The mother of a 10-year-old New Mexico girl who was brutally murdered last month allegedly told authorities that she sought out men to sexually assault her daughter because she liked watching the attacks.
Search warrants obtained by the Associated Press show that Michelle Martens, 35, told police she had solicited three men online and at work to sexually assault her daughter, Victoria Martens, before the little girl was killed in what a police chief described as the “most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career.”
Victoria was drugged, sexually assaulted, strangled, stabbed to death, dismembered before being wrapped in a burning blanket inside her family’s Albuquerque apartment, authorities said. Her mother was charged in connection with the death.
Martens allegedly told authorities she didn’t set up the encounters for money but because she enjoyed watching, according to the AP.
[AP]
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Why Trump’s Message Worked on Latino Men
- What Trump’s Win Could Mean for Housing
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Sleep Doctors Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives
- Column: Let’s Bring Back Romance
- What It’s Like to Have Long COVID As a Kid
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Contact us at letters@time.com