Friend of Murdered Veteran Pleads for Answers in Unsolved Denver Stabbing

Ralph Jaojoco hadn’t seen his old Marine Corps platoonmate, Ethan Martinez, in twenty years when he decided to look him up on a whim. What he found made his heart sink.

Martinez was dead. The 42-year-old had been stabbed in the neck and chest in Denver. His body was pulled from the Platte River along the Cherry Creek Trail on July 16, 2024, launching a murder investigation that has yielded no arrests to this day, according to the Denver Police Department.

“I’m still in shock,” says Jaojoco, a 49-year-old veteran now living in Hawaii. “I remember him being a strong, kind and joyful person. There was a time in his life when he was on top of the world, not under a bridge, murdered.”

Martinez was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served from 2000 through 2004, including a six-month deployment in Iraq in 2003. After leaving the military, Martinez eventually moved to Colorado and fathered a son. But his civilian life wasn’t without hardships.

Jaojoco says Martinez struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and turned to alcohol and substance use to cope.

A few months before his murder, Jaojoco says Martinez told another former marine that he was living under a bridge in Denver. Martinez’s death was included in the annual homeless persons’ memorial vigil by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.

“When I was reading about what had happened, the articles said ‘Cherry Creek homeless guy.’ Nobody knew who he was,” Jaojoco says. “The way he was murdered, it’s appalling. But not only that. It’s appalling that it’s unsolved and that nobody knows about who Ethan Martinez really was. That’s the most disturbing part of this whole situation, to me.”

Jaojoco remembers Martinez as “Marty,” a goofy, giggling surfer. The guy who would flash a smile with red teeth, stained from drinking a bizarre mix of Kool-Aid and pickle juice. Someone who would annoy him by returning his borrowed laptop with the keyboard covered in potato chip grease.

Martinez was also the fastest marine on their squad, his friend recalls. A member of the Navajo Nation from New Mexico, Martinez taught Jaojoco how to regulate his breathing by running with water in his mouth. He earned nearly a dozen awards during his service, according to the Marine Corps, including medals for good conduct, achievement, combat action and national defense service.

Despite his troubles, Martinez was loved and valued outside of the military, as well.

“He was the most amazing father and kindest man I’ve ever known. I’ll never forget anything that he taught me or the amazing love he had for everyone, no matter how hard it was for him,” wrote Martinez’s son, now a teenager in Boulder, in an online obituary. (Westword was unable to contact his son.)

Another message describes Martinez as “a good friend” who “loved to play soccer and clean up trash in the neighborhood. …The local businesses loved him. The kids would drive by in the school bus and shout his name.”

The obituary includes a photo of a makeshift memorial for Martinez, complete with a soccer ball, a can of Modelo and the words “send it fuck yourself” written on a cross. Jaojoco explains it is an abbreviated version of one of Martinez’s catch phrases while in the Marines: “Send it and go fuck yourself,” he laughs.

“Our histories as veterans get lost,” Jaojoco adds. “During that time of his life when I knew him, he was awesome. He was a stellar marine. He could run like the wind, do so many pull-ups and lug the machine gun as if it was nothing.”

Jaojoco says he wants to spread stories of his friend’s life as much as he wants to find justice for his death.

“There’s a strong possibility that it’ll never be solved. I know that,” he says of Martinez’s murder. “But, at least, let’s celebrate his life, tell the world who he was. That is equally important.”

Martinez’s body was found inside the entrance of a culvert within the Platte River. He had three wounds: two incised cuts on each side of his neck and one stab wound to his chest, according to the autopsy report. There were traces of methamphetamine and THC in his system.

Denver police say the case is still under investigation, but no new details are available.

Anyone with information about what happened to Martinez is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers online or by calling 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible for a $2,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.