Man sentenced in 2022 killing of U.S. Army vet Cesar Martinez on Bangerter Highway

Derick Fox
·2 min read

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — One man has been sentenced for the murder of Cesar Martinez, a U.S. Army veteran whose body was found on the side of Bangerter Highway near 8000 South in 2022.

Mario Alberto Carreto-Morales was sentenced to 15 years to life for the first-degree felony murder of Martinez. He was also sentenced to 15 years to life for the first-degree felony kidnapping of a second victim.

Both sentences will be served consecutively, making Carreto-Morales’ minimum sentence 30 years to life.

Martinez served in the U.S. Army as a Staff Sergeant. He did four combat tours, severing during both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

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“The vicious murder of a U.S. veteran who served multiple tours in the Middle East left many in our community shocked,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “We hope the defendant’s significant sentence will help Mr. Martinez’s family and our community begin to heal.”

According to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Carreto-Morales and his co-defendant, Raul Jaimes Cortez, met Martinez for the first time in a parking lot in West Valley. The two asked Martinez for a ride to Cortez’s apartment in Magna, which Martinez agreed to.

After the ride, the three spent time talking in Cortez’s apartment. When Martinez was getting ready to leave, the District Attorney’s Office said Carreto-Morales told Cortez he wanted to rob Martinez.

“Mr. Martinez had been drinking, so the co-defendants told him they could give him a ride home in his truck, and he allowed them to do so,” The DA’s Office said in a press release.

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While the three were in the truck, Carreto-Morales put a metal wire around Martinez’s neck and stabbed him multiple times. When Martinez opened the door to escape, Carreto-Morales pushed him out and the two left the scene.

Weeks later, Carreto-Morales and his co-defendant Cortez kidnapped and robbed another victim in Park City, forcing them to an ATM and pull out money.

Cortez’s case continues to be an active prosecution, according to the Salt Lake County DA’s Office.

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