The attorney for a man charged in the 2019 disappearance of a pregnant teenager from Amador County will seek bail for his client during a September hearing.
Joshua Martinez, who was indicted in February by a San Joaquin County grand jury for the murder of 16-year-old Victoria Marquina, was arrested on March 12 by the U.S. Marshals Service in Livermore.
He is charged with murder, unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than three years younger than him, oral copulation with a person younger than 18 and sexual penetration by a foreign object with a person younger than 18.
At a July 28 hearing in a Stockton courtroom, defense attorney Allen Sawyer requested a bail hearing for Sept. 14. The judge granted the request.
“We have not had a bail hearing in this matter,” Sawyer said. “Discovery has been concluded, so now I believe I am in a position to argue to the court that my client deserves bail.”
Sawyer told The Record that his client is a married father who has “rebuilt his life since these allegations first arose many years ago.”
“He looks forward to putting this matter behind him and welcomes the opportunity for the facts to come to light,” Sawyer said. “On Sept. 14, we will ask the court to allow him to defend himself against these allegations while remaining out of custody.”
The disappearance of Victoria Marquina
Marquina was last seen alive nearly six years ago on Oct. 9, 2019, near her job in Amador County.
On Oct. 10, 2019, Marquina’s mother, Blanca Valencia, reported her daughter missing in Sutter Creek. Two days later, the teenager’s car was found abandoned near Escalon in San Joaquin County.
Valencia told a sheriff’s deputy that her daughter did not return home on Oct. 5, 2019, after attending a concert in Sacramento. Valencia said she was unable to contact her daughter by phone.
The following day, Oct. 6, 2019, she found Marquina’s vehicle parked near Main Street in Sutter Creek. Valencia said she waited near the vehicle for her daughter to return and eventually confronted her about not coming home.
The mother and daughter argued, and the daughter eventually left after telling Valencia she was moving out. Marquina was supposed to return home to retrieve her belongings but never did, according Valencia.
Marquina’s mother said she called and sent her daughter several messages after Oct. 6, 2019, but her daughter did not respond.
Valencia also told authorities that Marquina had recently met a Modesto man whom deputies later identified as Martinez. He was 21 at the time of Marquina’s disappearance.
Martinez, who had a Livingston address, said he saw Marquina and dropped her off in Sutter Creek on the morning of Oct. 6, 2019. He said it was the last time he had seen Marquina.
A return on a search warrant stated that Amador County Deputy Bettencourt contacted Marquina’s phone provider to request an attempt to locate the teenager’s phone. The return on a search warrant stated that the phone provider determined the phone’s last activity, or “ping,” occurred at 7:55 p.m. Oct. 9, 2019, in a field just south of 11585 Livingston Cressey Road in Livingston.
Neither Marquina nor her phone were found in the area, according to the return on a search warrant.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said the teen was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Martinez previously was arrested in 2020 on suspicion of Marquina’s murder but was released because of a lack of evidence.
Record reporter Victoria Franco covers public safety in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at vfranco@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Man charged in Victoria Marquina murder seeks bail hearing
Reporting by Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record / The Record
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By Victoria Franco, The Stockton Record | USA TODAY Network
