The mother of a murdered New Hope man says the woman who allegedly helped dispose of her son’s remains is pretending to be a victim to get sympathy before her trial.
In a letter her daughter passed on to The Dispatch, Mary Sanchez, the mother of Manuel Vasquez, condemned Vasquez’s mother-in-law, Lydia Martinez, following Martinez’s release from the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center on bond and subsequent interviews with news outlets. Sanchez claims Martinez burned Vasquez’s body and did not alert law enforcement to his murder even though she had 31 days to do so before authorities discovered human remains in Vasquez’s yard and arrested Martinez and Vasquez’s wife, Christina, for the June 24 slaying of Vasquez.
“She knows what she is facing and now has to play victim,” Sanchez said in the letter. “She now has to use anyone she can to keep her(self) free! She played a huge part in burning my son…she then kept it a secret until she couldn’t no more. Until she and her demented daughter got caught.”
In an interview with The Dispatch published Sunday, Martinez said she only helped Christina Vasquez dispose of Manuel Vasquez’s body because Christina threatened to kill Manuel’s three children and Martinez.
Sanchez said that if Martinez was really that afraid of Christina, she would not have stayed in the house with her.
“She is quoted as saying her daughter is a ‘mad woman,’ so why would she continue to live in a home with her daughter who is threatening to kill her and children a day, a week, much less a month after the crime?” the letter says.
The letter goes on to say that Martinez let Manuel’s children think their father had abandoned them because he was into drugs.
“You are just trying to play the poor little old lady victim card,” the letter says. “Well I don’t believe it for one second because you had chance after chance to get away.”
The letter ended with a note to Manuel, which said the family loves him and misses him every day.
Manuel and Christina Vasquez’s daughter, Alexia Vasquez, 19, previously told The Dispatch that she and her two brothers do not condemn Martinez for her role in their father’s murder. Alexia said she and her brothers believe Martinez was saving their lives by not alerting authorities to Manuel’s slaying.
Manuel Vasquez’s remains were discovered on July 22, almost a month after authorities with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office say his wife shot him. Christina Vasquez has been charged with murder and domestic violence aggravated assault for allegedly attempting to poison Martinez with anti-freeze. She remains in the Lowndes County Detention Facility.
Martinez has been charged with accessory after the fact and is out on bond and staying with family in Colorado.
Both women’s trials have been tentatively set for February.
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