighting for justice for her baby brother Enrique.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And the recruiter. I'll never forget his words. I won't
forget his words because they hought me to this day.
My mom told her recruiter, you see my boy right now.
You see him, every single part of him, every single
heard of him, his arms, his legs, his fingers, his everything,
every piece of his body, and that's on him down
(03:07):
to the last hair on his head. Do you promise
that he leads for the army When he comes back,
every bit of him will be back. We'll come back
to me, And they said, ma'am, I promise you the
army is the safest place in the whole world. He's
going to be in the safest place in the whole world.
(03:29):
And I think about it a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Let's dive in. She was handed the role that nobody
asks for. She's searching for answers, truth and justice for
the murder of Enrique Roman Martinez. Griselda is another warrior
that I'm honored to speak with today.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
It's hard when you're giving someone to seek justice, where
do you even start? You know, I'm not gonna lie.
I don't know where all of this came from. That
I had to, you know, get the news involved, that
I had to call this person that I don't know
where that came. That strength came from. And I thank
God every day that I had it, you know. And
(04:15):
it's hard. It's very difficult. Sometimes I find myself not
knowing what to do, and I'm blessed that sometimes it
just comes to me. Hi, my name is Carcelda Martinez.
I am Enrique Roman Martinez's oldest sister, old one of them,
and I am the middle one, and I'm here to
(04:38):
pretty much tell Enrique's story.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Enrique Roman Martinez was born on September seventh, nineteen ninety
eight from Chino, California. Enrique was a son, brother, uncle, grandson,
and friend. He was known for being incredibly affectionate as
a child. Growing up, he had a very special relationship
with his family, especially his mother Maria, to whom he
(05:05):
was very close. His family called him Kaike as a nickname.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Enrique was a character, for sure. He was a very
genuinely kind person. He's very different. Enrique was incredibly kind
and generous, and there's just so many examples that I
have of him being that person. I think the best
thing about my brother was that he was very noble.
(05:34):
People like that are very hard to come by. There's
many instances where Enrique always stuck up for what he
believed was right, and that was the number one thing
about my brother. He always stuck up for what was right,
and that was one of the most important things for him.
Anytime he saw someone being treated unjustly, he would always
speak up. You know, a lot of times he would
(05:57):
take blame for things that his friends did so they
wouldn't get in as much trouble. And that was pretty
much him growing up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Griselda has many touching memories of her brother, his love
of anime and video games, his ability to memorize how
to achieve those higher levels, his jokes and nack for
making others laugh, and their relationship, how she would bake
for him. His favorite was chocolate cake. The more chocolate,
(06:25):
the better. And while all of the little things that
made Enrique Enrique and.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I remember his favorite foods is a little bit different.
I think I mentioned that he was a little weird,
but he would dip his hot Cheetos in water. I
don't know why. His favorites were hot Cheeto puffs and
he would dip them in water and then he would
drink the water afterwards. And it's the weirdest thing I've
ever seen in my whole life.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
In twenty sixteen, at age seventeen, Enrique expressed interest in
going into the army, something that his mother and two
sisters were a little reluctant to support. But Enrique was
optimistic that he could accomplish a lot and make a
positive impact.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Me and my moment were like absolutely not, Like you
cannot fight to save your life. My brother was incredibly
non confrontational in a way where he just would not
start a fight. He wasn't a fighter, he may stand
up for someone, but never like for himself per se.
So that was the concern me and my mom always
had was that he would always stick up for anybody,
doesn't matter, even if that person was in the wrong.
(07:28):
He stick up for them if he thought it was unfair,
But for himself, he would never stick up for himself.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Since Enrique was a miner, the Army recruiter needed parental permission,
which was granted with some hesitance, and then Enrique enlisted
and officially was a member of the Army in March
twenty seventeen. After completing training at the Airborne School at
Fort Benning and Georgia, he was assigned as a paratrooper
(07:56):
at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At the time of his murder,
Enrique was an eighty second Division paratrooper working as a
human resources specialist. He was assigned to the thirty seventh
Brigade Engineer Battalion, second Brigade Combat Team, eighty second Airborne
Division in Fort Bragg, home of the Airborne and Special
(08:20):
Operations Forces. His accomplishments included being awarded the Army Good
Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on
Terror Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Army Parachutist Badge.
During the month of May twenty twenty, Fort Bragg soldiers
(08:43):
were under direct orders to stay close to the base,
with travel bands being the norm. At that time. It
was coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Griselda spoke to
her brother that Wednesday. They talked a lot during lockdown,
each other through some of that uncertainty many of us
felt at an uneasy time. During that particular phone call,
(09:07):
Griselda asked if he had any plans for the holiday.
Enrique said he wasn't sure. He'd either stay in his
room and play video games, or he may get called
in to do a Memorial Day parade. Griselda offered to
come out and visit him, but he turned her down,
not wanting her to waste money in case he was
(09:27):
unable to get away to see her. They agreed they
would talk on Friday, but when Griselda called her brother
that day, she got no answer, assuming he must be busy.
She didn't think much of it until the rest of
the day went by and Enrique still hadn't returned her call.
(09:49):
Now she was getting a sense of something weird. That
little voice or feeling in your gut that something isn't right,
but she tried to shrug it off. Saturday came and went,
and then on Sunday, Griselda's mom got a call from
a number she didn't recognize. The two women were shopping
(10:10):
at Costco near their home in California. Griselda picked up
the call.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I can't remember if it was Colonel Ulton or Captain Eyre. First,
I was getting mixed up who it was, and I'm
talking to him, I like, is your brother there? I'm like,
where would my brother be here? No, he's not home.
He should be at work, you know. And then they
were like, well he's been missing, And I'm like, what
do you mean he's been missing? I just talked to
him on Wednesday and that's what he explained to me. Yeah,
(10:37):
you know, he went on a camping trip with these
seven people and he disappeared.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Griselda said her heart dropped. It had been four days
since she'd talked to Enrique. Had he been missing that
whole time? Why was she just hearing about it now?
She had tons of questions. What happened that weekend? What
was the last thing her brother said to someone? Did
he have his phone. The officer confirmed that Enrique had
(11:06):
gone missing Friday night into Saturday morning around midnight from
a campsite on South Core Banks, and he was without
his phone, his wallet, and his glasses, an immediate red
flag for Griselda. He couldn't see without his glasses and
he'd always had his phone on him. She was questioned
about whether or not Enrique did drugs or if he
(11:29):
was suicidal, to which Griselda responded no. She and her
mother immediately purchased flights from California to North Carolina, but
the earliest they could get was a flight for Tuesday morning.
The weight was excruciating, and Griselda spent that time crying, crying,
and pleading with people on Facebook who were in the
(11:52):
area of Fort Bragg to come forward if they knew anything.
No authorities had provided names, if anyone that Enrique was
with that weekend, and the feeling of helplessness was too
much for Griselda.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
You know, and there was a lot of reports coming
up that they had seen my brother on the side
of a white jeep, you know, hanging off, you know,
him and someone else on the other side, and they
were speaking down the island and that was probably as
much as people had seen.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Griselda was only getting little bits of information at the time.
A lot more would come out over the next several months.
It turned out that Enrique and seven other soldiers had
left Fort Bragg early on Friday May twenty second, and
drove four and a half hours, then boarded a ferry
to Cape Lookout National Seashore. Enrique had decided to go
(12:48):
last minute and had arrived at the site in a
white jeep with three other soldiers. The rest of the
group arrived in a truck. Witnesses had seen the white
jeep driving down the beach with Enrique hanging on the side,
standing on one of the side steps. According to the
rest of his group. Later that day, Enrique's tent was
(13:09):
knocked over by the wind. They assisted him in putting
it back up, and then they say Enrique walked off
without bringing anything with him or telling anyone where he
was headed. He was just wearing a pair of blue
shorts no shirt. It was around midnight. A real head
scratcher was that nobody contacted the authorities when Enrigue failed
(13:33):
to return to the campsite. In fact, that Saturday, after
the group woke up and Enrique was still not there.
They didn't make any phone calls, not to authorities, and
a park ranger had approached the group that day. They
had been told they were parked legally, a perfect opportunity
(13:54):
for any of the seven soldiers to ask for help
locating their friend. It's been confirmed by the park ranger
that nobody in the group mentioned anything about searching for Enrique. No,
it wasn't until hours later, nineteen hours after they last
saw him, that someone in the group dialed nine one one.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
On one with that just the emergency together.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
We are on Kpebok County. We are at Cape Hook
at Island and between mal Marker and forty seven by
the jetty, and we lost our friend. We don't know
where he has gone and any kind of word he
something happened to him.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Where's the well, where's the last part you saw him
at last?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
We all went to bed last night and ah, we
woke up. He was not here. And we've been looking
forma bay. We were trying to find the park ranger
or their offices or any things until we went all
the way to the to the fairy and we found
where that we needed to down. Number one we weren't
sure if.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
That's what we had to do out here, so we
can we can get Core park Service and contact with
you said, are you are you on Core Banks or Shackelford?
