Judge Cox Binds Murder Case to Grand Jury After Preliminary Hearing

October 11, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

The man who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death with a hammer last month made an appearance in DeKalb County General Sessions Court Tuesday.

A preliminary hearing was held for 35-year-old Simon Rodriguez Martinez charged with first degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Yuri Guerra. The incident occurred at the couple’s trailer home at 620 South Mountain Street on September 21.

Following the 25-minute hearing, Judge Brandon Cox found probable cause to bind the case to the next term of the DeKalb County Grand Jury on December 6th. Bond for Martinez has now been set by Criminal Court Judge Wesley Bray at $2 million.

District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway, who was present for the hearing, said afterward that prosecutors have not yet decided on the punishment to be sought against Martinez in the case.

The only witness to testify during the hearing Tuesday was TBI special agent Brandon Davenport, who was summoned to the scene the morning of the killing. He was questioned by Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong and Assistant Public Defender Allison West about what the investigation has revealed.

Martinez, who apparently doesn’t speak English, sat quietly in the courtroom near the assistant public defender who represented him and an interpreter who was translating for him during Davenport’s testimony.

Davenport said he questioned Martinez after the killing, and he admitted getting into a domestic dispute with Guerra over allegations of infidelity. According to Davenport, Martinez claims to have pushed Guerra down during the struggle and that she grabbed the hammer and struck him with it. Martinez claims he then took the hammer away from Guerra and struck her once. Davenport said Martinez’s version of the story is not supported by the evidence in that the condition of Guerra’s body shows multiple blows to her head. After the killing, Martinez allegedly admitted to taking a shower and throwing away his bloody clothes. Three children were present in the home at the time of the killing and the oldest, a 14-year-old witnessed the attack and gave a statement to investigators.

The following is a summary of TBI special agent Davenport’s testimony during questioning by Assistant D.A. Strong (CAUTION: SOME OF THE ACCOUNTS OF THE TESTIMONY ARE DISTURBING)

Strong: “What steps did you take when you arrived on the scene that morning?”

Davenport: “My initial response to the scene was information gathering of the responding officers that initially responded to a domestic disturbance at that address. After receiving all that information, I drafted a search warrant and went and had that search warrant signed to enter that residence and conduct a crime scene investigation”.

Strong: “When you entered the residence, what did you find?”

Davenport: “This is a mobile home residence. It has an attached wood porch on the front of it. Going up on the front porch entering the front door, as is typical in mobile homes, the front section of the front door has a small strip of linoleum followed by carpet into the living room and immediately to the right of this living room is the kitchen which also has a linoleum style floor. Immediately walking in I was able to look down at the strip of linoleum immediately in front of that front door and see what appeared to be what I would describe as reddish-brown stain or RBS in splatter formation on that linoleum as well as RBS staining immediately behind that in the carpeted area. Walking on in and looking to your immediate right, is the kitchen of that home where a deceased female lay face up in that kitchen covered partially with a pink and purple floral type blanket or comforter partially exposed by the head and the hand”.

Strong: “From your training and experience, what is an RBS stain?”

Davenport: “Typically RBS is consistent with blood”.

Strong: “When you found a body what did you do?”

Davenport: “Immediately we processed the remainder of that scene moving toward examining the deceased female later found to be Yuri Guerra. Looking directly at her who was face up, there was a significant amount of head trauma and what I would describe as blood pooling around the head of the deceased consistent with coming from that injured area”.

Strong: “Through your training and experience that head trauma with the scene as you found it, that was how she died so to speak?”

Davenport: “Consistent with that scene, yes it was”.

Strong: “What did you do next?”

Davenport: “At that point throughout the residence and working the scene, documentation and photographs are taken and the representative of the medical examiner’s office will come in after the initial assessment of the scene and look for further investigation of the body where she will be later transported for an autopsy?”

Strong: “Did you examine her head area?”

Davenport: “Yes I did”

Strong: “You concluded that she died of blunt force trauma?”

Davenport: “Yes, consistent with her injuries, significant head trauma to the top base of the scalp around the crown area, you can visually see that parts of her skull were no longer intact. Visually looking there was bio-matter protruding from this injury. That would be consistent with brain matter for the area of injury. Pieces of that same consistent bio-matter can be found matted into the wet and bloody hair. That same bio-matter can be seen on her clothing”

Strong: “Did you search for some type of murder weapon?”

Davenport: “Yes, we did”

Strong: “Were you able to find anything?”

