On the morning of June 5, 2019, a 59-year-old man walked into a vacant house in the 3690 block of Mack Avenue on Detroit's east side and found the body of a woman lying face down. He flagged down two police officers. The woman was Tamara Jones, 55. Her body was so decomposed that the medical examiner could not say how she died.
She was the third woman found that spring in an empty Detroit house, and that afternoon Police Chief James Craig said publicly that the department was investigating a possible serial killer. Two days later Mayor Mike Duggan said city crews were inspecting abandoned buildings and boarding up about 2,000 properties. That night police named a 34-year-old man, Deangelo Kenneth Martin, as a person of interest, and arrested him at a bus stop.
Martin later pleaded guilty to killing four women: Annetta Nelson, Nancy Harrison, Trevesene Ellis and Tamara Jones. A 2023 investigation by the Associated Press found that his DNA had been linked to the first of those killings more than a year before he was caught, and to three earlier sexual assaults before that. Detroit's own internal affairs investigators described what happened as a "total systemic breakdown."
Martin was born in 1985 and grew up in Detroit, raised by his mother, Chantrienes Barker, according to the AP. In 1998, when he was 13, Barker was arrested in a kidnapping and murder. She had let kidnappers hold a rival drug dealer in her basement, where the captive was tortured and killed. She was convicted of felony murder in 1999 and sentenced to life in prison. The AP could not establish whether her son was in the house during the kidnapping.
After his mother went to prison, Martin lived with his grandparents or on the streets. A minister who knew him, Kyle Hicks, known as "Brother Joe," told the AP that Martin was addicted to alcohol and drugs, panhandled downtown, slept under a downtown amphitheater and dreamed of being a singer. Around 2008 he lost three toes to frostbite.
By 2009 he had at least two criminal convictions, one of them for receiving a stolen car. Because of those convictions, his DNA profile was entered in the national database. That fact matters to everything that followed.
In 2009 Wayne County prosecutors discovered about 11,000 untested rape kits in a police warehouse. Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office spent years having them tested. According to the AP, that effort eventually identified 841 serial offenders and produced 239 convictions.
One of the kits came from a 2004 rape of a 41-year-old woman, Sylvia Sampson, who said she had been attacked at gunpoint. In 2012 the state crime lab matched the DNA in her kit to Martin. Police did not reopen the case until 2016, and then learned that Sampson had died. The case was closed.
In late 2015 a 50-year-old woman was beaten and possibly sexually assaulted in a vacant house. In October 2016 the lab linked Martin's DNA to her rape kit. The woman had visible injuries. An assistant prosecutor, Tanya Abdelnour, wrote in a 2016 email that "clearly a second hit to (a rape kit) is an indication of a possible serial offender," and described the rising violence as concerning. The victim declined to cooperate with the investigation, and the case was closed.
In 2017 the lab linked Martin to a third rape kit, one submitted by a hospital. Police found no record that the woman had ever made a report, and nothing more was done.
By early 2018, then, Martin's DNA had been matched to three sexual assaults on women. He had not been charged in any of them.
Annetta Nelson was 57 years old (some reports say 58) and a mother of two. She had a twin sister, Anita Nelson Reed. At Martin's sentencing her sister described her as someone who had "an illness" and a "demon called crack," and who had survived it. She was not homeless, her sister said; she had family members who loved her and looked after her.
At about 4:25 p.m. on February 26, 2018, a 43-year-old man found Nelson's body face down, with blood on her face, inside a vacant house in the 11620 block of Winthrop Street. According to WDIV's account of the charging documents, he carried her outside and flagged down police. Officers found a used condom inside the house. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma; the AP reported that she had been strangled and beaten.
Police arrested the man who had found her, Rudolph Henderson, who was homeless, and he was charged. About a week later he was released and the case against him was dropped, after video showed he was not the killer. In July 2019 WDIV reported that security footage showed a man dragging Nelson's body out of the house, and that police by then believed that man was Martin.
