A security guard in Colorado was apprehended last week while on duty, with a severed hand discovered in his coat pocket. This shocking discovery occurred a day after a decapitated body was found in a nearby creek. The guard, 26-year-old Solomon Martinez, was arrested on January 11 under suspicion of first-degree murder. The victim, a woman believed to be the owner of the severed hand, was allegedly hired by Martinez as a prostitute days prior to her death. Martinez, however, denies any involvement in the murder.
The investigation quickly focused on Martinez after his roommate found him at a local car wash, covered in dirt and blood, two days before his arrest. Martinez was reportedly using a pressure washer to clean his hands and had asked his roommate to dig a 10-foot hole, according to the arrest affidavit.
The roommate, who was at the car wash to work on his car, told police that he had asked Martinez to borrow tools. However, Martinez refused to let him open the trunk of the car to retrieve them. Martinez appeared to struggle to move something large in the trunk to access the tools. Another witness, a friend of Martinez, corroborated the roommate’s account, stating that he had heard Martinez talking about needing to dig a deep hole.
The same friend told police that he saw Martinez dragging what seemed to be a woman’s body to the creek bed that morning. Martinez had initially asked the friend to help dispose of the body and later threatened him with a gun when he refused. The friend reported that the body was decapitated, but the head was found near the body. He filmed the scene to protect himself and covered the body with a blanket, unsure of what else to do.
Police located Martinez at his workplace, a security company owned by a former Pueblo County Sheriff who had hired Martinez just two weeks prior. Upon his arrest, investigators found a human hand in a plastic bag in Martinez’s jacket pocket. Martinez admitted to carrying the hand for two days. He had cuts all over his hands and wrists, which he initially attributed to Chihuahua bites and later to small rocks while cleaning up after his dog. His car was also reportedly covered in blood.
Martinez attempted to blame the murder on the friend who filmed the video. He claimed that the friend had borrowed his car, which contained his gun and phone, and had asked Martinez to pick up the severed hand. When asked if there was any incriminating evidence on his phone, Martinez responded, “Probably, I am afraid to know.”
Martinez is currently being held at the Pueblo County jail on a $1 million cash-only bond, facing charges of first-degree murder. Pueblo is a city located 40 miles south of Colorado Springs.