Man Who Stated ICE May Have Picked Up His Lacking Girlfriend Charged with Her Homicide: Police

Saul Garcia Gonzalez, 40, has been hit with a second-degree homicide cost in reference to the loss of life of Nerida Martel, 37, after her physique was discovered floating in a canal at roughly 3:40 p.m. on October 11. He has denied killing his girlfriend.

The suspect was arrested on Wednesday after investigators uncovered a string of proof connecting him to Martel’s loss of life, in addition to a doable motive. On Thursday, he was denied bond and is being held on the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Heart.

Of their studies, as seen by Native 10, investigators with the MDSO Murder Bureau broke down a timeline of occasions associated to Martel’s disappearance and Garcia Gonzalez’s alleged connections.

It began on October 5, at some point earlier than her disappearance, when Martel purportedly “reached out to a buddy searching for a spot to remain for less than her and her daughter.” Martel and Garcia Gonzalez lived collectively and shared a 2-year-old daughter, with police reporting that family described him as verbally abusive. It was their perception, per documentation reviewed by CBS Information, that Martel was “trying to go away” Garcia Gonzalez and “finish the connection.”

On October 6, Martel vanished, in response to what Garcia Gonzalez finally advised MDSO Hammocks District deputies when he reported her lacking three days later, per the Miami Herald.

Deputies famous of their paperwork that Martel’s brother advised them he discovered it suspicious it took Garcia Gonzalez a full day to inform her household that she had disappeared, and it will be even longer earlier than he formally reported her lacking.

Investigators additionally acknowledged that after her disappearance, Garcia Gonzalez advised a minimum of one shut buddy “he believed the sufferer was probably within the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” This buddy, per The Unbiased, urged him to file a lacking individual’s report once they couldn’t discover her title in federal detention information.

When he reported her lacking to authorities, Garcia Gonzalez advised responding deputies that the final time he’d seen her was when she was on the brink of go to work. She was nonetheless at house, he stated per the arrest report, when he left to take their daughter to daycare. He advised police she was planning to catch a journey to work.

Nevertheless, the defendant allegedly advised her household, buddies, and even her employer that the final time he’d seen her was when he dropped her off at a bus cease that day in order that she may go to work, per the arrest report. This discrepancy, partly, led to a deeper investigation into Garcia Gonzalez himself.

Martel’s employer advised deputies it was stunning that she by no means confirmed as much as wrk as she was a devoted worker and diligent about her job, per the Herald.

As a part of their investigation, deputies tracked his cellular phone information, which pinged at his house on October 6 when he advised investigators he’d left to drop his and Martel’s daughter off at daycare. Later that day, his cellphone “traveled” to the canal the place Martel’s physique would finally be discovered.

Based on police documentation, the defendant’s cellular phone “stayed close to the canal touring round it, till he drove again to his residence.” There was additionally surveillance footage reviewed that captured his Toyota Camry touring within the space of the canal at the moment.

Moreover, Martel’s cellular phone information confirmed that it stayed at house that day and through Garcia Gonzalez’s cellphone’s first journey to the canal, which is lower than half a mile from the couple’s house. His cellphone was then tracked returning to the house earlier than each telephones made their method again to the canal collectively and Martel’s cellphone was turned off.

The health worker’s report got here again on November 25, ruling Martel’s loss of life a murder and detailing that she had been shot within the head earlier than her physique was dumped within the canal.

The Unbiased and the Herald reported on a earlier 911 name that despatched deputies to the couple’s house in Might 2025. On this name, a girl’s voice was reportedly heard screaming for assist whereas a person shouted within the background. A baby was additionally heard within the audio earlier than the decision disconnected, however police reported they had been unable to find the caller.