The Smithville Police Department, in cooperation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and an investigator with the Office of the 13th Judicial District General, arrested a man last week after he allegedly bludgeoned to death his common law wife/girlfriend with a hammer.
The crime was discovered at around 5:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 21, after Smithville Police say they received a call reporting a physical domestic at a home at 620 South Mountain Street. Police say the call came from a concerned relative of the victim in the case, who lives out of the area.
Once officers arrived at the home, they discovered the female victim, 39-year-old Yuri Guerra, with obvious physical trauma. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Three children were present at the scene, ages 14, five, and five months, all of which were removed and taken into the custody of the Department of Children’s Services.
“The victim was transported to the Nashville Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. An arrest has been made in the case. The investigation is still on-going. TBI and the DA’s Office are also helping with the case,” said Smithville Police Chief Collins.
Arrested at the scene was 35-year-old Simon Rodriguez Martinez, who allegedly admitted to attempting to clean up blood from the scene and to taking a shower before police arrived. Martinez also allegedly admitted to moving the hammer used in the killing, and throwing the clothes he had been wearing in the trash. Police say that Martinez also confessed to hitting Guerra with the hammer after an argument between the two.
Martinez’s stepdaughter stated during an interview that she witnessed Martinez hit her mother in the head several times with the hammer.
Martinez made his first appearance in General Sessions Court last Thursday, where presiding judge, Vester Parsley, did not set a bond. Parsley was filling in for Judge Brandon Cox while he attended a judicial conference. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Martinez on October 11, with the Public Defender’s Office representing him.
Martinez is currently being held in the DeKalb County Jail.