In the spring of 2018 the state crime lab matched DNA from Nelson's body to Martin. The AP dates the match to April or May 2018. Detroit police did not seek a search warrant to take a fresh sample from Martin to confirm it, and the AP found no clear record of follow-up. James Craig, the police chief at the time, later told the AP that the DNA hit was "compelling" but could not explain why Martin was not detained.
Martin was not hard to find in 2018. In September, Wayne State University police gave him a disorderly conduct ticket. The same month he was arrested in Ferndale for lying about his identity. In December he was arrested in Southfield for hitting a girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and served about two weeks in the Oakland County jail, then another jail term for violating his probation.
None of those agencies knew that Detroit's homicide unit had a DNA match tying him to a killing. Detroit police had never asked other departments to watch for him. Commander Michael McGinnis, who led the homicide unit, told the AP in 2023 that he wished there had been "a more aggressive apprehension effort" after the first murder.
Investigators later connected Martin to another woman who went missing in this period. Deborah Reynolds was last seen with him in August 2018. On December 22, 2018, human remains were found in a vacant house on Annin Street where, according to WDIV, Martin had been living. In October 2019 WDIV reported that the remains had been identified as Reynolds. Martin was never charged in her death.
Nancy Harrison was 52. Her father, Gary Harrison, told the court at sentencing that she "owned her own home, paid all of her bills." She had a daughter, Lisa Hohnstreiter, and a brother, Timothy. Hohnstreiter has had two daughters since her mother's death, grandchildren Harrison never met.
On March 19, 2019, a man went into a vacant house in the 20070 block of Coventry Street to smoke marijuana and found Harrison's body face down, with a used condom nearby. Police at first believed she had died of a drug overdose. "Initially, we believed she died as a result of a drug overdose," Craig said that summer. On May 20 the medical examiner ruled that she had died of blunt force trauma, a homicide. Martin later admitted to investigators that he had beaten her with a two-by-four, according to the AP.
On May 6, 2019, a 26-year-old woman met Martin at a drug house in Detroit. At a preliminary examination that July she testified that he invited her back to the family house to eat, shower and sleep. Sources describe the house differently: WDIV said his mother's house, the AP said his grandmother's, and a later WDIV report said his grandparents'. In the basement, she said, he tried to have sex with her and she refused. "This is not about sex," she remembered telling him. "I just really need sleep."
She testified that she woke on the morning of May 7 with a knife in her neck and that Martin raped her. She said she pulled the knife out, pushed him off, picked up the knife and struck back at him, and ran upstairs. A member of Martin's family called 911. His aunt, Linda Martin, backed up her account, the AP reported. Police obtained Martin's DNA through this case.
The AP found that police did not bring charges in the attack for weeks, not until after the bodies of the third and fourth women were found.
A few days after the basement assault, Martin was arrested in Chesterfield Township. He was held on the Southfield probation violation and spent about ten more days in jail. A Southfield judge, Cynthia Arvant, then released him, encouraging him to seek help, according to the AP. Nothing in the record before her connected him to a homicide.
Trevesene Ellis had a daughter, Latrease Ellis, and a brother, Anthony Ellis. Her name is spelled Trevesene in the prosecutor's release and most reports, and Travesene in several WDIV reports; the prosecutor's release also once calls her Trevesene Willis. The prosecutor gave her age as 55; the AP gave 58 and WDIV in 2019 gave 53.
Her body was found face down in a vacant house in the 13700 block of Linnhurst Street, on the east side, at about 7:20 p.m., after police were called to a report of a dead person. A used condom lay beside her. The cause and manner of death could not be determined because of advanced decomposition.
The date is one of the case's unresolved discrepancies. The prosecutor's 2019 charging release, and WDIV's articles drawn from it in 2019 and 2022, say March 24, 2019. WDIV's reports from June through July 2019 and its report of the guilty plea in September 2022 say May 24, 2019, and list her as the second victim found after Nancy Harrison. The AP's 2023 investigation says she was found the day after Martin was released from jail in Southfield, and her brother told the AP she was found in May 2019. Martin later admitted to killing her.
