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IDAHO FALLS — Court documents reveal what happened leading up to a deadly crash where a mother was charged and her 7-year-old daughter died.
Jessica Martinez, 30, of Ammon, has been charged with four felonies, including vehicular manslaughter and three counts of injury to a child.
The crash happened on Nov. 15 at 11 p.m. in the area of 2080 E. 65th South, just east of Sandy Downs in eastern Idaho.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the Idaho Falls Police Department, Martinez and her four children were involved in a single-vehicle rollover crash, which resulted in the death of her 7-year-old.
"Following the crash, Jessica never called 911 for help but called family members and told them what she had done," court documents said.
Martinez's boyfriend arrived at the scene and took three of her children with him to a local hospital: an 8-year-old girl, a 5-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy. All three had minor scrapes and cuts, according to court documents. One child had to get stitches.
The 7-year-old girl was taken to a local hospital but died, according to a news release from Idaho Falls police. Martinez was also taken to the hospital but was stable.
One of the kids told a police officer her mother was drunk before they left their house.
An open container of alcohol was reportedly lying next to the driver's door of the GMC Yukon registered to Martinez, police say. The bottle was labeled "Crown Royal," according to court documents.
The vehicle had "rolled one time" and multiple windows were broken out, the documents state. A fence post had gone through the windshield and was in the front passenger seat.
From interviews and physical evidence, police believe the girl who died "was sitting in the second-row middle seat of the SUV and was unrestrained between two forward-facing car seats prior to being ejected from the vehicle."
Martinez admitted to a deputy that she had consumed half of the bottle of Crown Royal. She gave consent to a blood draw, documents said.
She had reportedly told a deputy multiple times, "I f****d up."
Documents say she "lied" to a deputy, saying there were no other occupants in the vehicle besides her and her daughter that died. However, when questioned by the ER doctor about the other children who were in the hospital with injuries, she admitted they had been in the vehicle.
A detective interviewed Martinez at the hospital, where she said she consumed alcohol before leaving her house but not while driving or after the accident, court documents said.
A relative took custody of the children at the hospital.
Martinez was then taken into custody and booked into the Bonneville County Jail. She was given a $50,000 bond and has since posted it, according to court records. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday at the Bonneville County Courthouse at 1 p.m.