Are you that close to close to Cape Lookout?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
We're on Cape Lookout?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Okay, I'll have to where're at? Okay? All right? And
how long has he been missing?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Then we woke up at I woke up at eight thirty,
and we've been looking for him all day. We weren't
sure if he what we might see, afraid might have
hurt himself or we're We're really not sure.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Okay, I know. One second and you said between mile
markers thirty and thirty six and thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
No, forty six, seve, Okay, sorry about that?
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And when was the last time you saw him?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So we all went to bed at Nick at swelve
o three and that's when we all decided.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
To go to bed, and that is the last time
he saw him. Okay, how about one second? Son? All right, sir,
I'm sorry about that. What's fun over your call from? Okay?
What's your name?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Alex An?
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Our older seat?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He is twenty two or twenty one? I'm sorry, twenty one, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
And does he have any physical, medical, or mental conditions
that we need to be aware of?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
He did, He wasn't diagnosed, but he did have suicidal
tendencies okay, okay, And I.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Just needed a description of him. What's his race?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
He is Mexican?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
He has black hair, brown eyes.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
And what's his name?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
His name is Roman Martinez or Enrique Martinez.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
He they what kind of Sorry, it's actually I'm sorry,
let me just let me fact trick probably Gregate Roman,
I'm sorry, that is Henry Kate.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Roman, that's his name, Yes, okay, he do you know
what kind of clothing he was wearing? It all?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So he was just when we I saw him, he
was just wearing blue shorts.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Do you know his hype or weight at all?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I would say he's around five and he's probably five
six five seven okay?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And with anybody left scene with him? Or do you
think he went off by himself?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Oh? He had to have gone off by himself, Okay.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Like I said, well, we all went to sleep, okay,
and he would have left on foot.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yes, that's the only way he had to. We only
had two cars and they're both still here.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Okay. Do you know of anywhere he may have gone
on the island at all? No clue.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
This is our first time being here, so we have
no clue.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Do you know if he took any personal items with him?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
We searched his tent and everything is still there, even
left his phone in his wallet.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Okay, so he doesn't have any trackable technology kind of
So do.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know if he might have any weapons with him
or anything negative?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Okay? And then what did he leave any nose letters
or threats or anything.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
We have looked through everywhere and it's happened his phone.
Maybe we don't have the passwords, so we can't look
on that, but he looking.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
On Sure, make you're able to just try to find
a recent photograph him. We are getting contact with Parks
to come in contact with you. If he does come back,
just give us a call back immediately, Yes, sir, and
that's it. I'm sorry, Just let us know. And we
are getting contact parkerser if they may give you a
call before they come out there and talk to you,
(18:23):
so it may come from a blocker restricted number to
just make sure you answer it. Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Several details stand out in this nine to one one
call let's break it down for a moment. There's the
specificity of the time the group went to bed, not
just around midnight, but at twelve o three, an odd
detail for sure. And notice that the caller says they'd
been looking for their friend all day, that they were
(18:49):
looking for park rangers or offices or something. We now
know that they'd spoken to a park ranger earlier in
the day when they were asked to move their cars.
And how do seven people with cell phones spend an
entire day searching for offices rather than using their devices
to get help. If they thought Enrique may have hurt himself,
(19:12):
why wait until seven pm to call nine one one?
The caller said he was awake at eight thirty that morning.
And the caller doesn't even get in Rigue's name correct,
but is sure that the missing man has suicidal tendencies.
And what about those tendencies. Enrique's family has adamantly denied
(19:34):
this accusation. He had three months until he'd be discharged
and he was looking forward to that reunion with his
loved ones and pursuing a career in pharmacology. Griselda insists
her brother would never do that to their mother, An
official search was now underway with help from the National
(19:55):
Park Service Marine Patrol, the County Sheriff's office and their
canine team, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Coast Guard.
Enrique's disappearance and the search had hit the local news,
urging anyone with information to contact Carteret County Dispatch. The
Cape Lookout National Seashore facebook page posted a photo of Enrique,
(20:19):
asking if anyone saw the young man or gave him
a ride off of the island, detailing that he'd walked
away from his friends early Saturday morning without water or
supplies and hadn't been seen. An updated post so that
a white jeep wrangler had been driving at a high
rate of speed down the beach with two men hanging
off the side, followed by a blue Ford Ranger pickup.
(20:42):
By the time she and her mother arrived at the
island that Tuesday, Griselda's fears and anxiety only increased. The
island had already been searched for days without any sign
of Enrique.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The island is not bug general. You could see from
one side of the island to the other, so it's
pretty narrow and it's not like a huge chunk of
it like you could probably walk the whole thing within
like a couple hours. So they had been looking all
over for him, even in the marsh, in the little
forest that they have there, and they couldn't find him.
(21:19):
They searched the water, they searched over the water, and
no one could find him. And you know, my mom
and I we were going thinking, Okay, they're just not
doing a good enough job. So when we got there,
when we got to the island, we know he was gone.
We know we want going to find him.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Search and rescue efforts continued until the following weekend, when
it was announced that the search was being put on hold.
Griselda reflects on receiving the devastating news.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I remember praying that night, and it preayed so hard.
I remember telling God, Gosh, don't don't let this bee it, like,
don't leave my family guessing. Don't leave my family hurting
that maybe my brother could come back. If he's gone,
he's gone, you know, his life is gone. But don't
(22:14):
leave us guessing if he drowned or if you know,
he was swept away or something like that, or you know,
he was even killed. Just don't hide it from us,
you know, bring him home. Bring a piece of him home,
so we know that it's him, even if it's just
his head. And I remember paying so hard, just saying
(22:36):
please just bring him home. And that Friday of that
week where brother decapitated, head washed up on shore.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Griselda and her mother were at the military base that
morning when they got the call. Initially, they were asked
for their DNA just in case any remains were found,
and they found out shortly after submitting their DNA that
Enrique's head had been found washed up on Shackleford Banks,
not far from the campsite.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Missus Maria Martinez, Miss Griselda Martinez, we regret to inform
you that this morning there were remains that were washed
up ashore of Shackleford bakes and we believed them to
be your brother and your son. We believe them to
(23:31):
be Enrique Roman Martinez. And I was speechless. I couldn't,
I couldn't even I was speechless, like I think, I
was just so shocked that it happened. I was hurt
(23:52):
because you know, of course my mom let up let
out the most painful cry I've ever heard, and I
hear it. I hear it to this day. How much
how much a mother could feel pain for their child.
(24:15):
It's I got like a piece of her died, and
that was the piece of her that was leaving. And
it was incredibly difficult. And they were comforting my mother,
they were holding her. She fell to the ground. She
was pleading with them. She was pleading with God, saying,
(24:39):
why my boy? He was so kind, he was so sweet.
Why him?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Griselda pleaded with the officers to make sure that the
remains were that of her brothers. She demanded that DNA
testing be done and asked if her brother had been murdered.
At the time, that question was yet to be answered.
(25:09):
While Enrique's family awaited a positive identification and autopsy findings,
Griselda made those agonizing phone calls to loved ones to
break the news, and then she and her mother returned
home to California to await confirmation that the remains were
that of Enriquez. The following Friday, June fifth, Sergent Nievez
(25:31):
and the chaplain came to the family's home.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
They are confirmed by dental records that they are Enrique
Roman Martinez specialist Enrico Roman Martinez's remains. And that was it,
you know, I asked her, do you know if it's thomaside?
She said, yeah, I don't know, and my mom was
(25:55):
just completely devastated. Again, my sister was there, she was devastated,
my brother in law just it was incredibly to devastate.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Griselda was now on a mission to get all the
questions answered. She called the lead investigator, who confirmed at
the time they still didn't know if it was homicide,
but said that if it was, they would catch the
person or persons responsible. The family now had to wait
for more agonizing news the cause and manner of death.
(26:28):
It was possible what had happened to Enrique was some
sort of accident, that maybe he'd been in the water
and hit by a boat propeller. Griselda waited for the
call that never came from the lead investigator.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
My mother in law sent me a article saying that
it was murdering that the autopsy had determined that it
was murdered, and I was furious. I had just talked
to him. If he had known this was my brother prior,
he would have also known that this was labeled as homicide,
you know. And so I called him and he was
incredibly rude. I told him, how could you like, you
(27:05):
could have told my family at least, you know, like
we deserve to know. And he told me, you're even lucky,
you know as much as you do know. You know,
we check in with families at least once a month
when we get some information. We don't need to be
telling you everything. And I was incredibly upset. I was
so angry. I could not believe that he talked to
(27:27):
me like this, and my mom and even prior to that,
he happened like anytime I asked a question, he would
just walk around it and not answer it directly. And
you know, my mom always told me, don't be rude,
don't be rude. I'm like, I'm not being rude. I
want to know. I don't understand why he's not answering me.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Imagine that being told after a family member's homicide that
you're lucky to be told as much as you are.
