SUN Staff Report
6/4/09
Española Police are awaiting an autopsy report to determine the cause of death of a 34-year-old man whose body was found May 27 outside Blake’s Lotaburger on Riverside Drive.
Delfin Martinez, of Fairview, was found deceased about 4:30 p.m. under a tree behind the Lotaburger by people walking in the area, according to a police report. His body was up against a fence, face down, and was beginning to decompose, the report states.
Española Police Sgt. Christian Lopez said foul play was not suspected in Martinez’s death, but said he could not comment on whether drugs or drug paraphernalia were found near the body. Sgt. Richard Gallegos said neither drugs nor paraphernalia were found when officers searched the scene, but the day after the body was found, Martinez’s girlfriend, Terrie Martinez, called police because she found a syringe on the side of a dumpster in the same parking lot.
Terrie Martinez told police she had never known Delfin Martinez to use drugs, but said she believed he may have been with a friend who had given him drugs on the day of his death. Police have not released the friend’s name.
Toxicology tests from the state Office of the Medical Investigator will reveal Martinez’s cause of death in approximately six weeks.