SAGINAW, MI — When a Saginaw toddler died in his parents’ bed, cocaine and fentanyl coursed through his blood, according to a detective’s testimony. The same illicit substances were in the blood of both his parents, charged with murder in his death, the detective said.
This detail was revealed during a Wednesday, Oct. 27, preliminary examination for Ryan J. Garstecki, 42, and Amber M. Martinez, 33, the parents of Jesse James Martinez-Garstecki, who was 14 months old when he died on Aug. 17. The two parents are charged with second-degree murder and second-degree child abuse in Jesse’s death.
The hearing began with Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Lori B. Selvidge calling Saginaw Police Officer David Wheaton to the witness stand. Wheaton testified he was dispatched to a residence at 721 Stephens St. at 6:42 a.m. on Aug. 17 for an unresponsive child. Mobile Medical Response personnel were already present when he arrived, he said.
Wheaton said he spoke with Martinez beside the ambulance and asked her what was going on.
“She just kept repeating, ‘My baby, my baby,’” Wheaton said. Officers separated Martinez and Garstecki, with the former being placed in a police vehicle.
Selvidge asked Wheaton about Martinez’s demeanor.
“Very frantic, very sad at this point in time,” Wheaton replied.
Selvidge then asked what Martinez had told him.
“She just advised me, let me know that she and Mr. Garstecki ended up getting into an argument,” he said. “She went out to her vehicle at approximately 2 a.m. and came back in in the morning and saw the baby was facedown in Mr. Garstecki’s lap, in his crotch region, and she instantly called police.”
MMR personnel told Wheaton at the scene that Jesse was deceased, the officer said.
Both parents were taken to police headquarters. Garstecki was also emotional at the time, Wheaton said.
As the next witness, Saginaw Police Detective Natasha McNab said she first spoke with Martinez while she was in the back of a police patrol vehicle.
“She was very upset, emotional,” McNab said. “She seemed to be kind of all over the place, in my opinion, as far as her emotions going up and down.”
McNab later that day interviewed the two parents at police headquarters, speaking with Garstecki first.
“If I had to describe it, he was very kind of zoned out maybe,” McNab said of Garstecki’s demeanor. “He didn’t have a lot of emotions.”
Read his Miranda rights, Garstecki told McNab he and his child had been in a bed in a second-floor room, adding they typically sleep together. He had fed Jesse baby formula with a bottle shortly beforehand, McNab said he told her.
“At some point, he fell asleep,” McNab testified Garstecki told her. “He woke up to Miss Martinez in a panic. He stated that the deceased child was at the foot of the bed and no part of his body was touching the child at this time.”
Garstecki told the detective he checked Jesse’s airway, found nothing obstructing it, and attempted CPR.
He later told McNab he and Martinez had both used heroin on Aug. 16, with Garstecki saying he last used it about 9 p.m., the detective said. Analysis of a blood sample taken from Garstecki showed he had fentanyl — a synthetic opioid 100 times more potent than heroin — and cocaine in his system, McNab said.
McNab later interviewed a Mirandized Martinez, whose demeanor was by then sad and grieving, the detective said. Martinez told McNab she had left the house and spent a few hours in her vehicle, then came back inside to find her son lying unresponsive in Garstecki’s lap area.
Martinez initially denied having used drugs, though later said she had used heroin throughout the day and did so while she had been spent hours in her vehicle, McNab said. Martinez’s attitude turned defensive when drugs were brought up, the detective testified.
“I would say she became kind of uncooperative at this point,” McNab said. Analysis of Martinez’s blood also indicated she had fentanyl and cocaine in her system, she added.
Selvidge asked the detective what analysis of the child’s blood indicated.
“The child had cocaine and fentanyl in his system,” McNab said.
“So the same drugs the parents both had, the child had?” Selvidge asked.
“Correct.”
“Nobody ever mentioned that his was a possibility?”
“No.”
Questioned by Garstecki’s attorney William D. White, McNab said Garstecki appeared to be under the influence of a narcotic during her interview with him. In response to questioning from Martinez’s attorney James F. Gust McNab said Martinez told her she last used heroin in her vehicle about 2 a.m. on Aug. 17, then found Jesse unresponsive around 7 a.m. She added police did not find drug paraphernalia in the couple’s house.
The hearing ended with Selvidge asking Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank to bind the couple’s cases over to Circuit Court for trial. White opposed this and asked for a dismissal of the murder charge facing his client, saying there was no evidence Garstecki intended to kill his son. Gust seconded this, saying there was no probable cause to believe murder was committed by Martinez.
Judge Frank ended up binding both defendants’ cases over to the higher court.
After Frank made his ruling, the defense attorneys asked for bond reductions for their clients, both having been held without bond since their Aug. 20 arraignment. Frank declined to change either defendant’s bond, adding that Garstecki’s parental rights with two other children were previously terminated due to his chronic drug use.
Read more:
Saginaw parents charged with murder in ‘grotesque indifference’ that led to toddler son’s death
Police release name of Saginaw toddler who died on West Side
Saginaw parents arrested hours after 1-year-old son’s death
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