This coming from the army, that the expectation is a
month check in with families. Griselda contacted the medical examiner
to find out how it was determined that her brother's
manner of death was homicide. The Division of Forensic Pathology
(28:12):
conducted the autopsy at East Carolina University's Brodie School of Medicine.
The report said there was evidence of multiple chop injuries.
Cuts to the back of a neck somewhat crescent shaped,
which Theme explained to Grizelda could only be used by
a shovel or a hatchet or similar tool. The wound
(28:34):
was approximately three quarters of an inch deep. Additionally, Enrique
had a broken jaw and a fractured cervical spine. The
report said, quote wild decapitation is in and of itself
universally fatal. The remainder of the body in this case
was not available for examination, and therefore potential causes of
(28:58):
death involving the tors and extremities cannot be excluded under
a cause of death. It seid homicide by undetermined means.
If the military wasn't going to keep Griselda and her
family in the loop, then she was determined to fight.
She began telling Enrique's story to news outlets in hopes
(29:19):
it would get coverage and attention, leading to answers. It
was around this time that another story was hitting the news,
that of twenty year old Private first Class Vanessa Gean.
Vanessa was also a soldier in the United States Army
stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. Her remains were found
(29:39):
on June thirtieth near a river in Belton, Texas. She
had been murdered on April twenty second and dismembered. Her
alleged killer was Aaron David Robinson, a soldier who shot
himself and died right as police were about to take
him into custody.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
And that's when I said, yus stories started coming out,
which was very similar, well not exactly the same, but
pretty similar. You know, circumstance went missaying was found into pieces.
So it's just the timme on everything is always crazy,
(30:22):
let us think about it. And I remember calling every
new station that I could possibly find to help us,
and they did, and they got my brother's story out.
It wasn't as big as Pennisillians, but I was hoping
for a lot of coverage and I got a good amount,
and I'm very blessed about that. I know now so
(30:45):
many families like mine that didn't get the same, and
I don't stop fighting for my brother. Finding out the
names of who these people were was so difficult. I
would ask a friend to hear a friend there someone
can I knew, and I had names at one point,
and I just needed someone to confirm them. And I
(31:05):
didn't know who these people were, so I started messaging
my brother's friends. Do you know him? What can you
tell me about him?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
No?
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Tell me what they did know? Oh, you know, I
believe it was like Josh Curry, no Ancepsera. They're normally troublemakers.
They're always getting into trouble, causing trouble, this and that.
And I would ask him, this is my brother friends
and them was like, yeah, occasually he hangs out with them.
You know, they live in those same barracks your brother does.
And okay, And everybody always told me your brother's so kind,
(31:36):
he's so funny, he's so generous, he's a great person,
And it was always so hard for me to understand.
If he's such a great person, why did these people
wait a whole day just to report him missing? Like
so many times did the park readers see them? And
(31:58):
they didn't want to mention my brother, you know, that
he was missing. They didn't think that something mad could
have happened to my brother, you know. And details about
that night that I had found out was that they
had been doing drugs and they had been drinking I
mean they're young adults, right. I guess we can all
(32:23):
pretty much say that we either know of someone or
done it ourselves, or we've done drugs and drinking and
have gone out to go camping or go to a
party or something. And I don't know the full details
of just know here and there there was drinking and
drugs involved, that there was a fight, there was an altercation,
and that my brother kept saying that he wanted to leave,
(32:48):
that he didn't want to be there. My brother was
scared of the dark, and he also wasn't the best swimmer,
so him being so far away from home was understandable
that he would be saying that. To me, it's still
a mystery what happened. What I strongly believed, Captain, was
that there was an ultucation. As far as I know.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Let's take a break. What had happened to Enrique Roman
Martinez at that campsite remained a mystery that summer, as
(33:30):
protesters took to the streets demanding justice for the soldier
and for PFC Vanessa Gean. Enrique's remains were returned to
his family, and he was laid to rest in August
at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina, California. Officials had
announced a reward, which was now increased to fifty thousand
(33:51):
dollars for any information provided. With seven other people present
at that camp site, how was so little known about
the circumstances were guarding Enrique's disappearance and homicide. Griselda was
told by investigators that there appeared to be no motive
for any of the soldiers to harm a brother, and
any question about why the group took nineteen hours to
(34:14):
report him missing, well that was explained as he's a
grown man and can do what he wants. Griselda finds
that preposterous. As soldiers are supposed to stick together. The
US Army's website details their values as quote, many people
know what the words loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity,
(34:40):
and personal courage mean. Loyalty is described as follows, bear
true faith and allegiance to the US Constitution, the Army,
your unit, and other soldiers. Bearing true faith and allegiance
is a matter of believing in and devoting yourself to
something or someone. A loyal soldier is one who supports
(35:04):
the leadership and stands up for fellow soldiers. By wearing
the uniform of the US Army, you are expressing your loyalty,
and by doing your share, you show your loyalty to
your unit. Where was the loyalty on that Saturday when
seven soldiers woke up to find their fellow soldier gone.
(35:28):
The seven that accompanied Henrique to Cape Lookout were six
men and one woman. They are Sergeant Samuel Moore, Pfc
Samad Landrum, Private Anna Marie Kotchell, Specialist Juanavila, Specialist Joshua Curry,
Specialist Benjamin Seebley, and finally Specialist Alex Vassera, the man
(35:51):
who made the nine on one call. None of them
offered any explanation of what happened to Enrique that weekend.
All that's available is speculation. Was Enrique lard off the
base for some reason? Did he encounter something or someone
nefarious that night? Was his death accidental and covered up
(36:11):
by the seven other soldiers they waited?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
They and I think about all seven of them, all
of them, even the ones that say that they weren't
involved with don't know what happened or weren't anywhere near whatever.
They all have their own story, and I think about it,
and they're all just guilty, waited a whole day to
(36:36):
report my brother missing, a whole day for what, just
so they wouldn't get in trouble. They're in trouble anyways,
you know. And I lost my brother because of them,
and they could never, never bring my brother back. And
I hope with all my heart that they feel guilty.
(37:00):
I fell with all of my heart that they, you know,
can't sleep at night knowing that they caused my brother
to be murdered. Whether it be by their own hands
or I don't know, but I know in my eyes
that it's their fault.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Could there have been issues within the group, something that
led to an altercation.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
He never mentioned anything outright. There was little things that
made me believe, oh, maybe just someone's being a jerk.
You know, sometimes people are just like that. Some people
are just me. And there was a couple of times
where he told me I'm not allowed to speak Spanish,
so I had to talk to you guys in English
because we're not allowed. And I'm like, are you serious,
You're not allowed to speak your native language and he's like, yeah,
(37:50):
I'm not allowed. And there was little things like that,
or you know, a couple of times he mentioned workplace drama, like, well,
my high I grew up is or someone that's I
guess on his level is yelling at him in front
of a sergeant so he looks better so he can
get promoted. And my brother would complain about that, and
you know, I would say, well, was it a problem
(38:12):
outside of work? He's like no, And you know, pretty
much it that I heard of him ever really having
problems on top of just being bored in the military,
you know, and feeling like he can't do more with
his life, and that's it, you know, I never really
heard of him being bullied or anything. And knowing that
(38:33):
the type of person my brother would be, he wouldn't
ever tell me because you know, I'd go into big
sister mode and want to go beat someone up for him.
And ever since he was a little boy, he never
once told us if he was bullied. And that's kind
of what makes this a little bit harder, is that
just knowing that if something had been going on, he
(38:56):
didn't tell us.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
There had been more incident in January of twenty twenty,
at a party, there was some drinking, including underage drinking,
and Enrique, who was designated driver, decided he was too
intoxicated to get behind the wheel. Alex Pasera, the nine
on one caller, drove instead.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
So they started driving home, I guess, and he got
pulled over. He got in trouble for drunk driving, and
she was ultimately almost let go of the military. And
then my brother went and said, I don't think that's
fair that he's getting in trouble because I drank too.
It wasn't just driving under the influence, but also because
other people that were underage were also drinking at that party,
(39:41):
so because they had brought some alcohol, they were also
getting in trouble for that. So my brother went and
told his captain that he did not think it was
fair that his friend was getting in trouble. He was
getting in trouble for this, and that he should also
be punished because he was opposed to be a designated
driver and wasn't. So you know, the captain at the
(40:04):
time was thought that this was quite noble with my
brother and gave them both alcoholic I guess like classes
and like therapy anyway, So that had happened, So I
guess that goes on your record pretty badly in the
military and does kind of keep you from advancing in
the military. So I know that there was a lot
(40:27):
of talk that like Alex, Sarah would bring this up
to my brother every chance that he could, that my
brother ruined it for him, and I know my brother
felt guilty. I know my brother would have never wanted
this for his friend because that's just who my brother was.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And back to that same pattern of the family being
left in the dark regarding information. It wasn't until court
proceedings that Griselda started to gain some knowledge of what
happened that weekend. Yes court proceedings, the seven soldiers that
had accompanied Enrique that weekend of all faith charges, but
none are related to Enrique's homicide. They were all charged
(41:06):
with one count of conspiracy and failure to obey a
direct order for ignoring the travel ban that was in place.
