CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man accused of killing four people, including three of his relatives, and wounding an 8-year-old girl called his former girlfriend in Chicago and confessed to the crime, according to police records.
The woman relayed the Jan. 13 phone call to Cleveland police within seconds of Martin Muniz flagging down a police car and telling officers that he “did something” inside the family’s house on Mack Court in Brooklyn Centre, according to 911 call logs obtained by cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
Muniz then told police that he shot five people, the logs say.
A grand jury on March 3 returned a superseding indictment that charges Muniz with multiple counts of aggravated murder. The charges carry the death penalty if he is found guilty in the slayings of his father, Miguel Gonzalez, 68; his sister, Angelic Gonzalez, 34; his nephew, Jayden Baez, 16; and Angelic Gonzalez’s partner, Anthony Boothe, 48.
The 8-year-old girl, who records say was shot in the back of the head, survived. She was hospitalized after the shooting.
Muniz has pleaded not guilty and is jailed on a $5 million bond. The case has been assigned to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew Santoli.
Tom Shaughnessy, one of Muniz’s court-appointed attorneys, declined to comment.
Police learned of the grisly scene about 7:50 p.m. Jan. 13, according to records.
Muniz walked to West 44th Street and Clark Avenue and flagged down police officers patrolling the neighborhood and told them about the shootings, the records say.
In the same minute, Muniz’s former girlfriend called police and said that Muniz had called her crying on FaceTime video chat, according to the documents. The call had ended, then Muniz called her back a few minutes later and told her that he had “just killed his family,” the records say.
She told police that Muniz had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the documents say.
The woman also told police that Muniz was walking on the street when he called her and said he still had the gun with two bullets left in it, the documents say.
Muniz later told police that he threw the gun away sometime during his walk, according to the records. The department requested a Parma police officer to bring a drone to help search for the gun.
It is unclear whether investigators found the weapon.
Officers went into the house and discovered the victims. All had been shot in the head and were in different rooms of the house, a Cleveland police homicide detective wrote in a charging document filed in Cleveland Municipal Court shortly after the slayings.
A victim’s advocate for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said at Muniz’s January arraignment that the surviving members of his family “never want to see him again.”
Muniz could be seen laughing on a video feed from jail during the arraignment.
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