A man in California is suspected of working as a contract killer, responsible for the murder of nine people over a period of decades, the Washington Post reported.
Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, allegedly killed people in Tulare, Kern, and Santa Barbara counties from 1980 to 2011, according to Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Fultz. On Tuesday, he was charged with nine murders.
Martinez went back and forth from Richgrove, located about 40 miles north of Bakersfield. He is currently being held in Alabama as he awaits trial for a 2013 murder and is also wanted in Florida for two murders in 2006, the Post said.
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told the Fresno Bee that authorities are trying to investigate if he was a part of local, unsolved murders.
Martinez's attorney in Alabama, Michael Terry, has not commented on the investigations.
If he is convicted in the California charges, Martinez could be sentenced to death.
Fultz alleges Martinez killed six people in Tulare County, two in Kern, and one in Santa Barbara, though he did not disclose how much he believes Martinez was paid. According to investigators, the ages of the victims range from 22 to 65.
California investigators received significant information from Alabama authorities after Martinez was arrested in June 2013. Fultz said Tulare detectives have visited Alabama three times so far.
"They were able to then piece together the various murder cases we have filed," he told the Post.
In addition to the murder charges, Martinez also faces charges of attempted murder and the special circumstances of committing multiple murders, lying in wait, kidnapping, and murder for financial gain.
