On February 4, 2016, police performing a welfare check discovered the bodies of six members of the Martinez family inside a home at 5708 South California Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood of Chicago. The victims were Noe Martinez Sr., 62; his wife Rosaura Martinez, 58; their son Noe Martinez Jr., 38; their daughter Maria Herminia Martinez, 32; and Maria's two sons, Leonardo "Leo" Cruz, 13, and Alexis "Alexi" Cruz, 10. Five of the victims had been stabbed and beaten to death, while Maria Martinez had been shot. The family's dog, Pelusa, was found alive inside the house, covered in blood.
The welfare check was prompted after a coworker of Noe Martinez Jr. reported he had not shown up to work since February 2, the date investigators believe the killings occurred, based on the victims ceasing to respond to calls and texts between roughly 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. that day. Police initially considered the possibility of a murder-suicide but ruled that all six deaths were homicides. Because the bodies were found scattered throughout the home, investigators initially suspected multiple attackers. Three bladed weapons and a firearm were used in the killings, though none of the murder weapons were recovered; a rifle unrelated to the killings was found in the house. Investigators believed early on that the family had been deliberately targeted, and that Maria Martinez, the only victim shot rather than stabbed, may have been the primary target.
On May 19, 2016, Chicago police announced the arrests of 22-year-old Diego Uribe, a relative of the family by marriage, and his 19-year-old girlfriend, Jafeth Ramos, describing the killings as a robbery that went wrong. The break in the investigation came when DNA recovered from under Maria Martinez's fingernails matched Uribe, who had submitted a DNA sample to authorities in March along with other family members; phone records also placed him in the area at the time of the killings. Uribe and Ramos were reported to have confessed and were charged with first-degree murder and held without bail. According to the account of events described by investigators, Uribe forced the family's children to gather cash and valuables before killing them; the pair made off with an Xbox, about $550 in cash, and jewelry later pawned for about $150.
On October 5, 2022, Diego Uribe was found guilty in the murders, and on November 7, 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison. On December 6, 2022, Jafeth Ramos, by then 25, was sentenced to 25 years in prison; she was not believed to have directly carried out the killings but was described as an active participant. All six victims were buried in Mexico, with assistance from the Mexican Consulate of Chicago in transporting the bodies.
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