$500K bail set for suspected illegal immigrant in Northern Nevada killings
CARSON CITY — The man police say killed four people in Northern Nevada was given a bail of $500,000 at a hearing Thursday, but prosecutors said there is no chance for him to be released due to an immigration hold.
“With the immigration hold in place, even if he’s able to post this bail, that hold still remains,” Carson City Deputy District Attorney Melanie Brantingham said after the hearing.
Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, was arraigned in front of Judge Tom Armstrong in Carson City Justice Court Thursday on burglary, stolen property and other charges connected to a series of killings in nearby Gardnerville and Reno.
Martinez-Guzman is also being held on an immigration charge, as law enforcement have said that he is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. Details of his immigration status or how Martinez-Guzman entered the country have not been disclosed by federal immigration authorities.
Brantingham said that she did not have further details.
“This is not your run-of-the-mill property crime,” Brantingham told Armstrong after requesting the bail be raised to $500,000. “Most of the property alleged in the complaint belonged to the homicide victims.”
Martinez-Guzman, clad in black-and-white striped jail garb and shackled at the hands and feet, sat relatively motionless for the majority of the approximately 45-minute hearing, which consisted of Armstrong reading off the 36 charges levied against the suspect. Martinez-Guzman moved only to lean in to listen to his interpreter and answer through her in the affirmative when replying to questions from the judge if he understood each charge.
Karin Kreizenbeck, a public defender assigned to Martinez-Guzman, said after the hearing that she couldn’t comment on the case or the bail.
According to police, Martinez-Guzman killed Connie Koontz, 56, and Sophia Renken, 74, both of Gardnerville, and Gerald David, 81, and his wife Sharon, in Reno, and that most of the items he is accused of stealing came from those victims. Prosecutors are expected to file formal murder charges against Martinez-Guzman in Washoe and Douglas counties Friday.
According to an amended complaint filed Thursday morning that included 36 total charges, Martinez-Guzman stole personal items from his victims, consisting of a dozen firearms, including one with an attached bayonet and several hunting rifles, several rings, an Apple computer and an Apple Watch. Some of the items were sold at a local pawn shop.
The firearms were found in a remote area on the east side of Carson City, separate from the other items and from where Martinez-Guzman was arrested on Saturday. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said that Martinez-Guzman hid the weapons in the area, and that it is not clear if any of the guns were used in any of the killings.
President Donald Trump tweeted about the crime earlier this week to make the case for a border wall amid a partial federal government shutdown over border security.
Police in Carson City have also tied Martinez-Guzman to a burglary in which they believe Martinez-Guzman stole golf clubs and power tools from a woman in Carson City, who they said was unharmed. Furlong said investigators believe that burglary happened before the four homicides occurred.
A preliminary hearing for Martinez-Guzman’s charges in Carson City will be held on Feb. 8 at 9:30 a.m.
Contact Capital Bureau Chief Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.