Tamara Jones, who was also called Tammy, was 55. Her niece, Tina Taylor, told the AP that she "never forgot a birthday." "She didn't deserve to die this way," Taylor said, "and she shouldn't have died at all."
Her body was found on June 5, 2019, at about 5:10 a.m., in the vacant house on Mack Avenue in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood. Like the other women she lay face down, with a used condom nearby. Decomposition prevented a finding on the cause of death.
The finding of Jones's body changed the case. Craig said that day that police were investigating a possible serial killer. Sources told WDIV that Harrison and Ellis had been left in a kneeling position. On June 7, after the press conference at which Duggan spoke about inspecting and boarding up vacant properties, police named Martin as a person of interest. He was arrested that night at a bus stop at Seven Mile Road and Gratiot Avenue.
On Monday, June 10, Wayne County prosecutors charged him, not with murder but with assault with intent to murder and criminal sexual conduct in the May 7 attack on the 26-year-old woman. He was arraigned that afternoon and returned to the Wayne County Jail. Craig said he believed Martin was responsible for the three deaths and the sexual assault and possibly other crimes, and that he saw similarities between the killings and the assaults on at least two women. Police were reviewing more cases in the city and a nearby suburb.
Through the summer of 2019 the investigation widened. On June 26 WDIV reported that police sources said Martin "might be connected to as many as 11 murders," and that Detroit investigators were contacting agencies around the country and using the FBI's Violent Criminal Apprehension Program to look for unsolved killings with the same features: women in their 50s and 60s, bodies left kneeling. They were checking whether he had spent time in other states and reviewing unsolved killings of women in the sex trade elsewhere.
Police also looked at the death of Yvonne Cobern, whose body was found wrapped in carpet in a vacant house on Brentwood Street, and at the Annin Street remains later identified as Deborah Reynolds. FOX 2 Detroit later reported that Martin was connected to both deaths but never charged. No killing outside the four was ever charged against him, and no out-of-state case was publicly tied to him in any source consulted.
Police said they believed all four women had been sex workers. Their families described them as mothers, sisters and aunts, some of whom were struggling with addiction.
The vacant house on Mack Avenue near Mount Elliot Street, where Tamara Jones was found, was city-owned, and investigators came to believe Martin used it as a base. In early June 2019, according to testimony reported by WDIV, a 51-year-old woman was attacked there. She testified that Martin choked her until she lost consciousness and that she woke up in the house with him on top of her. WDIV reported that she freed herself with a pocket knife and escaped through a second-floor window. A woman also testified, in WDIV's account, that Martin grabbed her as she walked along Gratiot Avenue near Mack and pulled her into a house; the reports do not make clear whether this is the same survivor.
Martin was charged in late July 2019 with kidnapping, assault with intent to do great bodily harm by strangulation, and criminal sexual conduct in this case. At a hearing on July 24, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor William Lawrence told the court that Martin was "the most dangerous person to this community at this time." Neighbors later asked the city to tear the house down.
Martin first appeared in court on June 20, 2019. His lawyer, Wyatt Harris, told The Detroit News that he was "in good health, and his demeanor is good." At the preliminary examination on July 16, the 26-year-old woman testified, Martin spoke only to give his name, and a judge bound him over for trial on all five charges in her case: assault with intent to murder and four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was arraigned in Third Circuit Court a week later.
On September 5, 2019, Detroit police submitted four homicide warrant requests to the prosecutor. On September 18, Worthy announced charges: four counts of first-degree premeditated murder and four counts of felony murder, one pair for each woman, with third-degree criminal sexual conduct as the underlying felony for the felony murder counts. "We want to make sure we work as quickly as we can, but we also have to be as detailed as we can," Worthy said.
