BEL AIR, Md. (Scripps News Baltimore) — After more than two years, justice for the family of Kayla Hamilton.
Her killer, on Wednesday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 70 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised probation.
On July 27, 2022, Hamilton’s boyfriend found her brutally murdered inside an Aberdeen mobile home.
The victim, 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton. (Aberdeen Police Dept.)
The 20-year-old, who was diagnosed with autism, was raped, tied up, and strangled with a phone cord.
DNA evidence collected from Hamilton’s clothing led to a teenage El Salvadorian national named Walter Javier Martinez, whose identity remained under seal until Wednesday.
Much more evidence linked Martinez to the murder.
In a disturbing twist, Hamilton’s last moments were recorded on her boyfriend’s voicemail because she had tried calling him when Martinez first arrived.
Prosecutors played the recording in court. A voice believed to be Martinez could be heard apologizing to Hamilton after he killed her.
Investigators said Hamilton’s phone went missing and happened to ping near Martinez’s last known location.
Before returning home and discovering his girlfriend’s body, Hamilton’s boyfriend witnessed Martinez walking away from the murder scene.
Turns out five days prior to the murder, Martinez rented a separate room inside the same mobile home Hamilton and her boyfriend were staying.
Detectives soon learned that Martinez was a member of the notorious crime gang MS-13 with an extremely violent past.
He reportedly was smuggled into the United States illegally back in March of 2022, just four months before Hamilton’s death.
It’s unclear what victims Martinez is speaking of in the letter, but Healey believes those murders were committed in El Salvador.
Healy claims Maryland law prohibited Martinez from being sentenced to life without parole since he was just 17 at the time of the murder.
“I recognize that no amount of time will ever be enough to take away the pain and suffering that this family has experienced as a result of Walter Martinez’s horrific and criminal conduct, nor will any sentence bring this victim back to them,” said Healey.
Hamilton’s case generated national attention amid heated political debate over America’s fractured immigration system.
Things became more contentious a year later when Rachel Morin, a mother of five, was killed by another undocumented migrant on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air.
Since Hamilton’s murder, her family filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Health and Human Services (DHHS), accusing the agencies of committing “operational negligence” for allowing Martinez into the country.
If Martinez ever gets released from prison, ICE is expected to enforce a detainer that would kick-start the deportation process.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Baltimore, an E.W. Scripps Company.