Davenport: “Yes, on the front porch of the residence we found a yellow and black claw style hammer and that hammer had been placed out on the front porch onto a single paper towel and on that hammer visually looking at it there is RBS on the entire ball and claw of the hammer as well as coming downward toward the handle. Additionally on the claw of the hammer are items consistent with dark and black in color hair wrapped around the claw tines”.

Strong: “Otherwise, what did the scene look like?”

Davenport: “In the kitchen, examining the walls, cabinetry, and the ceiling there was a lot of what would be described as castoff which is consistent with the reddish-brown staining in a pattern usually slung with some kind of force. In this instance when the hammer made contact with Guerra the reddish-brown staining from the hammer as well as the blood from her injury would be slung in outward patterns which would in turn go to the ceiling, cabinetry and other objects in the room”.

Strong: “Did it appear that anyone had tried to clean part of the scene?”

Davenport: “Yes. On the table, floors, and part of the countertops there were swipe patterns where it looked like someone had attempted to clean up the blood pool”.

Strong: “Did you interview Mr. Martinez?”

Davenport: “Yes I did at the Smithville Police Department”

Strong: “What did he say to you about the incident?”

Davenport: “He ultimately admitted to me that he and Ms. Guerra were in an argument over infidelity and that argument led to him pushing her where she fell backwards and hit her head on some cabinetry. During this interview, he said she had tried to strike him with a hammer, and he then told me he took that hammer from her and admitted to striking her one time in the head with the hammer”.

Strong: “He said she hit him?”

Davenport: “Correct”.

Strong: “Did he show you on what part of his body that he claimed she had hit him?”

Davenport: “Yes, Mr. Rodriguez Martinez lifted his shirt and showed me an area just underneath his right shoulder blade and told me that would be where he believed that she had struck him with a hammer”.

Strong: “Did you see any evidence of her hitting him with that hammer?”

Davenport: “There was no evidence of any markings on his body. No redness. No abrasions and no discolorations consistent with any kind of injury or bruising”.

Strong: “He admitted to you that he had hit her in the head with a hammer?”

Davenport: “Correct”

Strong: “Did he say how many times he hit her with a hammer?”

Davenport: “He would only admit to striking her one time with a hammer”.

Strong: “Through your examination of the body and Ms. Guerra’s head, how many times was she hit? Were you able to tell?”

Davenport: “At the scene we were not able to tell how many times however it would be a significant number of times to cause that type of injury. The sheer size of the section of skull that was missing could not be completed with a single strike with a hammer. The part that appeared to be missing was at the crown of the skull. I would estimate approximately a four-inch circular injury. During the autopsy her body was cleaned, and her head shaved, and the images taken of the body there showed multiple linear injuries all throughout the front of the head, base of the head, injuries to the ear, as well as the orbital area”.

Strong: “Did you speak to Mr. Martinez about cleaning the scene?”

Davenport: “Yes. He stated that he cleaned the scene to keep his children who were present in the house from seeing excess blood and blood on him. As part of that, he took a shower and took his clothes and threw them away in a trash can located in the bathroom of the residence”.

Strong: “How many children are there?”

Davenport: “There are three children in that home.”

Strong: “Did any of these children witness the incident?”

Davenport: “Yes, one child specifically witnessed a large portion of the incident. She is 14 years old, and she was interviewed”.

The following is a summary of TBI special agent Davenport’s testimony during questioning by Assistant District Public Defender Allison West

West: “Which officers were present when you arrived?”

Davenport: “(Smithville Police) Officers Daniel Haggard and Michael Coronado and Detective Brandon Donnell and Lieutenant James Cornelius”

West: “What was the call that came in which led them there, do you know who that came from?”

Davenport: “The call was a transfer call that was sent into DeKalb County 911 from Warren County of a possible domestic disturbance and between the two jurisdictions they used the information to place that address and lot number. The initial 911 call was from Jose Calvillo”

West: “Did you take samples of anything at the scene that was sent to the lab?”

Davenport: “We have not submitted all evidence to the lab. We did remove evidence from the scene including the clothing found in the bathroom with reddish-brown staining and the yellow and black hammer with the reddish-brown staining on it as well as three cellular phones including one belonging to Martinez and the other two which belonged to Ms Guerra”.

West: “Was anybody at the scene when you arrived other than law enforcement officers?”