Martin was arraigned that afternoon in 36th District Court. A plea of not guilty was entered for him, and he was held without bond. A probable cause conference was set for October 2 and a preliminary examination for October 9.
On October 2, 2019, the court referred Martin for an evaluation of his competency to stand trial. In December a judge said more time was needed to finish it, and on February 14, 2020, he was due back in court for a ruling on whether he was competent to stand trial on the kidnapping charge. The sources consulted do not report the result of that evaluation, but the case went forward, so he was evidently found competent.
The preliminary examination on the four murders was held on August 13, 2020. According to court documents described by WDIV, police said Martin had left what they called a "serial killer signature" at each scene: in many cases, a victim's sock left behind, and each body positioned in a particular way. A former girlfriend testified that he had sexually assaulted her in the past. Martin was bound over for trial on all four murders.
Trial was delayed for two more years. A jury trial was expected in September 2022.
On September 2, 2022, days before the trial was to begin, Martin pleaded guilty. Under the agreement he pleaded to second-degree murder in each of the four homicide cases, with concurrent sentences of 45 to 70 years agreed in advance. He pleaded guilty as charged in the two criminal sexual conduct cases, with sentence left to the judge under the guidelines. The first-degree and felony murder counts fell away under the agreement.
FOX 2 Detroit reported that as part of the plea Martin also admitted to raping or sexually assaulting ten other women. That claim does not appear in the prosecutor's release, WDIV's reports or the AP's later investigation, all of which describe two sexual assault cases, and it has not been confirmed in any other source consulted.
Martin was sentenced on October 6, 2022, in Wayne County Circuit Court by Judge Regina Thomas. The families spoke first.
Gary Harrison told Martin, "We miss Nancy." Timothy Harrison said, "Shame on him," and "I'm bitter. Very much so." Lisa Hohnstreiter told him that he was "the perfect example of why Michigan should have the death penalty."
Latrease Ellis said she had prayed for her own family and for Martin too. "I pray that God has mercy on your soul," she told him. "I want to be forgiven one day, too."
Anita Nelson Reed said of her twin, "She survived," and asked the judge to throw away the key.
Martin spoke last, briefly and barely audibly. FOX 2 reported that he said it was "not his wrong-doing." WDIV reported that he apologized to the families but said he planned to return to court because he had not committed the crimes. The judge reminded him of his plea and of the evidence, then imposed the agreed sentence: four concurrent terms of 45 to 70 years for second-degree murder, and concurrent terms of 20 to 40 years in the two sexual assault cases.
"The women Deangelo Martin violently killed all had families who loved them dearly," Worthy said in a statement. "Hopefully, they will find some peace knowing that he will be in the Michigan Department of Corrections and off the streets."
In December 2023 the Associated Press, working with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, published an investigation by Del Quentin Wilber, Ed White and Maddy Peek into how the Detroit Police Department had handled Martin over about fifteen years. It drew on interviews, court files and police records, including a 247-page internal affairs report.
That report found that the sex crimes unit had mishandled DNA hits, that officers were confused about the criteria for treating a case as a serial rape, and that they were reluctant to go back to victims who had not cooperated at first. It found that no misconduct rose "to the level of criminality," but that several officers had "neglected their duties." Two were briefly suspended. An internal affairs supervisor called the problems a "total systemic breakdown." McGinnis, by then head of the department's professional standards bureau, said that was "one way of categorizing it." He said the department had since changed how it treats crime victims and handles DNA leads from the state lab, and now brings supervisors into serial-offender cases. He also said Martin alone was responsible for the deaths and had been held accountable.
When the murder charges were filed in 2019, Craig had called the department's work "very diligent, relentless." The AP concluded that this description was not accurate. Jim Trainum, a retired detective quoted by the AP, said police had needed to do only "one little thing" to stop the killings.
Relatives told the AP the deaths could have been prevented. "They missed the ball really early in this," Gary Harrison said; police, he said, "messed up," and "Nancy might still be alive." Lisa Hohnstreiter said her mother's death "could definitely have been prevented." Anthony Ellis said police should have done their jobs. Several relatives asked whether police would have moved faster if the women had not been homeless or struggling with addiction or mental illness.
