1:03 PM: Two weeks after Leticia Martinez-Cosman vanished, last seen leaving a Mariners’ game with a man now in jail, the search for her is over.
It’s been confirmed that she is the person found dead in Renton after investigators went there this past Tuesday – the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has just announced it plans to charge 46-year-old Brett M. Gitchel with second-degree murder for her death.
Gitchel is the man with whom she attended the Mariners’ game; he is already charged with kidnapping and trying to kill Ms. Martinez-Cosman’s 24-year-old special-needs son and then setting her car on fire hours later. A gun found in his car is the reason for another felony charge, as he is already a convicted felon and not supposed to possess one. In addition, as we first reported Wednesday, Gitchel is charged with committing a West Seattle burglary shown here in a Crime Watch reader report on March 28th.
Ms. Martinez-Cosman was known in West Seattle as owner of the Café Rozella coffee shop and community hub in South Delridge a decade ago. Checking the archives of our partner site White Center Now, we found this 2012 photo of her and her son, who had just achieved the honor roll at Madison Middle School:
Raising money for his future is the subject of crowdfunding. The newest page was set up by his uncle Ricardo Martinez; find it here.
Meantime, Gitchel remains in jail, bail set at $5,050,000, and is due in court to be arraigned April 24th. Information yet to be released includes the cause of Ms. Martinez-Cosman’s death.
2:57 PM: The Medical Examiner has just released that, saying she died by strangulation, and estimating the date of death as April 1st.
| 31 COMMENTS