Woman's Death Was a Total Mystery, Then Police Checked the Last Photo She Took
An Arizona woman who was killed managed to help police find her alleged killer through a photo found on her cellphone.
Pamela Rae Martinez, 60, of Glendale was shot to death on June 11, according to a news release Friday from the Glendale Police Department.
The food delivery worker’s car had drifted off a roadway into a landscaping area around 7:30 that night.
Police said the vehicle was traveling so slowly that no airbag deployed when the car struck an object and stopped.
When officers arrived, Martinez did not respond to them.
Once police were able to open the vehicle, they found she was already dead.
“Through the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Martinez had completed her last food delivery and for some reason took a photograph from her cell phone of a man sitting in his van alongside of her vehicle,” the department said in the release.
Police said they were told by a witness that the van had pulled up next to the vehicle Martinez was driving. The witness said a man standing outside of the vehicle Martinez drove entered the van and drove away.
Shortly after that, Martinez’s vehicle began to roll off the road.
Police said Rusty French, 62, was brought in for questioning four days later after they identified him from the photo.
Rusty French, 62, has been arrested and charged with the murder of Pamela Rae Martinez 60, who was fatally shot on June 11 after making her last food delivery, after victim took photo on phone. according to the Glendale Police Dept. pic.twitter.com/fmnpnNYlVD
— Sumner (@renmusb1) June 27, 2022
“French was confronted with the photograph taken of him moments before Martinez’ was shot and killed,” the department said in the news release.
“He admitted that was him in the photograph but said he must have blacked out as to what occurred,” it said.
Police said a search of French’s home recovered a handgun that was a ballistic match to the gun used in the slaying, and other evidence against French was also gathered.
The news release said he did not know Martinez and she was not making a food delivery to him.
French was arrested on Thursday and faces one charge of second-degree murder.
Police did not reveal any possible motive in the shooting.
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