Man pleads guilty to stabbing Greenacres woman in Washington D.C.
The man accused of fatally stabbing a Greenacres woman last year as she jogged in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty Friday to one count of first-degree murder while armed, according to court records.
Wendy Martinez, 35, died in what authorities called in an "unprovoked" attack Sept. 18 in the Logan Circle neighborhood, 2 miles northeast of The White House, authorities said. An autopsy revealed she was stabbed seven times in her head, neck and back.
Anthony Crawford's plea agreement calls for a prison sentence of 30 years and a fine up to $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington. He must also donate between $100 to $5000 to the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund. His formal sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 13.
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Attempts to reach Martinez's family were unsuccessful Friday, and it released no statements regarding the plea agreement.
Martinez graduated from Lake Worth High School in 2001 and won a Palm Beach Post Pathfinder Award that year. She earned her bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University in 2006 and a graduate degree from Georgetown University. In 2005, Martinez was one of eight college students nationwide to be selected for an internship in the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute in Washington D.C.
A native of Nicaragua who moved to the United States at age 5, Martinez went on to work at the Nicaraguan Embassy and the Organization of American States. She most recently worked before she died for a Washington-based software, data and media company.
She was engaged to be married to Daniel Hincapie about a week before she was killed. The red dress chosen for her wedding dress was worn for her burial, her mother, Cora Martinez said in 2018.
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On the night of the crime, Crawford stole a kitchen knife from a grocery store and encountered Martinez about 20 minutes later on the corner of 11th Street and P street, according to government officials. Martinez escaped to a nearby Chinese restaurant while Crawford fled the area, leaving behind pieces of his clothes and his knife, both covered in blood. Bystanders tried to stop her bleeding, but she succumbed to her injuries at a hospital.
Crawford, then 23, Crawford was picked up at a park about a mile away from the stabbing the day after the killing. He was formally arrested Sept. 19. A psychiatric evaluation from 2015 showed him engaging in "seriously self-destructive behavior.
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