Wilber Martinez-Guzman pleads guilty to murders, will get life sentence

RENO, Nev. (KRNV) — Wilber Martinez-Guzman told a judge Thursday he killed four people in northern Nevada, beginning a two-stage legal process that the judge and prosecutors said will avoid two death penalty trials and put the 22-year-old man in state prison for the rest of his life.

The Salvadoran man pleaded guilty, after intense questioning by Washoe County District Court Judge Connie Steinheimer in Reno, to two counts of first-degree murder in the January 2019 deaths of Gerald and Sharon David in their Reno home.

The Nevada Supreme Court recently ruled that Martinez-Guzman would stand two different trials in both Washoe and Douglas counties despite both district attorney's recommendations. Hicks and Douglas County District Attorney Mark Jackson initially planned one death-penalty trial for Martinez Guzman, but the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Sept. 30 that the defendant would have to be tried separately in the two county jurisdictions. Entering a guilty plea will bypass both trials.

Martinez-Guzman is accused of killing two women in Douglas County and a couple in Washoe County over a two-week span in January 2019. In addition to the murder charges, he also faces more than a dozen burglary charges. Martinez-Guzman pleaded guilty to all counts on October 21, 2021. The state has agreed they will no longer pursue the death penalty and Martinez-Guzman will face life in prison without the possibility of parole under the new agreement.

Authorities said Martinez-Guzman stole a .22-caliber handgun from Gerald and Sharon David in southwest Reno on Jan. 4, 2019; shot and killed Constance Koontz, 56, and Sophia Renken, 74, in separate attacks in their Gardnerville homes several days later; and returned to the Davids’ house to rob and kill them Jan 15.

Gerald David, 81, and his 80-year-old wife were prominent in the Reno Rodeo Association and had employed Martinez-Guzman as a landscaper the summer before.

Martinez-Guzman was arrested in Carson City during a manhunt that had investigators track an Apple watch stolen from Koontz to Martinez-Guzman’s mother.

Martinez-Guzman has been held without bail at the Washoe County Detention Facility in Reno.

Washoe County sheriff’s detective Stefanie Brady told a grand jury several weeks after Martinez-Guzman’s arrest that he initially denied wrongdoing but later acknowledged through a Spanish interpreter he had “done something that’s unforgiveable.”

“He said he needed the money for the meth,” Brady testified.

The case drew attention at the time from then-President Donald Trump, who said it showed the need to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border because Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally.

Sentencing has been set for February 28, 2022.

Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. right after the status hearing. Watch below:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.