Prosecutors: Journal details daughter's plans to murder Arlington Heights couple
The daughter of the Arlington Heights couple found dead in their house early Saturday was ordered held without bond Monday on charges of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Deborah Jane Martin, 43, repeatedly stabbed her father, David Martin, 72, and his wife, Anne Martin, 71, to death early Saturday morning, hours after the three had dinner with neighbors.
Among the unnerving details prosecutors revealed during Deborah Martin's bond hearing was the discovery of a journal located next to bloody clothes on her bed in the family's South Derbyshire Lane home. The journal includes multiple references — one as recent as June 2 — about killing her parents, said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Lorna Amado-Chevlin.
From the bathroom, police recovered a Smith & Wesson knife with a 6-inch blade and a black handle. Its sheath was found in a drawer in the bedroom of Deborah Martin, who has no criminal background, Amado-Chevlin said. Officers also recovered a May 2019 receipt for the purchase of a knife that matched the description of the one found in the bathroom, she said.
A “bone-chilling call to 911” at 12:32 a.m. Saturday from Anne Martin alerted police to the tragedy unfolding on the quiet suburban street. The audio captured Anne Martin, a retired Wheeling High School teacher, moaning, gasping for air and pleading “No, Debbie,” Amado-Chevlin said.
“The mother of the defendant is subsequently unable to respond to the 911 operator's inquiries, but her dying gasps and moans are heard throughout the call,” which was made from a portable landline phone, she said. Officers found the blood-covered receiver on the kitchen counter with the line still open.
Officers forced their way into the locked home and found David Martin, a Motorola retiree who neighbors say was a Vietnam veteran, lying on the threshold of the front hallway and living room, Amado-Chevlin said. He had been stabbed three times in the chest and once in the left biceps, the left leg and the right side of his neck, which prosecutors say showed a slash. Investigators noted a blood trail leading from David Martin's living room recliner to the place where his body was found, Amado-Chevlin said.
Officers found Anne Martin in the kitchen with seven stab wounds to her chest, two wounds to her neck and one in her back and defensive wounds on her hands, Amado-Chevlin said. Authorities listed multiple stab wounds as the cause of death for both victims.
Upon entering the house, police saw Deborah Martin standing in the hallway with wet hair, “consistent with someone having just showered,” Amado-Chevlin said.
• Daily Herald staff writer Christopher Placek contributed to this report.