Alex Passera pleaded guilty to LSD use and disobeying a
superior officer. He was demoted to the rank of private.
Anna Marie Kaschell and Samad Landrum were also charged with
(41:27):
LSD use. The group also faced charges related to lined officers.
Alex Besserra's girlfriend, Anna Marie Koschell, had accompanied the group
that weekend, but Basserah had instructed the others not to
mention her name, afraid that she'd receive disciplinary action. She
was already in trouble for underage drinking from earlier that year.
(41:51):
Sam Moore was charged with conspiracy and making false statements
regarding Enrique's disappearance. He was demoted to specialist. Josh Kerr
was charged with failure to obey a lawful order and
one count of dereliction of duty. It took months before
the group was ordered to stop speaking to one another,
and they broke that order as well, so they claim
(42:13):
they didn't speak to each other about the ongoing investigation.
Grazilda saw Alex Passera, Anna Mariekochelle and Samad Langem in court.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
I just felt nothing but fury towards them, and I
was anger's anger, and I wish the worst on them
with all of my heart and all my life. And
just how they're just living and breathing in my brothers,
my brother's dead. How in the mausoleum that my brother's
(42:48):
in sits just his head. It's a whole casket and
the only thing that's in there is his head and
a uniform without a body. And I looked at them
in their stupid uniforms. There's stupid badges, and there's stupid hats,
and there's stupid boots, and I just think about how
(43:09):
much I hate them, how much I hate their life,
how much I hate They're just living, walking, breathing, laughing
because they can, because they're like and my brother's not.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Roselda says that the case brought to the courtroom was
all a joke. Lawyers weren't prepared. They were laughing about
how easy it was. It felt like a slap in
the face to Enrique and to his family.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
I couldn't. I could not. I could not believe the
cards that I was dope. I could not believe the
injustice that I felt. That my family's the one suffering
my family. I lost my brother. You could never do
(43:57):
the United States Army could never do any to bring
back my brother to life, bring him back, bring all
his pieces back, because they can't find all his pieces.
They cannot bring him back to me. But and what
they could have done is at least given me a
great team to go to that for my family. And
they couldn't do that. They didn't do that. Why, I
(44:20):
don't know. I think about it all the time. Would
it have really been that difficult for them to do that.
You know, that team didn't have their arguments together that
I mean, he pled guilty to a few of them,
things that you really couldn't say that he didn't do,
(44:42):
and he actually wasn't. I believe there was like eight
things that he was being charged against, and there was
a couple that he won himself, including you know, hiding
the fact that Anacochelle was there, was the fact that
he was the one who told people that leave her.
It just tidying that fact.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
So here we have a group that continuously lied to investigators,
that withheld information, and who, for at least some of them,
used powerful hallucinogenic drugs that weekend. Their loyalty was in
protecting one soldier, Anna Marie Kchelle. Where was their loyalty
to Enrique, their fellow soldier who didn't die during combat,
(45:28):
but was murdered. In January of twenty twenty three, it
was reported that there's an investigation into a dozen soldiers
regarding a legal drug activity at North Carolina's Fort Bragg.
That story is still developing. It's no wonder Griselda has
(45:53):
so much anger over the handling of her brother's case.
She feels that it hasn't been taken seriously. Rather it's
been swept under the rug, and that the army is
more focused on appearances and recruitment anything that would reflect
poorly on the army. They seem like they're trying to
keep out of the news. There appears to be a
(46:15):
lack of urgency to get this gruesome murder solved. And
Enrique deserves more than that. His family deserves to give
him a proper burial, one that includes all of him.
But it wasn't even until December of twenty twenty seven,
months after Enrique's remains were found, that divers were sent
(46:35):
out into the water to search for more evidence. In
November twenty twenty one, after conducting hundreds of interviews, searching
for evidence, executing warrants, the case was officially moved to
cold case status. Nobody has ever been charged for the
murder of Enrique Roman Martinez. Where does his case stand now?
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Case is a gold case now because with all the evidence,
with all the timing, with the sudden witnesses, they couldn't
they couldn't find enough evidence. So my brother's case is
a goal case. Currently, the congresswoman normal tourist, super awesome
who's been helping me, is trying to push a bill,
and the bill is to make a branch or a
(47:21):
section in the military that will work on gold cases
when there's a ton of them. Normally they just get
pushed aside and that's it. There's no justice for those families.
There's a lot of families like mine, So she's trying
to get together a branch that will still work on those.
(47:42):
She's hoping it'll in it. It also includes someone that's
not affiliated with the military to be in the investigation team.
So it's a really cool law that she's trying to pass.
I'll send you the link. But she named it up
after my brother, I enregate Roman Martinez, so you know,
I'm very honored that she did to me. It's about
(48:05):
helping other families like mine. Like I can't tell you
how often I think of my brother. I think of
him every day, I see him, I see parts of
him everywhere. I you know, things remind me of him.
And I think about all the families just like mine
that are doing the same thing. And all we want
(48:27):
is answers. We want justice, So I, you know, urge
people to get their congressmen and women up their area
of their state to help get this through, just like
the Vanessa Gian law that went through the same for
my brother. You know, things starts with us, and I
(48:53):
hope them one day I can get justice. I hope
that one day we'll live in a world where this
would never happen again, where no one has to be
scared to send their kid to the military to be
killed on their homeland by their own colleagues. And on
(49:14):
top of that, just you know, spread my brother's story.
Something had to have happened in North Carolina, on that island,
something had to have happened. And I just want the truth.
That's it. That's all I want. And as long as
people spread the story, you know, if they could tell
at least one person in the story, I just to
(49:34):
tell one more, that'd be awesome for me. We do
have a GoFundMe for our expenses, you know, like when
we travel to North Carolina for you know, briefings or
courtes or anything really and we do currently have a
private investigator as well. And if people can't, you know,
donate turcle fund. It's just as for Enrique.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Roman Representative Norma Torres Congress Will for California introduced a bill,
the Enrique Roman Martinez Military Cold Case Justice Act of
twenty twenty two. If passed, it will create uniform standards
for military cold cases and established procedures should an investigator
(50:17):
leave the case. What's needed, Torres says, is quote, military
investigators need established processes and procedures for cold cases, including
a process for independent review when necessary. Without them, investigators
cannot be held accountable for failing to move forward with
(50:39):
cases like these. And I will do all I can
to ensure no military family in the United States has
to wait for justice or answers. Please help Griselda and
her family get justice for Enrique. Check the show notes
for today's called Action.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
And him.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
We were pretty close. We talked a lot, and you
just don't expect it when I tell you, I this
caught my whole family. We insighted. It was incredibly difficult.
You know, he only had when this whole thing occurred.
He had three months left to leave the army, you know,
(51:21):
three months, that's it. He had a little countdown on
his phone. The skaters later told me that he had
a countdown. He was counting known the days to go home.
I know he was incredibly homesick, he missed Mom, he
missed you know, you know, this family, his friends here
back at home, and he was just really ready to
leave the military and do something with his life.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Thank you to Caroselda Martinez for sharing your story with me.
If anyone has any information about the murder of Enrique
Roman Martinez, please contact Army CID's Special Agents at nine
one zero three nine six eight seven seven seven. Persons
who wish to remain anonymous will be honored to the
(52:06):
degree allowable under the law, and the information will be
held in the strictest confidence allowable. To learn more about
Enrique's case, you can visit my friends over at uncovered
dot com to see an interactive map and timeline and
search their database for other cases. Thank you for listening
(52:29):
to this episode of Method and Madness. If you haven't already,
please leave a rating or review, and don't forget to
hit that subscribe button. To connect, I'm on Twitter at
methodpod and on Instagram at Method and Madness Pod to chat,
suggest a case, or discuss the episode. Reach out to
me at Methodimadness Pod at gmail dot com. Methoded Madness
(52:53):
is research, written and hosted by me it is sound.
Edited by Moe and Spoe. That's it for this week.
Until next time, take care of yourself. For crisis support,
text hello to seven four one seven four one
Method and Madness is a true crime podcast and contains
descriptions of violence. Listener discretion is advised. All witnesses, persons
of interest, and or suspects are considered innocent until proven
guilty in a court of law.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
You lost our friend. We don't know where he's been gone,
and kind of words, something happened to him.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
This is Method and Madness, Episode fifty five, Loyalty Enrique
Roman Martinez. Cape Lookout a string of Barrier islands on
(01:07):
North Carolina's outer banks. It's recognizable by its distinctive lighthouse,
like something out of a Lewis Carroll's story book. A
black and white diamond pattern adorns the still functioning beacon,
its light shining over the Atlantic at night. Private boats
and ferries traveled to the islands, bringing visitors to the
(01:30):
beaches for horse watching, fishing, swimming. It was a couple
of months into the COVID lockdown Memorial Day weekend twenty
twenty when eight Army soldiers from nearby Fort Bragg boarded
a ferry for Cape Lookout. They were going to spend
a few days camping on one of the beaches. On
(01:52):
the second day of their excursion, at around seven PM.
