23YO Vermont Man Raped & Kills 82YO, Burns Her Body

[Sugar Cookie]

The man charged with aggravated murder in last week’s death of 82-year-old Roberta Martin allegedly sexually assaulted the Enosburgh woman before killing her and disposing of her burned remains about three-quarters of a mile from her home, according to court documents.

Darren Martell, 23, pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon in Franklin County Superior criminal court in St. Albans on the charge of aggravated murder in Martin’s death. Judge Robert Katims granted a prosecutor’s request to hold Martell without bail.

In a four-page affidavit filed in support of the aggravated murder charge, Vermont State Police Det. Sgt. Tyson Kinney spelled out details of the investigation. It began the morning of July 17 when neighbors, alerted by the victim’s daughter, went to the Butternut Hollow Road home to check on Martin. She last spoke with her daughter late in the evening on July 16.

The neighbors reported finding an open sliding door and an air conditioning unit ripped from the window, along with an unmade bed and a dresser drawer left open, but no sign of Martin.

“They advised this was very abnormal for Roberta because she was a very tidy and regimented individual who typically kept to the same schedule every day,” Kinney wrote.

Police also found duct tape on the floor of the bedroom and “dolly cart” tracks leading from the house to a neighboring property, Kinney wrote.

That same day, state police interviewed neighbors, including Martell, who was staying at a camper parked on a nearby property. Returning to the same property a day later, detectives found “several pieces of gray duct tape on the ground near one of the fire pits that was cleaned out by Darren the day before,” Kinney wrote.

A post-mortem exam the following day confirmed the remains were those of Martin, according to the affidavit, and additional evidence was collected for testing. On July 25, the state forensic lab notified state police it had “preliminarily determined” that a DNA sample of sperm taken from the victim’s body matched DNA taken from Martell, the affidavit said.

In charging documents, Deputy State’s Attorney Diane Wheeler wrote that Martell “on or about July 17, 2024, was then and there a person who murdered another human being while perpetrating sexual assault, to wit: unlawfully killed ROBERTA MARTIN…”

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Man arraigned in sexual assault and murder of 82-year-old Enosburgh woman - VTDigger

A police affidavit said Darren Martell, 23, had recently been living in a camper at a residence near the home of Roberta Martin, whose burned remains were found in a nearby wooded area four days after she was reported missing.

vtdigger.org

 

[Alxprkrkrls]

The public defender who said that the rape was consensual must’ve thrown up after making that argument.

 

[McDanel]

The public defender who said that the rape was consensual must’ve thrown up after making that argument.

One would hope.
I've reluctantly come to believe there is no age at which a woman is safe from sexual assault.

 

[thuumpr]

One would hope.
I've reluctantly come to believe there is no age at which a woman is safe from sexual assault.

He'll discover that he's not safe from sexual assault either... With frequent reminders.

 

[Alxprkrkrls]

One would hope.
I've reluctantly come to believe there is no age at which a woman is safe from sexual assault.

Before I was born my mom’s grandmother was raped in her home. Tied up with phone cords and the perpetrator threw a mattress on top of her. She laid there for over 24, her neighbor noticed her lights hadn’t turned on or off and called the police. She was in her 80’s when this happened and they never caught the guy.