Suspect in California teen’s 2019 disappearance rearrested, indicted in her killing
Authorities have made an arrest in the unsolved case of the disappearance of California teenager Victoria Marquina.
Joshua Anthony Martinez was initially arrested in connection with the Amador County girl’s disappearance in October 2019, but was released.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday that Martinez had been arrested again in connection with the case. According to the jail booking log, Martinez faces murder charges as well as several alleged sex crimes with a minor.
Martinez was charged Monday in San Joaquin County Court. He is being held without bail.
“I met with Victoria’s mother shortly after she took office and she told me about her grief over not knowing where her daughter was and not having the person who killed her held accountable,” San Joaquin County Prosecutor Ron Freitas said outside the courthouse after the hearing. “And that has weighed heavily on me and it’s one of the things that I’ve thought about almost every day since I took office.”
Martinez, who was 21 years old at the time of Marquina’s disappearancewas engaged in an illegal romantic relationship with the 16-year-old, said the Amador County District Attorney’s Office, which has jurisdiction in Sutter Creek and supported the investigation. Martinez previously admitted to authorities that he dropped her off at Sutter Creek.
Prosecutors noted that Martinez fled to Mexico shortly after Marquina disappeared. He was extradited to the United States before his first arrest.
Marquina’s body was never found, but her vehicle and cell phone were found in San Joaquin County shortly after her disappearance.
“I think by now she would have graduated, passed and would be a fulfilled woman,” Blance Valencia, Marquina’s mother, told CBS News Sacramento. “She had a lot of dreams. A lot of dreams. Unfortunately, someone interrupted us. But I still have faith, I still have hope that she will come home.”
The sheriff’s office said at the time of Martinez’s first arrest that it had circumstantial evidence that would have proven he killed her.
“If you know anything, if you’ve heard anything, if you know where my daughter is, please come forward,” Valencia said.
In 2025, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office launched a new cold case task force, focused on cases like Marquina’s.
The Amador County Prosecutor’s Office said that earlier this year it authorized prosecutions in San Joaquin County under jurisdictional laws that allow cases spanning multiple counties to be tried there. The case was then presented to a criminal grand jury in Stockton, which returned an actual indictment.