A nine to one to one call was made from
that island. Caller said that his friend and fellow Army soldier,
twenty one year old specialist, Enrique Roman Martinez, was missing.
The group had last seen him at their campsite the
night before. A search was launched to find the missing soldier,
(02:17):
who had, according to his group, walked off in the
dark without his wallet, phone, or glasses. The only way
on or off the island was by boat. It was
several days later when Enrique's severed head washed up on
the shore. Today I'm joined by Griselda Martinez, who is
(02:40):
fighting for justice for her baby brother Enrique.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And the recruiter. I'll never forget his words. I won't
forget his words because they hought me to this day.
My mom told her recruiter, you see my boy right now.
You see him, every single part of him, every single
heard of him, his arms, his legs, his fingers, his everything,
every piece of his body, and that's on him down
(03:07):
to the last hair on his head. Do you promise
that he leads for the army When he comes back,
every bit of him will be back. We'll come back
to me, And they said, ma'am, I promise you the
army is the safest place in the whole world. He's
going to be in the safest place in the whole world.
(03:29):
And I think about it a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Let's dive in. She was handed the role that nobody
asks for. She's searching for answers, truth and justice for
the murder of Enrique Roman Martinez. Griselda is another warrior
that I'm honored to speak with today.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
It's hard when you're giving someone to seek justice, where
do you even start? You know, I'm not gonna lie.
I don't know where all of this came from. That
I had to, you know, get the news involved, that
I had to call this person that I don't know
where that came. That strength came from. And I thank
God every day that I had it, you know. And
(04:15):
it's hard. It's very difficult. Sometimes I find myself not
knowing what to do, and I'm blessed that sometimes it
just comes to me. Hi, my name is Carcelda Martinez.
I am Enrique Roman Martinez's oldest sister, old one of them,
and I am the middle one, and I'm here to
(04:38):
pretty much tell Enrique's story.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Enrique Roman Martinez was born on September seventh, nineteen ninety
eight from Chino, California. Enrique was a son, brother, uncle, grandson,
and friend. He was known for being incredibly affectionate as
a child. Growing up, he had a very special relationship
with his family, especially his mother Maria, to whom he
(05:05):
was very close. His family called him Kaike as a nickname.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Enrique was a character, for sure. He was a very
genuinely kind person. He's very different. Enrique was incredibly kind
and generous, and there's just so many examples that I
have of him being that person. I think the best
thing about my brother was that he was very noble.
(05:34):
People like that are very hard to come by. There's
many instances where Enrique always stuck up for what he
believed was right, and that was the number one thing
about my brother. He always stuck up for what was right,
and that was one of the most important things for him.
Anytime he saw someone being treated unjustly, he would always
speak up. You know, a lot of times he would
(05:57):
take blame for things that his friends did so they
wouldn't get in as much trouble. And that was pretty
much him growing up.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Griselda has many touching memories of her brother, his love
of anime and video games, his ability to memorize how
to achieve those higher levels, his jokes and nack for
making others laugh, and their relationship, how she would bake
for him. His favorite was chocolate cake. The more chocolate,
(06:25):
the better. And while all of the little things that
made Enrique Enrique and.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
I remember his favorite foods is a little bit different.
I think I mentioned that he was a little weird,
but he would dip his hot Cheetos in water. I
don't know why. His favorites were hot Cheeto puffs and
he would dip them in water and then he would
drink the water afterwards. And it's the weirdest thing I've
ever seen in my whole life.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
In twenty sixteen, at age seventeen, Enrique expressed interest in
going into the army, something that his mother and two
sisters were a little reluctant to support. But Enrique was
optimistic that he could accomplish a lot and make a
positive impact.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Me and my moment were like absolutely not, Like you
cannot fight to save your life. My brother was incredibly
non confrontational in a way where he just would not
start a fight. He wasn't a fighter, he may stand
up for someone, but never like for himself per se.
So that was the concern me and my mom always
had was that he would always stick up for anybody,
doesn't matter, even if that person was in the wrong.
(07:28):
He stick up for them if he thought it was unfair,
But for himself, he would never stick up for himself.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Since Enrique was a miner, the Army recruiter needed parental permission,
which was granted with some hesitance, and then Enrique enlisted
and officially was a member of the Army in March
twenty seventeen. After completing training at the Airborne School at
Fort Benning and Georgia, he was assigned as a paratrooper
(07:56):
at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. At the time of his murder,
Enrique was an eighty second Division paratrooper working as a
human resources specialist. He was assigned to the thirty seventh
Brigade Engineer Battalion, second Brigade Combat Team, eighty second Airborne
Division in Fort Bragg, home of the Airborne and Special
(08:20):
Operations Forces. His accomplishments included being awarded the Army Good
Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on
Terror Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Army Parachutist Badge.
During the month of May twenty twenty, Fort Bragg soldiers
(08:43):
were under direct orders to stay close to the base,
with travel bands being the norm. At that time. It
was coming up on Memorial Day weekend. Griselda spoke to
her brother that Wednesday. They talked a lot during lockdown,
each other through some of that uncertainty many of us
felt at an uneasy time. During that particular phone call,
(09:07):
Griselda asked if he had any plans for the holiday.
Enrique said he wasn't sure. He'd either stay in his
room and play video games, or he may get called
in to do a Memorial Day parade. Griselda offered to
come out and visit him, but he turned her down,
not wanting her to waste money in case he was
(09:27):
unable to get away to see her. They agreed they
would talk on Friday, but when Griselda called her brother
that day, she got no answer, assuming he must be busy.
She didn't think much of it until the rest of
the day went by and Enrique still hadn't returned her call.
(09:49):
Now she was getting a sense of something weird. That
little voice or feeling in your gut that something isn't right,
but she tried to shrug it off. Saturday came and went,
and then on Sunday, Griselda's mom got a call from
a number she didn't recognize. The two women were shopping
(10:10):
at Costco near their home in California. Griselda picked up
the call.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I can't remember if it was Colonel Ulton or Captain Eyre. First,
I was getting mixed up who it was, and I'm
talking to him, I like, is your brother there? I'm like,
where would my brother be here? No, he's not home.
He should be at work, you know. And then they
were like, well he's been missing, And I'm like, what
do you mean he's been missing? I just talked to
him on Wednesday and that's what he explained to me. Yeah,
(10:37):
you know, he went on a camping trip with these
seven people and he disappeared.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Griselda said her heart dropped. It had been four days
since she'd talked to Enrique. Had he been missing that
whole time? Why was she just hearing about it now?
She had tons of questions. What happened that weekend? What
was the last thing her brother said to someone? Did
he have his phone. The officer confirmed that Enrique had
(11:06):
gone missing Friday night into Saturday morning around midnight from
a campsite on South Core Banks, and he was without
his phone, his wallet, and his glasses, an immediate red
flag for Griselda. He couldn't see without his glasses and
he'd always had his phone on him. She was questioned
about whether or not Enrique did drugs or if he
(11:29):
was suicidal, to which Griselda responded no. She and her
mother immediately purchased flights from California to North Carolina, but
the earliest they could get was a flight for Tuesday morning.
The weight was excruciating, and Griselda spent that time crying, crying,
and pleading with people on Facebook who were in the
(11:52):
area of Fort Bragg to come forward if they knew anything.
No authorities had provided names, if anyone that Enrique was
with that weekend, and the feeling of helplessness was too
much for Griselda.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
You know, and there was a lot of reports coming
up that they had seen my brother on the side
of a white jeep, you know, hanging off, you know,
him and someone else on the other side, and they
were speaking down the island and that was probably as
much as people had seen.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Griselda was only getting little bits of information at the time.
A lot more would come out over the next several months.
It turned out that Enrique and seven other soldiers had
left Fort Bragg early on Friday May twenty second, and
drove four and a half hours, then boarded a ferry
to Cape Lookout National Seashore. Enrique had decided to go
(12:48):
last minute and had arrived at the site in a
white jeep with three other soldiers. The rest of the
group arrived in a truck. Witnesses had seen the white
jeep driving down the beach with Enrique hanging on the side,
standing on one of the side steps. According to the
rest of his group. Later that day, Enrique's tent was
(13:09):
knocked over by the wind. They assisted him in putting
it back up, and then they say Enrique walked off
without bringing anything with him or telling anyone where he
was headed. He was just wearing a pair of blue
shorts no shirt. It was around midnight. A real head
scratcher was that nobody contacted the authorities when Enrigue failed
(13:33):
to return to the campsite. In fact, that Saturday, after
the group woke up and Enrique was still not there.
