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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge)  Photo Gallery: Cold Case Cards   ADVERTISEMENT   About this series Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives created the state’s first deck of cold-case playing cards. Each Sunday for a year, The Herald is publishing a story about a case featured on one of the cards. Anyone with information about unsolved homicides or missing persons cases is asked to call 800-222-TIPS (8477). Up to a $1,000 reward is offered. Tips about Jose Luis Martinez’s homicide also can be left on the Everett police tip line at 425-257-8450. Callers may remain anonymous, although tips have been more successful when callers speak with detectives, police said.   Related Stories • Woman's slaying still unsolved despite twist 1/4/09 • Reuben Lewis went missing in early 1991 12/28/08 • '93 slaying hangs over mother's life 12/21/08 • Young couple's slaying confounds detective 12/14/08 • Young mother was fatally shot in her home 11/30/08 • Mother looks to God after daughter is slain 11/23/08 • Cold case: Mother still has hope for missing daughter 11/16/08 • Mother's pain still fresh 25 years after daughter's death 11/9/08 • Cold Case: Hope persists that woman will be found 11/2/08 • Mother longs for answers in son's death 10/26/08 • God replaces fear for slaying victim's sister 10/19/08 • Police believe '91 slaying was drug related 10/12/08 • Cold Case: 'There was no reason' for death 10/5/08 • Man was helping others at time of his death 9/28/08 • Cold Case: Detectives don't believe mother's disappearance in '94 was voluntary 9/21/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, August 10, 2008 Cold Case: Man, 24, was gunned down during dispute By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer EVERETT -- Jose Luis Martinez came here to make a life. He left his parents in Mexico when he was just old enough to drive. Martinez, 24, returned to his family in a coffin. A year after settling in Everett he was gunned down in one of the city's most crime-plagued neighborhoods. Everett police continue to hunt for the shooter. Martinez is part of the state's first deck of cold-case playing cards. He is featured on the three of spades. The decks of cards are handed out to jail and prison inmates in hopes of soliciting tips about unsolved homicides and missing persons cases dating back to the 1970s. Martinez's death is the most recent homicide in the deck. The shooting happened June 27, 2007. Investigators believe Martinez and two friends were searching for drugs when they went to an apartment on W. Casino Road. A dispute erupted in gunfire. Martinez was shot in the courtyard. One of his friends was shot in the thigh. Neighbors were awakened by police and ambulance sirens. They voiced concerns about ongoing violence and drug activity in the area. A month before Martinez was slain, a gang-related shooting at nearby Walter E. Hall Park during a Little League practice sent kids and their parents scrambling for cover. Everett police detective James Brouwer says he is actively investigating the homicide. He wants to find answers for a family thousands of miles away. He believes someone saw who pulled the trigger. "I know there are people out there that know what happened," he said. Melissa Ashby and her mother have hung reward posters around the area. Ashby and Martinez were dating and had made plans to be married, she said. Martinez was a good person with a big heart, Ashby said. "He deserves justice," she said. "His family deserves justice." Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.

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