A suspected killer charged with carrying out nine contract killings in Central California has confessed up to 40 slayings spanning over several decades, a prosecutor said Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Jose Manuel Martinez, 51, allegedly told investigators that he carried out the crimes working as an enforcer for a drug cartel, Errek Jett, the district attorney in Lawrence County, Ala., said.
Looking at the details Martinez has provided, investigators are choosing to take his word, Jett said.
After crossing the border from Mexico into Arizona shortly last year, Martinez was arrested and sent to Alabama, where he will be tried on charges for murder.
However, Martinez is eager to start a June trial in Alabama in order to get back to California, defense attorney Thomas Turner, who represents Martinez in that lone case, said.
"I've found him to be polite and a likable individual," Turner said. "He has a good personality as far as talking with him."
Between 1980 and 2011, Martinez targeted victims in Tulare, Kern and Santa Barbara counties, said Tulare County Assistant District Attorney Anthony Fultz, who filed charges Tuesday.
The victims, who ranged in age from 22 to 56, had six of them killed in Tulare County, two in Kern and one in Santa Barbara, the AP reported.
"In addition to the nine murder counts, Martinez was charged in California with one count of attempted murder and the special circumstances of committing multiple murders, lying in wait and kidnapping," the AP reported. "Four murder charges include the allegation he committed the crime for financial gain, the criminal complaint says."
If he gets convicted in the California charges, Martinez would be eligible for a death sentence.
Although Martinez has been recorded to have committed at least nine killings, Fultz said that he has heard higher figures from across the nation.
"We're actually not sure what the full scope is," Fultz said. "It will depend upon what the investigation shows."