They didn't make any phone calls, not to authorities, and
a park ranger had approached the group that day. They
had been told they were parked legally, a perfect opportunity
(13:54):
for any of the seven soldiers to ask for help
locating their friend. It's been confirmed by the park ranger
that nobody in the group mentioned anything about searching for Enrique. No,
it wasn't until hours later, nineteen hours after they last
saw him, that someone in the group dialed nine one one.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
On one with that just the emergency together.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
We are on Kpebok County. We are at Cape Hook
at Island and between mal Marker and forty seven by
the jetty, and we lost our friend. We don't know
where he has gone and any kind of word he
something happened to him.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Where's the well, where's the last part you saw him
at last?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
We all went to bed last night and ah, we
woke up. He was not here. And we've been looking
forma bay. We were trying to find the park ranger
or their offices or any things until we went all
the way to the to the fairy and we found
where that we needed to down. Number one we weren't
sure if.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
That's what we had to do out here, so we
can we can get Core park Service and contact with
you said, are you are you on Core Banks or Shackelford?
Are you that close to close to Cape Lookout?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
We're on Cape Lookout?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Okay, I'll have to where're at? Okay? All right? And
how long has he been missing?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Then we woke up at I woke up at eight thirty,
and we've been looking for him all day. We weren't
sure if he what we might see, afraid might have
hurt himself or we're We're really not sure.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Okay, I know. One second and you said between mile
markers thirty and thirty six and thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
No, forty six, seve, Okay, sorry about that?
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And when was the last time you saw him?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
So we all went to bed at Nick at swelve
o three and that's when we all decided.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
To go to bed, and that is the last time
he saw him. Okay, how about one second? Son? All right, sir,
I'm sorry about that. What's fun over your call from? Okay?
What's your name?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Alex An?
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Our older seat?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
He is twenty two or twenty one? I'm sorry, twenty one, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:15):
And does he have any physical, medical, or mental conditions
that we need to be aware of?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
He did, He wasn't diagnosed, but he did have suicidal
tendencies okay, okay, And I.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Just needed a description of him. What's his race?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
He is Mexican?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
He has black hair, brown eyes.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
And what's his name?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
His name is Roman Martinez or Enrique Martinez.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
He they what kind of Sorry, it's actually I'm sorry,
let me just let me fact trick probably Gregate Roman,
I'm sorry, that is Henry Kate.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
Roman, that's his name, Yes, okay, he do you know
what kind of clothing he was wearing? It all?
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So he was just when we I saw him, he
was just wearing blue shorts.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Do you know his hype or weight at all?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
I would say he's around five and he's probably five
six five seven okay?
Speaker 4 (17:12):
And with anybody left scene with him? Or do you
think he went off by himself?
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Oh? He had to have gone off by himself, Okay.
Speaker 4 (17:18):
Like I said, well, we all went to sleep, okay,
and he would have left on foot.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yes, that's the only way he had to. We only
had two cars and they're both still here.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
Okay. Do you know of anywhere he may have gone
on the island at all? No clue.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
This is our first time being here, so we have
no clue.
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Do you know if he took any personal items with him?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
We searched his tent and everything is still there, even
left his phone in his wallet.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Okay, so he doesn't have any trackable technology kind of
So do.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You know if he might have any weapons with him
or anything negative?
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Okay? And then what did he leave any nose letters
or threats or anything.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
We have looked through everywhere and it's happened his phone.
Maybe we don't have the passwords, so we can't look
on that, but he looking.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
On Sure, make you're able to just try to find
a recent photograph him. We are getting contact with Parks
to come in contact with you. If he does come back,
just give us a call back immediately, Yes, sir, and
that's it. I'm sorry, Just let us know. And we
are getting contact parkerser if they may give you a
call before they come out there and talk to you,
(18:23):
so it may come from a blocker restricted number to
just make sure you answer it. Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Several details stand out in this nine to one one
call let's break it down for a moment. There's the
specificity of the time the group went to bed, not
just around midnight, but at twelve o three, an odd
detail for sure. And notice that the caller says they'd
been looking for their friend all day, that they were
(18:49):
looking for park rangers or offices or something. We now
know that they'd spoken to a park ranger earlier in
the day when they were asked to move their cars.
And how do seven people with cell phones spend an
entire day searching for offices rather than using their devices
to get help. If they thought Enrique may have hurt himself,
(19:12):
why wait until seven pm to call nine one one?
The caller said he was awake at eight thirty that morning.
And the caller doesn't even get in Rigue's name correct,
but is sure that the missing man has suicidal tendencies.
And what about those tendencies. Enrique's family has adamantly denied
(19:34):
this accusation. He had three months until he'd be discharged
and he was looking forward to that reunion with his
loved ones and pursuing a career in pharmacology. Griselda insists
her brother would never do that to their mother, An
official search was now underway with help from the National
(19:55):
Park Service Marine Patrol, the County Sheriff's office and their
canine team, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Coast Guard.
Enrique's disappearance and the search had hit the local news,
urging anyone with information to contact Carteret County Dispatch. The
Cape Lookout National Seashore facebook page posted a photo of Enrique,
(20:19):
asking if anyone saw the young man or gave him
a ride off of the island, detailing that he'd walked
away from his friends early Saturday morning without water or
supplies and hadn't been seen. An updated post so that
a white jeep wrangler had been driving at a high
rate of speed down the beach with two men hanging
off the side, followed by a blue Ford Ranger pickup.
(20:42):
By the time she and her mother arrived at the
island that Tuesday, Griselda's fears and anxiety only increased. The
island had already been searched for days without any sign
of Enrique.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
The island is not bug general. You could see from
one side of the island to the other, so it's
pretty narrow and it's not like a huge chunk of
it like you could probably walk the whole thing within
like a couple hours. So they had been looking all
over for him, even in the marsh, in the little
forest that they have there, and they couldn't find him.
(21:19):
They searched the water, they searched over the water, and
no one could find him. And you know, my mom
and I we were going thinking, Okay, they're just not
doing a good enough job. So when we got there,
when we got to the island, we know he was gone.
We know we want going to find him.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Search and rescue efforts continued until the following weekend, when
it was announced that the search was being put on hold.
Griselda reflects on receiving the devastating news.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
I remember praying that night, and it preayed so hard.
I remember telling God, Gosh, don't don't let this bee it, like,
don't leave my family guessing. Don't leave my family hurting
that maybe my brother could come back. If he's gone,
he's gone, you know, his life is gone. But don't
(22:14):
leave us guessing if he drowned or if you know,
he was swept away or something like that, or you know,
he was even killed. Just don't hide it from us,
you know, bring him home. Bring a piece of him home,
so we know that it's him, even if it's just
his head. And I remember paying so hard, just saying
(22:36):
please just bring him home. And that Friday of that
week where brother decapitated, head washed up on shore.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Griselda and her mother were at the military base that
morning when they got the call. Initially, they were asked
for their DNA just in case any remains were found,
and they found out shortly after submitting their DNA that
Enrique's head had been found washed up on Shackleford Banks,
not far from the campsite.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Missus Maria Martinez, Miss Griselda Martinez, we regret to inform
you that this morning there were remains that were washed
up ashore of Shackleford bakes and we believed them to
be your brother and your son. We believe them to
(23:31):
be Enrique Roman Martinez. And I was speechless. I couldn't,
I couldn't even I was speechless, like I think, I
was just so shocked that it happened. I was hurt
(23:52):
because you know, of course my mom let up let
out the most painful cry I've ever heard, and I
hear it. I hear it to this day. How much
how much a mother could feel pain for their child.
(24:15):
It's I got like a piece of her died, and
that was the piece of her that was leaving. And
it was incredibly difficult. And they were comforting my mother,
they were holding her. She fell to the ground. She
was pleading with them. She was pleading with God, saying,
(24:39):
why my boy? He was so kind, he was so sweet.
Why him?
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Griselda pleaded with the officers to make sure that the
remains were that of her brothers. She demanded that DNA
testing be done and asked if her brother had been murdered.
At the time, that question was yet to be answered.
(25:09):
While Enrique's family awaited a positive identification and autopsy findings,
Griselda made those agonizing phone calls to loved ones to
break the news, and then she and her mother returned
home to California to await confirmation that the remains were
that of Enriquez. The following Friday, June fifth, Sergent Nievez
(25:31):
and the chaplain came to the family's home.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
They are confirmed by dental records that they are Enrique
Roman Martinez specialist Enrico Roman Martinez's remains. And that was it,
you know, I asked her, do you know if it's thomaside?
She said, yeah, I don't know, and my mom was
(25:55):
just completely devastated. Again, my sister was there, she was devastated,
my brother in law just it was incredibly to devastate.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Griselda was now on a mission to get all the
questions answered. She called the lead investigator, who confirmed at
the time they still didn't know if it was homicide,
but said that if it was, they would catch the
person or persons responsible. The family now had to wait
for more agonizing news the cause and manner of death.
