NESPELEM, Wash – A man called 911 Thursday and admitted killing his girlfriend and her son on the Colville Reservation.
Court documents say Damian Todd Martinez called 911 and said his wife had been cheating on him and he had just killed her and her 17-year-old son.
He did not offer any proof that his suspicions were true.
He later said he was not married to the victim, but that they were in a long-term relationship and planned to get marry.
He told dispatchers he stabbed them both in the neck.
When Colville Tribal Police arrived on the scene, they found Martinez covered in blood and found both victims.
Martinez told investigators the child came home sick from school that day.
Court documents say Martinez told police he went into the boy’s room around 4:00 and the boy was sleeping. He said he woke the boy up and stabbed him in the throat.
He said the woman came home around 6:00 and accused her of cheating on him. Martinez said she denied the allegations and did not know what had already happened to her son.
Martinez said the woman was sitting on the couch and he walked over and stabbed her multiple times.
The victim had another child, a daughter, who was not home at the time.
When police asked Martinez what he would have done if she was home and he said he didn’t know.
Martinez described himself as a “father figure” to the children.
He also admitted he had a history of assaulting the woman.
Martinez faces two counts of first degree murder.
The Colville Business Council identified the woman killed as Laura Dick, a clerk for Colville Tribal Court.
“Our community is deeply grieving the loss of two of our own in what appears to be a senseless act of violence,” said Jarred-Michael Erickson, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. “When I think of Laura, I will think of her warm spirit and a smile that could truly light up any room.”
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