A Vermont man pleaded not guilty in court Friday afternoon to the murder of an 82-year-old neighbor who went missing last week from her Enosburgh home and was found dead on Sunday.
Vermont State Police announced Thursday that 23-year-old Darren Martell, who had been living with neighbors directly next door to Roberta Martin, had been charged with aggravated murder in Martin’s death.
Judge Robert Katims on Friday agreed with prosecutors to hold 23-year-old Darren Martell without bail, VTDigger reported.
Charging documents say that Martell raped and killed Roberta Martin on July 17 and then burned her remains on property where an acquaintance told police Martell was growing marijuana.
Detectives found human remains there on Sunday, along a trail into the woods about 3/4 mile from the missing woman’s home. More remains were found nearby, and they “appeared to be burned,” police said.
Vermont State Police said the remains were found at about 11 a.m., as CrimeOnline reported. She had been reported missing from her home of 24 years four days earlier by neighbors who had been unable to located her.
In an affidavit filed with Martell’s arrest, Vermont State Police Det. Sgt. Tyson Kinney wrote that neighbors found Martin’s sliding door open and an air conditioning unit pulled out of the window, VTDigger said. Her bed was unmade and a dresser drawer was left open.
“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.
Investigators moved in and found duct tape on the floor and “dolly cart” tracks leading to a neighboring property.
Detectives interviewed neighbors, including Martell, who was living in a camper on a nearby property. When they returned the next day, Kinney wrote, they found “several pieces of gray duct tape” near a firepit that Martell had cleaned out.
Martell initially told investigators that he lived in Grand Isle and had come to Enosburgh at about 8 a.m. on July 17, but he quickly changed that story after police learned that another neighbor had seen a man walking along the road at about 4 a.m. that morning, wearing what appeared to be the same clothing Martell was wearing during the police interview.
“Darren advised he had lied to detectives and admitted that he had been living in the camper” for the last two months, the affidavit said.
After the discovery of the remains, a medical examiner confirmed them to belong to Martin, the affidavit said. On Thursday, the state lab reported that sperm DNA from the victim’s body matched Martell.
Martell was charged with murder late Thursday night. He had been in custody on a lewd and lascivious conduct charge since he was found committing a lewd act on a trail on Monday.
In court on Friday, his public defender, Rosanna Chase, tried to argue there was no evidence of murder since the medical examiner had not yet provided a cause of death, and then she drew groans and gasps from Martin’s family and friends in the courtroom when she suggested Martell could have had consensual sex with the victim.
“Additionally, while there is a probable cause for a sexual act based on the DNA, within the four corners of the affidavit there’s no evidence of non-consensual sex,” Chase said.
Franklin County State’s Attorney Bram Kranichfeld told the court an additional affidavit would be filed “soon” with the cause of death. The judge removed a reference to Martin having been killed by “smothering and blunt trauma” from the charging documents but said there ample evidence to support the murder charge.
Both the prosecutor and state police declined to comment when asked if additional charges would be filed.
Martell faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
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[Featured image: Roberta Martin/Vermont State Police]
