Valentin Onofre Martinez, 31, was fatally stabbed in San Juan Capistrano on Oct. 7 while walking back to his children with snacks and drinks. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, and no arrests had been made when the case was reported.
Martinez was stabbed multiple times around 8:10 p.m. near Calle Santa Barbara and Los Rios Street. Police detained several people at the scene, but investigators had not announced an arrest.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office case
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office ruled the killing a homicide and assigned its Homicide and Gang Enforcement Team to the investigation. That puts detectives on a path built around witness accounts, scene evidence, and the question of who was involved, while the public-facing result so far is a homicide case with no arrest.
Mia, Martinez’s fiancée and the mother of his three children, said he worked at Home Depot and had taken the children to the park before going to get them drinks and snacks. She said she had to tell the children, ages 3, 5, and 7, that their father would not come home with them.
Mia after the stabbing
“When I got here, everything was already completely blocked off with the caution tape. Hundreds of police.”
She also said, “They just keep asking for their dad. When is daddy coming back? And I just have to keep telling them that he’s not coming back,” and added, “I need the answers because I’m just not going to be able to move past it and find closure or anything until I have all the answers and for them as well because they’re going to need answers too,”
Mia said, “They’re trying to paint this as something that it’s not, which is gang-related. And if it is then it’s only on one side and it’s not his side,” while the sheriff’s office assigned the case to its Homicide and Gang Enforcement Team. That leaves the investigation with two live threads: the homicide finding and the unresolved question of what led to the stabbing and who is responsible.
