Cheyenne Woman Arrested In 1988 Homicide Case

A 57-year-old Cheyenne woman, Eva Martinez, was arrested on Tuesday on 1st Degree Homicide charges in connection with a cold case dating back to 1988 according to a news release from the Laramie County Sheriff's Office.

Background Of Case

Sheriff's Office spokesman Brandon Warner says that on Feb. 28, 1988 deputies were called to Happy Jack Road and McKinney Drive on a report of a dead infant.

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An autopsy found that the baby was a fully developed, full-term 6.5 pound baby boy. The autopsy didn't identify any kind of injury, disease or congenital anomaly. Because air was found in the baby's lungs and stomach the autopsy determined that that the baby had been alive for a period of time.

Investigators at that time were not able to identify a cause or manner of death.

LCSO investigators continued to look into the case as a possible homicide over the next 38 years, using DNA testing, out of state labs and other resources. Despite those efforts, they were not able to find out who the baby's parents were.

The case, as well as the baby, came to be known as Laramie County Baby John Doe.

The release goes on to say "In 2021, the LCSO partnered with Othram Inc. Othram is a laboratory that specializes in Forensic Genetic Genealogy. Othram's work on the case identified several individuals who were potentially related to Baby John Doe, which helped further the investigation"

https://othram.com/

Warner says the leads in the case that Othram helped identify led to the identification of Martinez, who was then arrested.

The release also says "The Laramie County Coroner’s Office, along with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) information and analysis team, also played a role in bringing this case to a resolution.

DCI’s crime lab did an exhaustive amount of work on the case over the years. From helping process the scene in 1988, to testing various pieces of evidence and continued DNA testing over the years, the state lab exhausted all available DNA resources they had available at the time with each test. It’s fitting that the Wyoming State Crime Lab performed the final DNA testing that helped complete the case."

Anyone with information on the case is being asked to call Detective Sgt. Ryan Martinez at (307) 633-4763.