By: Yuritza Arroyo
Atlantic County authorities announced that on Monday, June 19, Francisco Martinez, 53, after an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw his guilty plea, was sentenced to 20 years in New Jersey State Prison in the domestic stabbing of his former girlfriend, Patricia Boney, that occurred back on February 25, 1994.
According to officials, after the slaying of Ms. Boney, Martinez fled in her 1982 Camaro, which was discovered in Houston, Texas, on March 8, 1994.
Officials said it is believed that he crossed the border into Mexico, where he successfully hid under an assumed identity for over twenty-five years.
On February 25, 1994, Martinez went to 111 N. Harding Highway in Buena Borough to confront Boney, who had moved on from him and had no desire to reunite.
Martinez stabbed her over seventeen times in front of their one-and-a-half-year-old child while Boney lay in her bed.
According to the authorities, he quickly fled the scene using Boney’s vehicle. Boney’s nine and eleven-year-old children found her lying in bed with their baby brother covered in blood and called 911.
Responding officers were able to speak to Boney, who identified Martinez as her killer before she died.
Police said an autopsy that was performed later that day noted multiple defensive wounds on her arms and hands as well as a four-and-a-half-inch wound that penetrated her heart.
Martinez remained one of New Jersey’s most wanted fugitives for years and was once featured on “America’s Most Wanted.”
Detectives from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the authorities in Mexico, located Martinez living and working in the Sinaloa region.
Utilizing all diplomatic channels available, the United States Marshal’s Office, Interpol, and the U.S. Department of State located and extradited Martinez back from Mexico to New Jersey last year to answer for the charges.