Arlington Heights woman pleads not guilty to killing her parents
The 43-year-old woman charged with stabbing her parents to death last month in their Arlington Heights house entered a not guilty plea Monday in Rolling Meadows.
Deborah Jane Martin was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of her parents, David Martin, 72, and Anne Martin, 71, early on June 8 and hours after the couple and Deborah Martin had dinner with neighbors.
She is being held without bail in Cook County jail.
Prosecutors said a "bone-chilling call to 911" from retired Wheeling High School teacher Anne Martin at 12:32 a.m. alerted police to the attack. Officers arrived at the locked house and found Vietnam veteran and Motorola retiree David Martin on the threshold of the front hallway in a living room. He had been stabbed multiple times in the chest, arm and leg, prosecutors said.
Officers found Anne Martin in the kitchen with multiple stab wounds to her chest and defensive wounds on her hands.
Police found Deborah Martin in the hall with wet hair "consistent with someone having just showered," prosecutors said.
Authorities offered no motive for the slayings. However, police said they recovered a journal from Deborah Martin's room that included multiple entries referencing killing her parents. From a nearby bathroom, they recovered a knife whose sheath they found in a drawer in Deborah Martin's bedroom. Lastly, they found a May 2019 receipt for the purchase of a knife with a description that matched the knife they recovered, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Martin could face life in prison. She next appears in court Aug. 21.