Davenport: “When I arrived the children were still technically on the scene. This is a mobile home park, and they were sitting in the back of an ambulance awaiting DCS and CPS instruction on their placement”

West: “Where was Martinez at that time?”

Davenport: “He had been placed in holding at the Smithville Police Department”

West: “Who all did you interview as part of your investigation?”

Davenport: “Mr. Martinez” (with interpreter present)

West: “Do you know who was interviewed by other law enforcement officers?”

Davenport: “Yes, the original 911 caller Mr. Calvillo. The children were also taken, and forensic interviews were conducted of both the 14-year-old female and the 5-year-old son. They were interviewed at the child advocacy center in Cookeville. Another child that is five months old was not part of that process”.

West: “Has the autopsy report come back yet?”

Davenport: “It has not”

October 11, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

A brief dedication observance was held Monday evening at the “Dylan Kleparek Coach K Soccer Field” at DeKalb County High School. It comes almost a year after the Board of Education named the field for the legendary Tiger and Lady Tiger soccer coach.

Coach K, as he is affectionately known, helped start the high school soccer program 40 seasons ago (combined boys and girls seasons) and has been it’s only head coach for both boys and girls teams (spring and fall) since.

“I am so blessed to have such a great community, group of fans, friends, and family that all support me so much. It’s a little embarrassing. I’m not the type of person who likes to make a big deal about myself but its such an honor to have this field. It will last forever and that means a lot to leave a legacy,” said Coach K.

In addition to his years of coaching, Kleparek is also a veteran teacher with 21 years in the classroom and all of that time has been in DeKalb County.

“I was lucky enough to get a job straight out of college here and my first year I coached football the first semester, and then the principal asked me to start a soccer team. We didn’t have a girls team the first fall. It seems like its gone by really fast but at the same time we have come a long way from a pair of basketball shorts and some baseball socks and a tee shirt that started our uniforms to now we have our own field and practice field. It’s a nice big program with some great kids, parents, and people supporting it,” Coach K continued.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps commended Coach K for his dedication and commitment to the DCHS Soccer Program and the student athletes.

“I have said many times that coaches get to forge relationships with their players that a lot of people never see or understand because they spend so much time with them on the practice field, bus trips, etc.. Coach K has established those kinds of relationships. A testament to that is a lot of former players have come back today to share this moment with him. We are proud of him. Coach K has made this program succeed and although he has had help along the way with great parents and boosters its his dedication to the kids every day that has made it special,” said Director Cripps.

Last November former Board of Education member Kate Miller made the motion to name the new soccer field for Coach K saying at the time that the tribute was fitting. The motion was adopted by the board.

“Over four years ago this board voted to build a soccer field at DCHS. Prior to that these teams had no field of their own. They had to use the football field or practice field. I am pleased to report that after many hours of hard work and lots of people involved, we have a soccer field and it is beautiful even though it is not completely done. Without a doubt the soccer field and program would not be where it is today without the work and dedication of Coach K. He was instrumental in starting the program. He has been the only high school coach of the girls and boys teams and has been involved in the community in the rec league program. If you know or have ever played for Coach K you know how competitive he is. He always wants to win and hates to lose and he coaches his players this way. But first and foremost he coaches his players to be good students, good people, and respectful individuals. Tonight I would like to make a motion that we name the soccer field the Dylan Kleparek Coach K Soccer Field,” said Kate Miller last November.

October 10, 2022
By: Bill Conger

Some of the best students at DeKalb West were honored recently with induction into the local chapter of the National Jr. Beta Club.

Selected as club officers were the following: President Ethan Brown, Olivia George, Vice President; Miah Johnson, Secretary; Hannah Brown, Chaplain, Raegan Murphy, reporter; 7th grade representative, Sophie Desimone and 6th grade representative, Gabe Blair. They were recognized in a special candlelight ceremony Thursday (October 6) in the school’s gym.

President Ethan Brown welcomed the newest Junior Beta members and presented them with certificates signifying their prestigious accomplishment. 6th grade students selected to join were Gabe Blair, Adam Brown, Adonis Cooprider, Levi Cripps, Bella Gonzalez, Mia Hall, MaKenna Lomas, Halia McDaniel, Kaden Mullinax, Kate Pistole, and Kaylee Womack.

“I am proud of these students for working hard for our school and our community,” DWS Lead Junior Club Sponsor Jessica Antoniak said. “They have already shown great leadership this school year and are great examples for everyone in our school.’

Students are invited to join the club when they have an A/B grade average and exhibit excellent character.