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Mom Of Slain D.C. Jogger Never Thought Her Daughter’s Newly Picked Out Wedding Dress Would Be Used For Her Funeral
Despite the grief over her daughter Wendy's brutal killing, Cora Martinez said she forgives the suspect, Anthony Crawford.
Police have nabbed a suspect in the stabbing death of a runner in Washington D.C. and the victim’s mom said she has already forgiven him for killing her daughter.
Anthony Marquell Crawford, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 35-year-old Wendy Karina Martinez. Court records indicate Crawford has a history of paranoia and drug use.
D.C. police say the recently engaged runner was stabbed six times in the head and neck, and once in the back while running in her gentrifying neighborhood. D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham says nothing indicates a confrontation between the two.
Martinez' mother, Cora Martinez, says she forgives Crawford because "it was evil being incarnated in him."
“I have forgiven him completely. My heart has no room for hate, has no room for resentfulness,” she said during a news conference held on Thursday. “My heart has been broken into 1,000 pieces, but I forgive that man.”
Before her murder, Wendy Martinez became engaged.
“She was very excited when she found out she was going to be engaged. So, as soon as she had the engagement ring, she let me know,” Cora Martinez said. “Wendy lived the happiest seven days of her life. She was in the happiest moment.”
The mother and daughter went wedding dress shopping just last week. Wendy Martinez will be buried in the wedding dress she picked out to get married in, according to CBS News.
“I never figured that when I saw my daughter in that dress, that ... she was buying it for her funeral,” the grieving mother said at the press conference.
Crawford's attorney, Eugene Ohm, says there's no evidence linking his client to the attack, which authorities say was captured on security video.
Wendy Martinez was able to stumble into a Chinese restaurant after getting stabbed to try to get help.
"It was very disturbing. You have a young woman out here exercising in a neighborhood, a very, very safe neighborhood," D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said during a recent press conference. "To have something like that happen, like I said, it's unsettling."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Photo: AP]
