James David Martin

Martin was swiftly arrested following the discovery of his wife's body, pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of 22-to-44 years imprisonment, which he would serve at the State Correctional Institution – Somerset prison. While serving his sentence there, his DNA was matched to that of an unidentified male's found underneath the fingernails of Marleny Cruz, and detectives from the Bronx were dispatched to question him. He freely admitted his guilt in the murder, and extradited back to New York City to stand trial on charges of murder, rape and sodomy. On October 28, 2016, James David Martin plead guilty to her murder, and received an additional 20 years imprisonment, to be served on top of his previous sentence.

On February 23, 1998, while walking around the Bronx, Martin came across 14-year-old Marleny Cruz, a Dominican-born adoptee who often went on visits to an aunt in the area. Taking an interest in the beautiful young girl, James asked her out on a date to his mother's apartment, to which she agreed. At some point, however, the pair began arguing, with Martin proceeding to grab her by the throat, beating, sexually abusing and finally, strangling Cruz to death. He then dumped her body on a curb in University Heights, where she was later found by passers-by. Initially, she could not be identified, and it was even presumed that she could have been Chante Smalls, a girl who had recently gone missing, but it was later determined not to be the case, as Smalls was later found alive. Eight months later, through dental records, the body was identified as that of Cruz, but her killer remained elusive. Some detectives theorized that her death might have been related to a series of rapes that occurred in the Bronx at the time, but no conclusive connection was made to any such case.

At age 17, Martin was envious that his fellow basketball buddy Thomas had recently bought himself an expensive pair of Air Jordans worth $115.50. On May 2, 1989, James lured Michael into the woods near the school, where he proceeded to sodomize and then strangle him to death. After killing him, he stole the Air Jordans and fled the scene. Not long after, however, he was arrested for the murder, charged with first-degree murder and convicted. The senseless crime for the shoes, which ironically did not even fit Martin, were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with professional basketball player Michael Jordan himself expressing his horror at the brutality of the crime. Martin served seven years in prison, before being released in 1996 and moving back to New York City to live with his mother.

James David Martin (born December 11, 1971) is an American serial killer who strangled three people across three states between 1989 and 2005. While serving a sentence for the murder of his wife in Pennsylvania, he was connected via DNA profiling to a cold case murder in The Bronx, for which he was later given an additional 20 years imprisonment.