As of the December 21, 2023 Associated Press report, Martin, then 38, was serving his sentence of 45 to 70 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. His minimum term is 45 years. No source consulted reports an appeal or a motion to withdraw the plea, despite his statement at sentencing that he intended to return to court. His prison status after December 2023 was not checked for this page.
Proven by guilty plea: the second-degree murders of Annetta Nelson, Nancy Harrison, Trevesene Ellis and Tamara Jones, and two criminal sexual conduct cases involving the 26-year-old and 51-year-old survivors.
Admitted to investigators, according to the AP: beating Nancy Harrison with a two-by-four, and killing Trevesene Ellis.
Linked by DNA, never charged: the 2004 rape of Sylvia Sampson, the late-2015 assault on a 50-year-old woman, and the assault behind the 2017 hospital rape kit.
Testimony, not separately charged: a former girlfriend's account at the August 2020 hearing that he had sexually assaulted her.
Suspected, never charged: the deaths of Deborah Reynolds and Yvonne Cobern.
Unconfirmed: FOX 2's report that he admitted to sexually assaulting ten other women as part of the plea; police sources' June 2019 estimate of as many as eleven killings; any link to cases outside Michigan.
1985: Deangelo Kenneth Martin is born; raised in Detroit.
1998 to 1999: His mother, Chantrienes Barker, is arrested and then convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life.
2004: Sylvia Sampson, 41, is raped at gunpoint; her kit goes untested.
By 2009: Martin has at least two convictions and his DNA is in the national database. Prosecutors find about 11,000 untested rape kits.
2012: The state lab matches Martin's DNA to Sampson's kit.
Late 2015: A 50-year-old woman is assaulted in a vacant house.
2016: The Sampson case is closed after police learn she has died. In October, Martin's DNA is matched to the 2015 assault; a prosecutor warns of a possible serial offender.
2017: A third rape kit is linked to Martin; no police report is found.
February 26, 2018: Annetta Nelson is found on Winthrop Street. Rudolph Henderson is charged and cleared about a week later.
April or May 2018: The lab matches Martin's DNA to Nelson's killing. No warrant is sought.
August 2018: Deborah Reynolds is last seen with Martin.
September 2018: Wayne State police ticket and Ferndale police arrest Martin.
December 2018: Southfield arrest for assaulting a girlfriend. On December 22, remains later identified as Reynolds are found on Annin Street.
March 19, 2019: Nancy Harrison is found on Coventry Street.
May 7, 2019: A 26-year-old woman is stabbed and raped in a family basement. Martin is arrested days later in Chesterfield Township, held about ten days on a probation violation, and released.
March 24 or May 24, 2019: Trevesene Ellis is found on Linnhurst Street (sources disagree).
May 20, 2019: The medical examiner rules Harrison's death a homicide.
Early June 2019: A 51-year-old woman is kidnapped and strangled and escapes from the Mack Avenue house.
June 5, 2019: Tamara Jones is found on Mack Avenue; police announce a possible serial killer.
June 7, 2019: Martin is arrested at a bus stop at Seven Mile and Gratiot.
June 10, 2019: Charged in the May 7 attack.
July 16, 2019: Bound over on the May 7 case.
July 2019: Charged in the attack on the 51-year-old woman.
September 18, 2019: Charged with four counts each of first-degree premeditated murder and felony murder.
October 2, 2019: Referred for a competency evaluation.
October 2019: The Annin Street remains are identified as Deborah Reynolds.
August 13, 2020: Bound over for trial on the four murders.
September 2, 2022: Pleads guilty to four counts of second-degree murder and two sexual assault cases.
October 6, 2022: Sentenced to 45 to 70 years by Judge Regina Thomas.
December 21, 2023: AP investigation reports the internal affairs findings; Martin is in state prison as of this report.