Wendy Martinez: Murdered Jogger to Be Buried in Wedding Dress She Never Got to Wear
The heartbroken fiance of a woman stabbed to death while jogging in Washington, D.C., described how he popped the question just a week before her murder.
Wendy Karina Martinez, 35, was killed Tuesday in what the D.C. Metro Police Department has called a random attack. Surveillance footage captured her stumbling into a Chinese restaurant, covered in blood, and begging for help. But it was too late and she died shortly after.
Now, she will be buried in the wedding gown she never got the chance to wear, her family said.
Daniel Hincapie, who had just proposed to Martinez a week earlier at the famous Spanish Steps in Washington, said he was devastated by her death.
Sobbing on a friend's shoulder at a candlelight vigil for Martinez, Hincapie recalled his proposal.
"It was perfect. I was in heaven," he told Inside Edition.
He added: "I want her to be remembered as a dynamic, joyful, happy person that was here for friends ... for everyone."
Martinez's grieving mother, Cora Martinez, also spoke out at the vigil, saying she forgives the man accused of killing her daughter.
"My heart has been broken in a thousand pieces, but I forgive that man," she said. "There is no room in my heart for any hate."
Police arrested 23-year-old Anthony Crawford in connection with the stabbing Thursday morning. He was charged with first-degree murder while armed.
Court documents filed by the prosecution say Crawford was an avid user of the synthetic drug K2, which has been known to put its users into a violent, zombie-like state.
Martinez was an avid runner, often running miles across the city at a time, her family said in a statement.
"Wendy Karina Martinez was the light of our lives. Not only was she an avid runner, but she was a devout Christian, a wonderful friend, and a driven professional — everything you hope that a daughter and a friend could be," the statement read.
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