{{Short description|American serial killer}} {{Use American English|date=December 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = James David Martin | image = | image_size = | caption = | alt = | birth_name = | other_names = "Snake" | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1971|12|11}} | birth_place = The Bronx, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | cause = | conviction = '''Pennsylvania'''<br>Third degree murder<br>'''New York'''<br>First degree manslaughter<br>Attempted robbery<br>'''Federal'''<br>Voluntary manslaughter (18 U.S.C. § 1112) | sentence = '''Pennsylvania'''<br>22-44 years imprisonment<br>'''New York'''<br>5 years (robbery)<br>20 years imprisonment (manslaughter)<br>'''Federal'''<br>7 years imprisonment | victims = 3 | beginyear = 1989 | endyear = 2005 | country = United States | states = Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania | apprehended = '''For the last time''' in 2005 | imprisoned = State Correctional Institution – Somerset, Somerset, Pennsylvania }}
'''James David Martin''' (born December 11, 1971) is an American serial killer who strangled three people across three states between 1989 and 2005. While serving a sentence for the murder of his wife in Pennsylvania, he was connected via DNA profiling to a cold case murder in The Bronx, for which he was later given an additional 20 years imprisonment.<ref name=sla>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/slain-bronx-girl-dna-brings-killer-justice-article-1.2848306|title=EXCLUSIVE: Serial killer James Martin pleads guilty after his DNA was found on slain Bronx girl|author=Rocco Parascandola and Ben Kochman|work=New York Daily News|date=October 28, 2016|archivedate=July 6, 2020|access-date=June 2, 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200706102105/https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/slain-bronx-girl-dna-brings-killer-justice-article-1.2848306|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Early life== Little is known about Martin's early life. According to the detectives who interviewed him, when he was about six years old, his mother beat his little sister to death. Following this event, James was sent to live in Fort Meade, Maryland, with his grandmother and sister and brother where he attended Meade Senior High School.<ref name=unm>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/nyregion/girl-killed-in-98-is-thought-to-be-victim-of-serial-killer-crime-scene.html|title=14 Years in an Unmarked Grave, and Finally a Break in the Case|author=Michael Wilson|work=The New York Times|date=May 11, 2012}}</ref> While a student there, he was on the basketball team, where he got acquainted with 15-year-old Michael Eugene Thomas, who would become his best friend and later become his first victim.
==Murders== At age 17, Martin was envious that his fellow basketball buddy Thomas had recently bought himself an expensive pair of Air Jordans worth $115.50. On May 2, 1989, James lured Michael into the woods near the school, where he proceeded to sodomize and then strangle him to death. After killing him, he stole the Air Jordans and fled the scene. Not long after, however, he was arrested for the murder. Martin was tried in federal court since the crime occurred on federal property. Martin pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in federal court and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The senseless crime for the shoes, which ironically did not even fit Martin,<ref name=bag>{{Cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2012/05/10/slain-girls-dna-bags-1998-killer-who-once-strangled-buddy-over-air-jordans/|title=Slain girl's DNA bags 1998 'killer' who once strangled buddy over Air Jordans|author=Helen Freund|publisher=New York Post|date=May 10, 2012}}</ref> were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with professional basketball player Michael Jordan himself expressing his horror at the brutality of the crime.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1136895/index.htm|title=Senseless|author=Rick Telander|publisher=Sports Illustrated|date=May 14, 1990|archive-date=April 8, 2013|access-date=June 2, 2022|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130408003713/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1136895/index.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Martin was released in 1996 and moving back to New York City to live with his mother.
