Woman convicted of fatally striking a man 80 times with a hatchet

Police officers who found Ramon Martinez dead in a Central Avenue motel room in 2023 wrote that he had been “disfigured” by “numerous lacerations to his head, face, neck, back, arms and hands.”

A jury on Monday found Angel Leann Salazar, 40, guilty of killing Martinez by striking him at least 80 times with a hatchet on Sept. 5, 2023.

The 2nd Judicial District Court jury found Salazar guilty of first-degree felony murder and tampering with evidence in Martinez’s killing.

Salazar faces a minimum of 30 years in prison at a sentencing hearing scheduled Oct. 16 before Judge Courtney Weaks.

Security video from the motel showed a man and woman entering Martinez’s motel room together, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The identity of the man who entered the room remains unknown, it said.

Martinez was outside his room when he was approached by a “light-complected, adult male” pulling a piece of rolling luggage and an adult Hispanic female, police wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit.

The three spoke briefly before entering Martinez’s room, the affidavit said. As he entered, the unknown male retrieved what appeared to be brass knuckles from his pocket, it said.

The man and woman exited the motel room about 30 minutes later with Martinez’s belongings, the affidavit said. Police also found bloody footprints on the walkway leading away from Martinez’s room.

Salazar was identified by a “concerned witness,” who viewed surveillance video, as the woman who entered Martinez’s room, according to the affidavit.

Salazar was later arrested at the Double Tree Hotel in the 200 block of Marquette NW, it said.

Martinez’s daughter later issued a statement on the website “Give A Hand,” describing her father as “a disable(d) vet who loved helping other(s) and loved life.”

The daughter was attempting to raise reward money for leads leading to the capture of the unidentified man who is “still on the run,” according to the website.