A Greeley woman who snatched a 3-year-old girl from Bears Village Apartments, where the child disappeared, in June will not spend a day in prison. Mariah Martinez, 30, was sentenced to six years in community corrections after pleading guilty to second-degree kidnapping, closing out a case that began with a frantic, hours-long search and ended with officers finding the child more than a mile from home.
According to 9News, Martinez pleaded guilty to the second-degree kidnapping charge in July, and prosecutors dismissed two other charges as part of the resolution. She will serve her six-year sentence in community corrections rather than prison, the station reported.
The ordeal began the evening of June 8, when Greeley police received a call from the girl's mother reporting her daughter missing from the Bears Village Apartments on 18th Street. The mother told officers she had last seen her daughter at about 4:30 p.m. at a playground near the park, according to the Greeley Tribune.
A Mother's Mistaken Assumption
The mother believed her daughter was at a neighbor's apartment. It was the girl's father who realized the child was not actually inside that neighbor's home, prompting the family to call police, the Tribune's report noted.
Greeley police got the report that the 3-year-old had gone missing at about 6:20 p.m. that Monday from the Bears Village Apartments, the outlet's follow-up coverage detailed. Officers quickly issued a missing-person alert and a reverse 911 notice within a five-mile radius, searched the apartment complex door to door, and deployed a drone and a police K-9 to widen the hunt. They also posted the child's photo and description on social media, generating tips and sightings of the girl with a woman within about an hour.
A Trail Through the Alleys
At about 7:15 p.m., police learned that a girl had been seen walking in an alley near Cranford Place with a woman. A police dog confirmed the girl's scent in that same alley, according to the Tribune's account. A homeowner who had spoken with Martinez in the 1300 block of Cranford Place also turned over home security footage showing her with the child, per the outlet's later reporting on the investigation.
Officers found Martinez and the girl about 7:45 p.m. in the 1400 block of 15th Street — roughly 1.3 miles from the apartment complex where she had gone missing. The child was taken to a hospital for a precautionary evaluation and has since been reunited with her family, the Tribune reported.
Withdrawal Symptoms and Initial Charges
Martinez was arrested on charges including second-degree kidnapping and child abuse. According to the arrest affidavit cited by the Tribune, she told police she was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and had not used fentanyl in four days. Police said they did not believe the child knew Martinez before the incident, the outlet reported.
Colorado's community corrections system, which Martinez will now enter, is described by the Colorado Department of Corrections as an alternative to prison for felony offenders. Participation requires offenders to change their behavior while allowing restricted privileges to access the community, according to the department's description of the program.
