Mom of woman found dead in bathtub disputes accused killer’s story

The mother of a woman found slain, partially dismembered and burned in a Las Vegas apartment disputes the picture the accused killer paints of her daughter.

Nathanael Martinez, 21, who faces an open murder charge, told police he inadvertently strangled 25-year-old Marissa Gonzales early May 21 when she pulled a knife, demanding payment from him after they had sex.

He panicked, he told Metro in his arrest report, and put her in a choke hold. He later abandoned separate attempts to dispose of her body, first by chopping off limbs, then by burning.

LaSha Harris, of Hattiesburg, Miss., said she finds Martinez’s story hard to believe. Her daughter had been arrested on a prostitution charge or two, she said, but she intended to disprove the accusations.

“She was just hanging out and [police] thought she was selling,” Harris said.

Metro mainly has Martinez’s story of how Gonzales died.

“We don’t know [what happened], because she’s not here to tell her side of the story,” Harris said. “They’re going off the story of that guy, and that’s not fair to my daughter.”

Gonzales was arrested twice in November on suspicion of soliciting or engaging in prostitution, Metro spokeswoman Laura Meltzer said. She also was arrested in January on one count of trespassing.

Clark County court records showed no open cases against Gonzales.

Police found Gonzales’s body in a bathtub at the Sunwood Village apartment complex, 4020 Arville St., near Gold Coast Casino, under a blanket and a rug. Her left arm was nearly severed, there were cuts on her lower back and back of her left leg, and burns covered her neck and head.

Police said Martinez threw a hammer used to rip the body into a dumpster. He hid Gonzales’ clothes and phone.

Martinez later told police he picked up Gonzalez on the Strip and took her back to his apartment. After choking her, his arrest report said, he dragged Gonzales into his bedroom and went to sleep. He realized she was dead, he said, after he awoke.

Harris said that doesn’t add up.

“I believe she tried to leave and the guy ran up behind her and strangled her to death,” Harris said.

Gonzales was the third of six children who grew up in Beaumont, Calif., about 30 miles southeast of San Bernardino, Harris said. She lived there with her sister and was attending legal studies classes a few miles away at Mt. San Jacinto College. A representative of the school could not confirm whether Gonzales had been a student.

Harris said her daughter had a job working security the last she’d heard.

Martinez is being held without bail in Clark County Detention Center. His next court appearance is set for June 10.

Contact Knowles Adkisson at kadkisson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264. Find him on Twitter: @knowlesadkisson