Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
Two more months and 22-year-old Liette “Lola” Martinez might have been home with her family in New Mexico.
Martinez, a graphic arts major at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, was found stabbed to death in her campus dorm room Friday morning.
Police arrested Tina Loraine Morris, 36, of Fort Wayne, on preliminary charges of murder and auto theft Saturday in Martinez’s death.
The Allen County Coroner’s Office declared Martinez’s death a homicide Saturday and said she died from excessive loss of blood because of a stab wound.
It’s the 13th homicide in the county this year and the 11th since mid-March.
Police have not made arrests or named suspects in any of the other homicides this year.
Martinez’s father, Gabriel Martinez, said his only child was in Fort Wayne as part of an exchange program between IPFW and New Mexico State University.
He described her as an “awesome” artist and a good person.
She was planning to return to Las Cruces, N.M., in June, though she had enjoyed Fort Wayne so much that she was considering spending the summer here, her father said.
“She made great friends with everybody instantly,” Gabriel Martinez said.
Before Saturday’s arrest, police had told the family they were searching for a woman who is related to one of Martinez’s roommates for questioning, Gabriel Martinez said.
Indianapolis police detained Morris on Saturday, and Fort Wayne detectives traveled there to pick her up. They had aired a bulletin among law enforcement agencies Friday night saying they were looking for Morris, who was driving Martinez’s car, for questioning.
Police were not confirming what relationship, if any, Morris had to Martinez or her roommates and were not releasing information about a possible motive Saturday.
Gabriel Martinez said his daughter called the family almost daily and had told them about the last homicide in the city – the April 6 shooting death of Frederick Jones, 19, another IPFW student, who died at an off-campus party.
Martinez, her father said, was concerned about the violence but was comfortable with the people she hung out with and was not scared.
“It’s unbelievable, unrealistic,” Gabriel Martinez said. “Everybody is shocked.”
On the social networking site
MySpace.com, Martinez wrote blogs about being angry over the recent Hollywood writers strike, posted pictures of herself with friends, pictures of her artwork and answers to some surveys.
In one survey, the question “how do you want to die?” was asked. Martinez responded by writing “in a really cool tragic way as long as I don’t take anyone down with me.”
She described herself as being sweet and fun and wrote: “I love movies, music and dancing. I like to ride on the back of Motorcycles (all kinds). I want my own bike. I like to party and I love to sleep.”
Friends left messages of loss and sadness on Martinez’s MySpace page.
Gabriel Martinez said his daughter’s body will be transported to New Mexico early this week for burial.
aslutsky@jg.net