(26:28):
It was possible what had happened to Enrique was some
sort of accident, that maybe he'd been in the water
and hit by a boat propeller. Griselda waited for the
call that never came from the lead investigator.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
My mother in law sent me a article saying that
it was murdering that the autopsy had determined that it
was murdered, and I was furious. I had just talked
to him. If he had known this was my brother prior,
he would have also known that this was labeled as homicide,
you know. And so I called him and he was
incredibly rude. I told him, how could you like, you
(27:05):
could have told my family at least, you know, like
we deserve to know. And he told me, you're even lucky,
you know as much as you do know. You know,
we check in with families at least once a month
when we get some information. We don't need to be
telling you everything. And I was incredibly upset. I was
so angry. I could not believe that he talked to
(27:27):
me like this, and my mom and even prior to that,
he happened like anytime I asked a question, he would
just walk around it and not answer it directly. And
you know, my mom always told me, don't be rude,
don't be rude. I'm like, I'm not being rude. I
want to know. I don't understand why he's not answering me.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Imagine that being told after a family member's homicide that
you're lucky to be told as much as you are.
This coming from the army, that the expectation is a
month check in with families. Griselda contacted the medical examiner
to find out how it was determined that her brother's
manner of death was homicide. The Division of Forensic Pathology
(28:12):
conducted the autopsy at East Carolina University's Brodie School of Medicine.
The report said there was evidence of multiple chop injuries.
Cuts to the back of a neck somewhat crescent shaped,
which Theme explained to Grizelda could only be used by
a shovel or a hatchet or similar tool. The wound
(28:34):
was approximately three quarters of an inch deep. Additionally, Enrique
had a broken jaw and a fractured cervical spine. The
report said, quote wild decapitation is in and of itself
universally fatal. The remainder of the body in this case
was not available for examination, and therefore potential causes of
(28:58):
death involving the tors and extremities cannot be excluded under
a cause of death. It seid homicide by undetermined means.
If the military wasn't going to keep Griselda and her
family in the loop, then she was determined to fight.
She began telling Enrique's story to news outlets in hopes
(29:19):
it would get coverage and attention, leading to answers. It
was around this time that another story was hitting the news,
that of twenty year old Private first Class Vanessa Gean.
Vanessa was also a soldier in the United States Army
stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. Her remains were found
(29:39):
on June thirtieth near a river in Belton, Texas. She
had been murdered on April twenty second and dismembered. Her
alleged killer was Aaron David Robinson, a soldier who shot
himself and died right as police were about to take
him into custody.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
And that's when I said, yus stories started coming out,
which was very similar, well not exactly the same, but
pretty similar. You know, circumstance went missaying was found into pieces.
So it's just the timme on everything is always crazy,
(30:22):
let us think about it. And I remember calling every
new station that I could possibly find to help us,
and they did, and they got my brother's story out.
It wasn't as big as Pennisillians, but I was hoping
for a lot of coverage and I got a good amount,
and I'm very blessed about that. I know now so
(30:45):
many families like mine that didn't get the same, and
I don't stop fighting for my brother. Finding out the
names of who these people were was so difficult. I
would ask a friend to hear a friend there someone
can I knew, and I had names at one point,
and I just needed someone to confirm them. And I
(31:05):
didn't know who these people were, so I started messaging
my brother's friends. Do you know him? What can you
tell me about him?
Speaker 1 (31:10):
No?
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Tell me what they did know? Oh, you know, I
believe it was like Josh Curry, no Ancepsera. They're normally troublemakers.
They're always getting into trouble, causing trouble, this and that.
And I would ask him, this is my brother friends
and them was like, yeah, occasually he hangs out with them.
You know, they live in those same barracks your brother does.
And okay, And everybody always told me your brother's so kind,
(31:36):
he's so funny, he's so generous, he's a great person,
And it was always so hard for me to understand.
If he's such a great person, why did these people
wait a whole day just to report him missing? Like
so many times did the park readers see them? And
(31:58):
they didn't want to mention my brother, you know, that
he was missing. They didn't think that something mad could
have happened to my brother, you know. And details about
that night that I had found out was that they
had been doing drugs and they had been drinking I
mean they're young adults, right. I guess we can all
(32:23):
pretty much say that we either know of someone or
done it ourselves, or we've done drugs and drinking and
have gone out to go camping or go to a
party or something. And I don't know the full details
of just know here and there there was drinking and
drugs involved, that there was a fight, there was an altercation,
and that my brother kept saying that he wanted to leave,
(32:48):
that he didn't want to be there. My brother was
scared of the dark, and he also wasn't the best swimmer,
so him being so far away from home was understandable
that he would be saying that. To me, it's still
a mystery what happened. What I strongly believed, Captain, was
that there was an ultucation. As far as I know.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Let's take a break. What had happened to Enrique Roman
Martinez at that campsite remained a mystery that summer, as
(33:30):
protesters took to the streets demanding justice for the soldier
and for PFC Vanessa Gean. Enrique's remains were returned to
his family, and he was laid to rest in August
at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina, California. Officials had
announced a reward, which was now increased to fifty thousand
(33:51):
dollars for any information provided. With seven other people present
at that camp site, how was so little known about
the circumstances were guarding Enrique's disappearance and homicide. Griselda was
told by investigators that there appeared to be no motive
for any of the soldiers to harm a brother, and
any question about why the group took nineteen hours to
(34:14):
report him missing, well that was explained as he's a
grown man and can do what he wants. Griselda finds
that preposterous. As soldiers are supposed to stick together. The
US Army's website details their values as quote, many people
know what the words loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity,
(34:40):
and personal courage mean. Loyalty is described as follows, bear
true faith and allegiance to the US Constitution, the Army,
your unit, and other soldiers. Bearing true faith and allegiance
is a matter of believing in and devoting yourself to
something or someone. A loyal soldier is one who supports
(35:04):
the leadership and stands up for fellow soldiers. By wearing
the uniform of the US Army, you are expressing your loyalty,
and by doing your share, you show your loyalty to
your unit. Where was the loyalty on that Saturday when
seven soldiers woke up to find their fellow soldier gone.
(35:28):
The seven that accompanied Henrique to Cape Lookout were six
men and one woman. They are Sergeant Samuel Moore, Pfc
Samad Landrum, Private Anna Marie Kotchell, Specialist Juanavila, Specialist Joshua Curry,
Specialist Benjamin Seebley, and finally Specialist Alex Vassera, the man
(35:51):
who made the nine on one call. None of them
offered any explanation of what happened to Enrique that weekend.
All that's available is speculation. Was Enrique lard off the
base for some reason? Did he encounter something or someone
nefarious that night? Was his death accidental and covered up
(36:11):
by the seven other soldiers they waited?
Speaker 3 (36:14):
They and I think about all seven of them, all
of them, even the ones that say that they weren't
involved with don't know what happened or weren't anywhere near whatever.
They all have their own story, and I think about it,
and they're all just guilty, waited a whole day to
(36:36):
report my brother missing, a whole day for what, just
so they wouldn't get in trouble. They're in trouble anyways,
you know. And I lost my brother because of them,
and they could never, never bring my brother back. And
I hope with all my heart that they feel guilty.
(37:00):
I fell with all of my heart that they, you know,
can't sleep at night knowing that they caused my brother
to be murdered. Whether it be by their own hands
or I don't know, but I know in my eyes
that it's their fault.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Could there have been issues within the group, something that
led to an altercation.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
He never mentioned anything outright. There was little things that
made me believe, oh, maybe just someone's being a jerk.
You know, sometimes people are just like that. Some people
are just me. And there was a couple of times
where he told me I'm not allowed to speak Spanish,
so I had to talk to you guys in English
because we're not allowed. And I'm like, are you serious,
You're not allowed to speak your native language and he's like, yeah,
(37:50):
I'm not allowed. And there was little things like that,
or you know, a couple of times he mentioned workplace drama, like, well,
my high I grew up is or someone that's I
guess on his level is yelling at him in front
of a sergeant so he looks better so he can
get promoted. And my brother would complain about that, and
you know, I would say, well, was it a problem
(38:12):
outside of work? He's like no, And you know, pretty
much it that I heard of him ever really having
problems on top of just being bored in the military,
you know, and feeling like he can't do more with
his life, and that's it, you know, I never really
heard of him being bullied or anything. And knowing that
(38:33):
the type of person my brother would be, he wouldn't
ever tell me because you know, I'd go into big
sister mode and want to go beat someone up for him.
And ever since he was a little boy, he never
once told us if he was bullied. And that's kind
of what makes this a little bit harder, is that
just knowing that if something had been going on, he
(38:56):
didn't tell us.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
There had been more incident in January of twenty twenty,
at a party, there was some drinking, including underage drinking,
and Enrique, who was designated driver, decided he was too
intoxicated to get behind the wheel. Alex Pasera, the nine
on one caller, drove instead.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
So they started driving home, I guess, and he got
pulled over. He got in trouble for drunk driving, and
she was ultimately almost let go of the military. And
then my brother went and said, I don't think that's
fair that he's getting in trouble because I drank too.