On February 23, 1998, while walking around the Bronx, Martin came across 14-year-old Marleny Cruz, a Dominican-born adoptee who often went on visits to an aunt in the area. Taking an interest in the beautiful young girl, James asked her out on a date to his mother's apartment, to which she agreed. At some point, however, the pair began arguing, with Martin proceeding to grab her by the throat, beating, sexually abusing and finally, strangling Cruz to death.<ref name=unm/> He then dumped her body on a curb in University Heights,<ref name=sla/> where she was later found by passers-by. Initially, she could not be identified, and it was even presumed that she could have been Chante Smalls, a girl who had recently gone missing, but it was later determined not to be the case, as Smalls was later found alive.<ref name=unm/> Eight months later, through dental records, the body was identified as that of Cruz, but her killer remained elusive. Some detectives theorized that her death might have been related to a series of rapes that occurred in the Bronx at the time, but no conclusive connection was made to any such case.<ref name=bag/>
Five months after the Cruz murder, Martin was arrested for groping a woman struggling with substance abuse and for possession of crack cocaine. He was jailed for a year and then released. Not long after, he lured a 17-year-old male relative on a rooftop in the Bronx, where he attempted to strangle the boy with the laces from his sweatpants. The relative lapsed into unconsciousness, with Martin stabbing him in the neck with a knife, stealing $30 and then fleeing. Miraculously, the boy survived his injuries and managed to reach a hospital. When he was visited by his family, he pleaded with them not to let James in, as he was sure he would "finish [him] off." At that moment, James walked in, and although he was arrested on the spot, he was allowed to plead guilty to attempted robbery and sentenced to five years imprisonment.<ref name=unm/>
While in prison, he communicated with 30-year-old Cicela Santiago, who would become his girlfriend and later, his wife. After his release, the couple moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where, three months later, he strangled Cicela to death after she threatened to leave him. Martin dumped her body in a parking lot trash bin near the mall, where she was soon found.<ref name=unm/>
==Arrest, trial and imprisonment== Martin was swiftly arrested following the discovery of his wife's body, pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of 22-to-44 years imprisonment, which he would serve at the State Correctional Institution – Somerset prison. While serving his sentence there, his DNA was matched to that of an unidentified male's found underneath the fingernails of Marleny Cruz, and detectives from the Bronx were dispatched to question him. He freely admitted his guilt in the murder, and extradited back to New York City to stand trial on charges of murder, rape and sodomy.<ref name=unm/> On October 28, 2016, James David Martin pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter in her death, and received an additional 20 years imprisonment, to be served on top of his previous sentence.<ref name=sla/>
==Bibliography== * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FbRBQAAQBAJ&q=James+David+Martin+murder|title=Fatal Violence: Case Studies and Analysis of Emerging Forms|author=Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes|publisher=CRC Press|date=June 23, 2010|isbn=9781439826881}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ln7E8F62iu0C&q=James+David+Martin+murder&pg=RA1-PA52|title=American History Through American Sports: From Colonial Lacrosse to Extreme Sports, Volume 1|author=Danielle Sarver Coombs and Bob Batchelor|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2013|isbn=9780313379888}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRbhAQAAQBAJ&q=James+David+Martin+murder&pg=PA104|title=Brand Equity & Advertising: Advertising's Role in Building Strong Brands|author=David A. Aaker and Alexander L. Biel|publisher=Psychology Press|date=October 31, 2013|isbn=9781317759836}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ockvDwAAQBAJ&q=James+David+Martin+murder&pg=PT240|title=Kicks: The Great American Story of Sneakers|author=Nicholas Smith|publisher=Crown|date=May 1, 2018|isbn=9780451498137}} * {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RCuNDwAAQBAJ&q=James+David+Martin+murder&pg=PT304|title=Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide For A Consumer Society|author=Michael Jacobson|publisher=Routledge|date=March 11, 2019|isbn=9780429720260}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, James David}} Category:1971 births Category:20th-century American criminals Category:21st-century American criminals Category:American murderers of children Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people convicted of manslaughter Category:American rapists Category:Criminals from the Bronx Category:Living people Category:Minors convicted of murder Category:People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Category:Serial killers from Maryland Category:Serial killers from New York City Category:Serial killers from Pennsylvania Category:Uxoricides in the United States Category:Violence against women in Pennsylvania