Police ask for help finding person of interest in possible gay hate crime in San Jose
publication date: Dec 30, 2009
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author/source: Valeria Weber/Examiner.com
The circumstances of the death of Norma Leticia Martinez are being further investigated: police are looking for Jennifer Bautista, the ex-girlfriend of the 20-year-old San Jose woman who was recently beaten and may have been dragged by a car before her death.
Currently, police have ruled the young woman’s death as “suspicious” and not a homicide, but they are interested in talking to her 19-year-old ex-girlfriend all the same. They have attempted to reach Bautista at her apartment in Sunnyvale without success and are asking for the public’s help to find her.
Known as “Letty,” Martinez was found dying early yesterday morning in front of the neighborhood Catholic church on Michigan Avenue in the Alviso area. Discovered by a neighbor, her clothes and belongings were scattered over two blocks, just down the street from Bautista’s residence.
Nena Estrada spoke Tuesday. She said: "We had seen my sister's shoe and her shirt in the middle of the street, and they were saying there was a girl in front of the church with a tattoo 'Jennifer' on her."
Estrada and the rest of Letty’s family are upset that the police did not inform them which hospital Letty was taken to.
Says Estrada: "They could've told my mom, you know what I mean? They could've told her that her daughter was at this hospital. They could've just took her to be there with my sister. My sister died at 10:00 alone with no one there with her."
Police believe an altercation took place between Martinez and Bautista, and that Martinez was dragged by a moving car to where she was found early Monday morning. They are saying that Martinez and Bautista had a fight outside Martinez’s home early in the morning and they want to know what happened between then and the time of Martinez’s death.
The Estrada family believes it was murder either due to domestic violence or a hate crime perpetrated by Bautista’s family.
Says Estrada of Bautista’s family: "They didn't like my sister because they said my sister turned their sister gay. Yeah. It had to do with my sister being a lesbian. My sister can't turn anyone lesbian. If you're a lesbian you're a lesbian. We accepted my sister the way she was."
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