Updated at 5:06 p.m.
ST. ALBANS — The man charged with aggravated murder in last week’s death of 82-year-old Roberta Martin allegedly sexually assaulted the Enosburgh woman before killing her and disposing of her burned remains about three-quarters of a mile from her home, according to court documents.
Darren Martell, 23, pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon in Franklin County Superior criminal court in St. Albans on the charge of aggravated murder in Martin’s death. Judge Robert Katims granted a prosecutor’s request to hold Martell without bail.
In a four-page affidavit filed in support of the aggravated murder charge, Vermont State Police Det. Sgt. Tyson Kinney spelled out details of the investigation. It began the morning of July 17 when neighbors, alerted by the victim’s daughter, went to the Butternut Hollow Road home to check on Martin. She last spoke with her daughter late in the evening on July 16.
The neighbors reported finding an open sliding door and an air conditioning unit ripped from the window, along with an unmade bed and a dresser drawer left open, but no sign of Martin.
“They advised this was very abnormal for Roberta because she was a very tidy and regimented individual who typically kept to the same schedule every day,” Kinney wrote.
Police also found duct tape on the floor of the bedroom and “dolly cart” tracks leading from the house to a neighboring property, Kinney wrote.
That same day, state police interviewed neighbors, including Martell, who was staying at a camper parked on a nearby property. Returning to the same property a day later, detectives found “several pieces of gray duct tape on the ground near one of the fire pits that was cleaned out by Darren the day before,” Kinney wrote.
During questioning, Martell initially told police he was living in a house in Grand Isle and had arrived in Enosburgh around 8 a.m. on July 17, but when questioned further, “Darren advised he had lied to detectives and admitted that he had been living in the camper” for the last two months, the affidavit read.
A resident of Sand Hill Road called police to report that she had seen “an unknown male” walking on the road at around 4 a.m. on July 17, wearing clothes that matched the description of those worn by Martell during a subsequent interview with police, Kinney wrote.
On July 21, two detectives went to a pull-off area on Sand Hill Road where an acquaintance of Martell told police he was growing marijuana. The site was about three-quarters of a mile from the missing woman’s home, according to the affidavit.
One detective followed a trail into the woods, where he discovered the partial remains, with additional remains found nearby, Kinney wrote, adding, “the human remains appeared to be burned.”
A post-mortem exam the following day confirmed the remains were those of Martin, according to the affidavit, and additional evidence was collected for testing. On July 25, the state forensic lab notified state police it had “preliminarily determined” that a DNA sample of sperm taken from the victim’s body matched DNA taken from Martell, the affidavit said.
In charging documents, Deputy State’s Attorney Diane Wheeler wrote that Martell “on or about July 17, 2024, was then and there a person who murdered another human being while perpetrating sexual assault, to wit: unlawfully killed ROBERTA MARTIN…”
Martell was arrested on the murder charge late Thursday night while he was in custody at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, state police said. He had been held since his arrest Monday on a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. He was arrested on that charge after police, looking for him for questioning in Martin’s death, found him on a wooded trail in St. Albans, allegedly committing a lewd act.
Wearing green prison clothing, Martell walked into the courtroom Friday for his arraignment on the murder charge with his ankles and wrists in chains and sat between his attorneys at the defense table. He did not speak during the hearing and mostly looked down during the proceeding.
Rosanna Chase, a public defender representing Martell, challenged whether there was probable cause to support the aggravated murder since there was no cause of death provided within the police affidavit.
“Additionally, while there is a probable cause for a sexual act based on the DNA, within the four corners of the affidavit there’s no evidence of non-consensual sex,” Chase told the judge.
Chase’s comments drew gasps and groans from Martin’s family and friends, who filled several rows of seats in the courtroom.
Franklin County State’s Attorney Bram Kranichfeld, the prosecutor, said he believed enough evidence was contained within the filing to support the aggravated murder charge and said he expected to “soon” file an additional affidavit providing information from the medical examiner’s office regarding Martin’s cause of death.
He agreed to remove from the charging documents, at least until the supplemental affidavit was filed, the reference that Martin had been killed by “smothering and blunt trauma.”
Katims, the judge, denied Chase’s challenge, finding there was still enough information within the police affidavit to support the aggravated murder charge.
Martin’s family members declined comment after the hearing.
Kranichfeld, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse following the hearing, wouldn’t comment on whether he expected additional charges to be filed in the case.
“This is a terrible tragedy for our community,” the prosecutor said, adding that his office was “committed to holding the perpetrator of this act accountable and bringing him to justice.”
Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police’s criminal division, also declined following Friday’s hearing to comment on the possibility of additional charges being filed.
If convicted of aggravated murder, Martell faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
