After meeting with attorney, husband kills wife in Southlake, police say
Linda Martin and her husband visited an attorney about their pending divorce Tuesday afternoon.
They each left the attorney’s office in separate vehicles.
She never made it back to her Flower Mound home.
Police say her husband, Kenneth Martin, walked up to his wife’s car at a busy intersection near Southlake Town Square and shot her in the head.
Linda Martin, 55, died while in surgery Tuesday night, several hours after being shot, police said Wednesday.
Kenneth Martin, 52, of Flower Mound, was arrested at the scene without incident, Southlake police spokeswoman Kim Leach said. He remained in the Keller Jail Wednesday, awaiting arraignment. He is expected to be charged with murder.
Homicides are rare in the wealthy suburb in Northeast Tarrant County. Before a murder/suicide in April, the last homicide was in May 2013, when a drug cartel lawyer was gunned down in Southlake Town Square.
The Martins, married for 20 years, stopped living together in October 2015, according to Tarrant County court documents. The couple did not have any children. She filed for divorce on Nov. 4, 2015, but it was later dismissed on Nov. 24, 2015 because it was filed in the wrong county.
Kenneth Martin then filed for divorce in Denton County on Nov. 24, 2015, and she filed a counter-petition the next day, according to Denton County county records.
The shooting occurred near Central Avenue and Farm Road 1709 sometime before 5:30 p.m., police said. Linda Martin died at 10:24 p.m. at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website.
Investigators believe he drove up behind his wife, got out of his vehicle and walked up to his wife’s vehicle. He remained at the scene after the shooting, police said. A handgun was recovered nearby, police said.
In court documents, Linda Martin had filed for divorce because the “marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities.” She filed for a protective order in March, according to Denton county court documents.
Linda Martin had two children from a previous marriage, according to Tarrant County court records.
The Martins had previously lived in Euless and in 2004 had been involved a dispute with their homeowners association over the flying of a flag. In the end, Linda and Kenny Martin got the HOA to change its policy and also got association members voted off the board.
This article contains the information from Star-Telegram archives.
Dylan Bradley: 817-390-7984, @dbradley1220; Domingo Ramirez Jr.: 817-390-7763, @mingoramirezjr
This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 4:33 PM with the headline "After meeting with attorney, husband kills wife in Southlake, police say."