It wasn't just driving under the influence, but also because
other people that were underage were also drinking at that party,
(39:41):
so because they had brought some alcohol, they were also
getting in trouble for that. So my brother went and
told his captain that he did not think it was
fair that his friend was getting in trouble. He was
getting in trouble for this, and that he should also
be punished because he was opposed to be a designated
driver and wasn't. So you know, the captain at the
(40:04):
time was thought that this was quite noble with my
brother and gave them both alcoholic I guess like classes
and like therapy anyway, So that had happened, So I
guess that goes on your record pretty badly in the
military and does kind of keep you from advancing in
the military. So I know that there was a lot
(40:27):
of talk that like Alex, Sarah would bring this up
to my brother every chance that he could, that my
brother ruined it for him, and I know my brother
felt guilty. I know my brother would have never wanted
this for his friend because that's just who my brother was.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
And back to that same pattern of the family being
left in the dark regarding information. It wasn't until court
proceedings that Griselda started to gain some knowledge of what
happened that weekend. Yes court proceedings, the seven soldiers that
had accompanied Enrique that weekend of all faith charges, but
none are related to Enrique's homicide. They were all charged
(41:06):
with one count of conspiracy and failure to obey a
direct order for ignoring the travel ban that was in place.
Alex Passera pleaded guilty to LSD use and disobeying a
superior officer. He was demoted to the rank of private.
Anna Marie Kaschell and Samad Landrum were also charged with
(41:27):
LSD use. The group also faced charges related to lined officers.
Alex Besserra's girlfriend, Anna Marie Koschell, had accompanied the group
that weekend, but Basserah had instructed the others not to
mention her name, afraid that she'd receive disciplinary action. She
was already in trouble for underage drinking from earlier that year.
(41:51):
Sam Moore was charged with conspiracy and making false statements
regarding Enrique's disappearance. He was demoted to specialist. Josh Kerr
was charged with failure to obey a lawful order and
one count of dereliction of duty. It took months before
the group was ordered to stop speaking to one another,
and they broke that order as well, so they claim
(42:13):
they didn't speak to each other about the ongoing investigation.
Grazilda saw Alex Passera, Anna Mariekochelle and Samad Langem in court.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
I just felt nothing but fury towards them, and I
was anger's anger, and I wish the worst on them
with all of my heart and all my life. And
just how they're just living and breathing in my brothers,
my brother's dead. How in the mausoleum that my brother's
(42:48):
in sits just his head. It's a whole casket and
the only thing that's in there is his head and
a uniform without a body. And I looked at them
in their stupid uniforms. There's stupid badges, and there's stupid hats,
and there's stupid boots, and I just think about how
(43:09):
much I hate them, how much I hate their life,
how much I hate They're just living, walking, breathing, laughing
because they can, because they're like and my brother's not.
Speaker 1 (43:24):
Roselda says that the case brought to the courtroom was
all a joke. Lawyers weren't prepared. They were laughing about
how easy it was. It felt like a slap in
the face to Enrique and to his family.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
I couldn't. I could not. I could not believe the
cards that I was dope. I could not believe the
injustice that I felt. That my family's the one suffering
my family. I lost my brother. You could never do
(43:57):
the United States Army could never do any to bring
back my brother to life, bring him back, bring all
his pieces back, because they can't find all his pieces.
They cannot bring him back to me. But and what
they could have done is at least given me a
great team to go to that for my family. And
they couldn't do that. They didn't do that. Why, I
(44:20):
don't know. I think about it all the time. Would
it have really been that difficult for them to do that.
You know, that team didn't have their arguments together that
I mean, he pled guilty to a few of them,
things that you really couldn't say that he didn't do,
(44:42):
and he actually wasn't. I believe there was like eight
things that he was being charged against, and there was
a couple that he won himself, including you know, hiding
the fact that Anacochelle was there, was the fact that
he was the one who told people that leave her.
It just tidying that fact.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
So here we have a group that continuously lied to investigators,
that withheld information, and who, for at least some of them,
used powerful hallucinogenic drugs that weekend. Their loyalty was in
protecting one soldier, Anna Marie Kchelle. Where was their loyalty
to Enrique, their fellow soldier who didn't die during combat,
(45:28):
but was murdered. In January of twenty twenty three, it
was reported that there's an investigation into a dozen soldiers
regarding a legal drug activity at North Carolina's Fort Bragg.
That story is still developing. It's no wonder Griselda has
(45:53):
so much anger over the handling of her brother's case.
She feels that it hasn't been taken seriously. Rather it's
been swept under the rug, and that the army is
more focused on appearances and recruitment anything that would reflect
poorly on the army. They seem like they're trying to
keep out of the news. There appears to be a
(46:15):
lack of urgency to get this gruesome murder solved. And
Enrique deserves more than that. His family deserves to give
him a proper burial, one that includes all of him.
But it wasn't even until December of twenty twenty seven,
months after Enrique's remains were found, that divers were sent
(46:35):
out into the water to search for more evidence. In
November twenty twenty one, after conducting hundreds of interviews, searching
for evidence, executing warrants, the case was officially moved to
cold case status. Nobody has ever been charged for the
murder of Enrique Roman Martinez. Where does his case stand now?
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Case is a gold case now because with all the evidence,
with all the timing, with the sudden witnesses, they couldn't
they couldn't find enough evidence. So my brother's case is
a goal case. Currently, the congresswoman normal tourist, super awesome
who's been helping me, is trying to push a bill,
and the bill is to make a branch or a
(47:21):
section in the military that will work on gold cases
when there's a ton of them. Normally they just get
pushed aside and that's it. There's no justice for those families.
There's a lot of families like mine, So she's trying
to get together a branch that will still work on those.
(47:42):
She's hoping it'll in it. It also includes someone that's
not affiliated with the military to be in the investigation team.
So it's a really cool law that she's trying to pass.
I'll send you the link. But she named it up
after my brother, I enregate Roman Martinez, so you know,
I'm very honored that she did to me. It's about
(48:05):
helping other families like mine. Like I can't tell you
how often I think of my brother. I think of
him every day, I see him, I see parts of
him everywhere. I you know, things remind me of him.
And I think about all the families just like mine
that are doing the same thing. And all we want
(48:27):
is answers. We want justice, So I, you know, urge
people to get their congressmen and women up their area
of their state to help get this through, just like
the Vanessa Gian law that went through the same for
my brother. You know, things starts with us, and I
(48:53):
hope them one day I can get justice. I hope
that one day we'll live in a world where this
would never happen again, where no one has to be
scared to send their kid to the military to be
killed on their homeland by their own colleagues. And on
(49:14):
top of that, just you know, spread my brother's story.
Something had to have happened in North Carolina, on that island,
something had to have happened. And I just want the truth.
That's it. That's all I want. And as long as
people spread the story, you know, if they could tell
at least one person in the story, I just to
(49:34):
tell one more, that'd be awesome for me. We do
have a GoFundMe for our expenses, you know, like when
we travel to North Carolina for you know, briefings or
courtes or anything really and we do currently have a
private investigator as well. And if people can't, you know,
donate turcle fund. It's just as for Enrique.
Speaker 1 (49:55):
Roman Representative Norma Torres Congress Will for California introduced a bill,
the Enrique Roman Martinez Military Cold Case Justice Act of
twenty twenty two. If passed, it will create uniform standards
for military cold cases and established procedures should an investigator
(50:17):
leave the case. What's needed, Torres says, is quote, military
investigators need established processes and procedures for cold cases, including
a process for independent review when necessary. Without them, investigators
cannot be held accountable for failing to move forward with
(50:39):
cases like these. And I will do all I can
to ensure no military family in the United States has
to wait for justice or answers. Please help Griselda and
her family get justice for Enrique. Check the show notes
for today's called Action.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
And him.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
We were pretty close. We talked a lot, and you
just don't expect it when I tell you, I this
caught my whole family. We insighted. It was incredibly difficult.
You know, he only had when this whole thing occurred.
He had three months left to leave the army, you know,
(51:21):
three months, that's it. He had a little countdown on
his phone. The skaters later told me that he had
a countdown. He was counting known the days to go home.
I know he was incredibly homesick, he missed Mom, he
missed you know, you know, this family, his friends here
back at home, and he was just really ready to
leave the military and do something with his life.
Speaker 1 (51:43):
Thank you to Caroselda Martinez for sharing your story with me.
If anyone has any information about the murder of Enrique
Roman Martinez, please contact Army CID's Special Agents at nine
one zero three nine six eight seven seven seven. Persons
who wish to remain anonymous will be honored to the
(52:06):
degree allowable under the law, and the information will be
held in the strictest confidence allowable. To learn more about
Enrique's case, you can visit my friends over at uncovered
dot com to see an interactive map and timeline and
search their database for other cases. Thank you for listening
(52:29):
to this episode of Method and Madness. If you haven't already,
please leave a rating or review, and don't forget to
hit that subscribe button. To connect, I'm on Twitter at
methodpod and on Instagram at Method and Madness Pod to chat,
suggest a case, or discuss the episode. Reach out to
me at Methodimadness Pod at gmail dot com. Methoded Madness
(52:53):
is research, written and hosted by me it is sound.
Edited by Moe and Spoe. That's it for this week.
Until next time, take care of yourself. For crisis support,
text hello to seven four one seven four one
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