$1 million bail set for husband of slain educator

EVERETT — Holly Martinez made sacrifices in work and life to save the marriage, for the sake of her three children.

Cooking, cleaning, laundry and helping the kids to finish homework had fallen to her, in spite of her husband’s scattered employment and her own work lasting 60 hours a week, she wrote in court papers. She had taken a leave of absence as principal of Forest View Elementary School in early 2015, to go through intensive counseling with her husband, Paul.

Martinez accepted a pay cut of $4,000 a year to take a new job as a literacy educator, so she could focus more on home life. But the marriage of 17 years couldn’t be saved.

She filed for divorce in January. Her estranged husband is accused of shooting her to death at her home east of Mill Creek.

She was 45.

Everett District Court Judge Anthony Howard found probable cause Wednesday to hold Paul Anthony Martinez in jail for investigation of second-degree domestic violence murder. Bail was set at $1 million.

The husband, 49, had asked one of his kids if he could come over to his former house on 59th Drive SE, to pick up a red hat around 8 p.m. Monday, according to court papers. Holly Martinez wasn’t home. Paul showed up anyway in a Mitsubishi Lancer. He was acting “odd,” court papers say. He was allowed inside to grab the hat.

Minutes later when Holly arrived, the husband announced he had more things to collect. She went upstairs to check on him about 10 minutes later. The children heard a commotion — crashing and banging, like a fight. Paul opened the door and went outside the home, sweating and breathing heavily, according to the court papers.

Emergency dispatchers took a call at 9:01 p.m. A man’s muffled voice told them to “just send the sheriff quickly,” according to the reports. He was out of breath, but calm.

A dispatcher called back. The man picked up. He said he’d been in a fight with his wife, and she needed medical aid.

“Please hurry,” he said, before he hung up again.

Deputies found Holly Martinez bleeding and unconscious in the master bedroom, with at least two gunshot wounds. A shower door had shattered, and there were bullet marks in the drywall.

Paul Martinez remained at the home but declined to talk with police. He seemed “void of expected emotion and he never asked about his children or wife’s status,” wrote a Snohomish County sheriff’s detective.

Holly Martinez had been a beloved educator in the Everett area.

“The tragedy of Holly’s death calls us to be our best selves and care for one another … ” Everett Public Schools Superintendent Gary Cohn wrote in a statement. “We are the people others will turn to in their grief.”

Holly Martinez had petitioned a court to give up her married name, and to reclaim her identity as Holly Renee Harrison.

Paul Martinez had no criminal record.

Police found in recent months he had bought and registered a Smith & Wesson 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. In his wallet, deputies found a valid concealed weapons permit. The gun had been a “major point of argument” in the leadup to the separation, according to court records.

In the divorce case, Holly Martinez explained frustrations with Paul in a 15-page declaration. He had a habit, she wrote, of pursuing jobs and suddenly quitting.

He had a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and worked as a massage therapist in Arizona. He quit in a year because it was physically too hard, according to his wife’s statements. The family moved to Washington in 2008 so Paul could earn a master’s in counseling. He stopped showing up to required sessions after several months, according to her report. Holly, meanwhile, made her way up the ranks as an educator.

Paul worked temporary jobs and in construction. He quit his job as a delivery driver over his wife’s objections in October 2017, when he feared he’d be fired for losing a package, according to court papers. Around the same time, he bought a pistol. Holly wrote she’d never seen the gun, that he kept it in a safe and that she didn’t have the combination.

She noted Paul had been diagnosed with severe depression by multiple doctors.

“Paul has never shared his mental health records with me, but Paul said that the psychiatrist wanted him to take medication,” his wife wrote in court papers. “He did not like how it made him feel.”

Holly Martinez wrote that the family lived in fear of him.

“He will be angry and everyone will be afraid they did something and not able to guess what set him off,” she wrote. “There is no cause and effect to his anger, no clear rules, and he views many things as disrespectful.”

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.