TWIN FALLS — The woman suspected of being involved in a double murder at a Twin Falls business early this month was found to have drugs in several areas of her house when police served a search warrant there, records say.
Angelica M. Martinez, 40, was not at the house Wednesday when the warrant was served, and law officers initially suspected she had fled the country, records say.
Martinez was apprehended Wednesday in Phoenix and charged with aiding and abetting murder, along with two felony counts of possessing methamphetamine and cocaine.
The drug possession case apparently isn’t a key part of the murder investigation involving the deaths of Jesse Ortiz-Meda, 36, and Jaime Bravo Rodriguez, 26, but rather a “byproduct” of it, records say.
Law officers had their search warrant amended so they could seize the drugs.
Law enforcement from the Twin Falls Police Department and Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office SWAT teams served the warrant for the house in the 200 block of Ramage Street on Dec. 4 in connection with the murders, and found evidence of drug use, including meth on a living room coffee table and a baggie of cocaine in a bedroom, along with a rolled-up $2 bill containing drug residue, records say.
In a kitchen cupboard, law officers recovered an empty vacuum-sealed bag containing white powder residue, similar to packages that drug dealers transport large quantities of controlled substances, court records said.
The affidavit of probable cause didn’t indicate whether anyone else lived at the house but mentioned police saw photos of Martinez’s children at the residence.
Twin Falls police said Martinez’s arrest came about partly due to information brought forth by community members. Available court records open to the public don’t give details of how Martinez is suspected of being connected to the killings.
Ortiz-Meda was the owner and Rodriguez was an employee of a tint shop in the 2400 block of Kimberly Road, where they were killed by gunfire.
Twin Falls County Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs said he was unsure when Martinez will return to Twin Falls to face the charges. She is being held in the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona.