When 36-year-old Brett M. Gitchel appeared in King County Superior Court this morning for arraignment, he also answered to the newly filed charge of second-degree murder in the strangulation death of Leticia Martinez-Cosman. The amended charging documents do not include much new information, but did shine light on why investigators searched the area of Renton where they found her body:

… Brett’s historical cellphone data shows that Brett drove outside of the City of Seattle into remote mountainous regions in King County, including locations along I-90 near Snoqualmie Pass and SE Middle Fork Rd in North Bend, before returning to the Seattle area. Beginning on 04/06/2023, members of Law Enforcement, subsequently assisted by King County Search and Rescue personnel, began to physically search areas of interest for Leticia. Areas of interest were chosen and based upon the actions and locations of Brett Gitchel after Leticia went missing at the Mariners game, as indicated by Brett’s historical cellphone data. One of these areas of search interest was the street of “S 192nd St”, between Talbot Rd S (on the east) and WA-SR-167 (on the west) in the City of Renton. This street was selected because historical cellphone data indicated that Brett was near the far west end of S 192nd St for about 20 minutes on 04/01/2023 at approximately 2230 hours, or about 3 1⁄2 hours before Brett made contact with (Leticia’s son) Patrick.

This location was also of interest because of its lightly populated area, its heavily wooded terrain, its proximity to the location where Brett strangled Patrick hours later, and because records reported that Brett had previously lived in an apartment on this same street.

On 04/11/2023, at about 1204 hours, approximately 10 1⁄2 days after she was last seen alive, the deceased body of
Leticia Martinez-Cosman was discovered during a planned law enforcement search near the far west end of S 192nd
St, on the north side of the road.

The narrative adds:

… The circumstances necessary to have caused Leticia’s death by strangulation is a manifestation of Brett’s extreme indifference to her life and was the ultimate cause of her death. Brett used premeditated intentional lies and deception to lure Patrick into a situation in a vehicle where Patrick would be susceptible to Brett’s strangulation. The facts and evidence of this case supports the conclusion that Brett also used premeditated and intentional lies and deception to lure Leticia into a situation in her vehicle where she would be susceptible to Brett’s persistent strangulation, ultimately resulting in her death.

… Brett Michael Gitchel exhibited injuries consistent with the assault of Patrick Cosman and denied going to the Mariners’ game with Leticia and claimed to not recognize her, until he was shown a photograph of them together that he could not deny. Brett’s statement that Leticia met someone at the end of the game and left with them is also not true based upon the T-Mobile Park video of them leaving together. Brett repeatedly lied to law enforcement in his interview until the point where he could not deny the truth any longer and chose to instead end the interview. Brett is depicted alone in multiple videos with Leticia’s vehicle and at her home after her disappearance. Brett’s historical cellphone data provides evidence to support his involvement in the criminal activity listed above.

A text message string between the phones of Brett Gitchel and Leticia Martinez-Cosman was recovered during the search warrant of Brett’s phone. The exchanged messages confirm that Brett did not know nor have any relationship with Leticia prior to her meeting him at Costco on 03/19/2023 and going to the Mariners game on 03/31/2023. Leticia arranged to meet Brett near the home plate entrance of T-Mobile Park before the game. There is no history or evidence to support that Brett had ever been inside Leticia’s car, or had ever been invited to her home, before their meeting at the Mariners game on 03/31/2023.

The narrative concludes that investigators still have not found any evidence of the victim being alive after leaving the Mariners’ game that night with Gitchel around 10:30 pm. He is now charged with second-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree unlawful gun possession, second-degree arson, and first-degree theft, as well as with second-degree burglary in the March 28th West Seattle case. He remains in the King County Jail, bail set at $5,050,000, and his next court date is set for May 15th.