Greeley Man Charged With First-Degree Murder For Killing Roommate
A Greeley man has formally been charged with first-degree murder after confessing that he murdered his roommate in their Greeley apartment.
37-year-old Anthony Martinez was formally charged on Wednesday (June 23), according to the Greeley Tribune.
Greeley Police first responded at about 1:05 a.m. on Friday morning (June 18) to a suspicious death at an apartment in the 2900 block of C Street in Greeley. A woman reportedly told dispatchers she arrived at her son’s apartment to check on him after a roommate called her with suspicion that her son was dead, as per a news release from the Greeley Police Department.
When officers arrived on scene, they found 50-year-old Shannon Ziel dead on the bathroom floor of the apartment.
During the investigation, Martinez - who also goes by Joe Sanchez - confessed to the murder of Ziel, according to police. Martinez was then booked into Weld County Jail of suspicion of first-degree murder.
As per online arrest records, this is not the first time Martinez has been arrested; the suspect in this incident has been booked into the Weld County Jail at least seven times since 2008, most recently in October, when Greeley police executed a warrant for his arrest. Martinez had also been been booked into the jail on suspicion of felony menacing with a weapon, violating parole and flight to avoid prosecution.
Court records for Martinez's prior charges indicate that he had his probation revoked and reinstated for two years in October.
Anthony Martinez now has an advisement hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 30 before Weld District Judge Thomas James Quammen.
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