Some details in this story are disturbing.
Court documents reveal disturbing new details in the killing of a Maryland parole agent who was found dead last month in a registered sex offender’s apartment.
The suspect, Emanuel Edward Sewell, 54, was ordered held without bond Monday on a charge of second-degree murder. Prosecutors said they plan to update that to first-degree murder.
The agent, 33-year-old Davis Martinez, had gone the morning of Friday, May 31, for a routine check on Sewell, a registered sex offender who was living in an apartment on Terrace Drive in Chevy Chase. But the agent didn't return to work after going to Sewell's apartment, police said.
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According to charging documents, Montgomery County officers went to Sewell's apartment to check on Martinez after someone called 911 at 5:50 p.m. They found the apartment “secured with blinds drawn.”
When no one answered the apartment door, officers forced their way inside and found a gruesome crime scene, according to the court documents.
Officers found a bloody towel near the front door and Martinez's body under a bed. The body had been wrapped in plastic bags, the documents said.
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Martinez’s car was still in the parking lot, and investigators believe his phone was thrown in a dumpster.
The medical examiner determined Martinez's manner of death was homicide, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said. While the cause is not yet known, Jones said Martinez suffered multiple injuries.
Police arrested Sewell the next day in West Virginia, about a six-hour drive from Chevy Chase.
Martinez was a six-year employee of the Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services and worked in the Silver Spring field office.
According to Maryland’s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Martinez had been Sewell’s parole agent for awhile, and Sewell had not posed a risk prior.
"He was alone in the home visit, and it is typical that they go alone on those visits," Maryland Secretary of Public Safety and Correctional Services Carolyn Scruggs said. "The suspect has done 25 out of 29 years, and he had mandatory release."
Sewell was released from prison in 2021 after serving decades in prison for a violent sexual assault. According to charging documents from October 1996, Sewell broke into a man’s apartment while he was sleeping, bound his hands and feet, and sexually assaulted him.
Union officials have raised concerns about agents not being armed and being by themselves during home visits with those convicted of violent crimes. Those visits have been paused while the investigation continues.
Martinez is the first Division of Parole and Probation agent allegedly killed by a client while on duty in the state, Moore's office said. The Maryland flag will be flown at half staff through Martinez's interment.
His death is a stark reminder of the dangers these agents face.
"These are the unsung heroes that you often do not hear about, but they are part of law enforcement and they do a great job," Scruggs said.
