El Paso woman accused of murder in shooting of cheating husband after knife assault claim
Two days after Christmas, El Paso police responded to a 911 call from a woman who had allegedly shot and killed her husband at a South-Central home.
Luz Elena Martinez, 54, told police that she fatally shot her husband, Jose Luis Avalos Reyes, 47, because he allegedly attacked her with a knife after raping her, according to a police criminal complaint affidavit.
When police officers entered the home, Reyes lay dead on a bed with a knife by his his left hand. He had been shot more than once, stated the affidavit filed by an El Paso police homicide detective.
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The shooting occurred around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 27 at a home in the 400 block of French Place, near Delta Park.
On March 11, after a police homicide investigation, a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested Martinez on Alameda Avenue near Fox Plaza on a warrant on a murder charge for allegedly killing Reyes, police officials said.
Martinez is being held under a $500,000 bond at the El Paso County Jail Annex. She does not have a lawyer listed on court records.
A deadly shooting in December
When police officers responding to the 911 call arrived, they found Martinez sitting inside a dark blue taxi van parked outside the home on French Place. She was accompanied by three people, the complaint affidavit stated.
Martinez told police that she had been raped and then asked for a lawyer.
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Inside the home, Reyes was dead on a bed. A pistol was on a nightstand next to the bed, police noted.
The investigation allegedly discovered other inconsistencies in the account that Martinez had given. She allegedly told witnesses that she shot Reyes, the affidavit stated.
Detectives learned that Martinez phoned a relative at 4:27 a.m. after the shooting before calling 911 at 4:39 a.m., the affidavit stated.
'He came at me with a knife so I shot him'
A sexual assault evidence kit was done on Martinez by a sexual assault nurse examiner. Martinez had told the nurse, "at one point he came at me with a knife so I shot him, then he stood up with the knife and I shot him again," the affidavit stated. The affidavit does not say whether Martinez was actually sexually assaulted.
According to the affidavit, evidence at the scene indicated that Reyes was lying down on the bed when he was shot at a close distance, contradicting what Martinez had told the nurse, alleging that he stood up with the knife.
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The knife was by Reyes' left hand, but detectives later found out that he was right handed, detectives noted.
As the investigation continued, detectives learned that Martinez had discovered that Reyes was having an extramarital affair, the affidavit stated. Martinez had hired a private investigator to follow her husband and she had also hired a divorce lawyer.
Detectives alleged that Martinez intentionally shot and killed her husband after learning about the affair.
Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; @BorundaDaniel on X, formerly Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso woman killed cheating husband, lied of attack, police say
