Woman slain in Southlake said last years of marriage ‘not very good’: affidavit

A man accused of gunning down his estranged wife near Southlake Town Square got into a fight with her boyfriend — a former member of the Flower Mound Planning & Zoning ommission — months before the killing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit and police reports.

Kenneth Martin, 52, brawled with Jason Hitt on the night of Nov. 1, 2015 in the 2800 block of Sagebrush Drive in Flower Mound, the couple’s home. At the time, Martin had been separated from his wife, 55-year-old Linda Martin, and was living in Keller, according to recently released Flower Mound police reports and a probable-cause affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram.

A few days later, the Martins filed for divorce. Friends told the Star-Telegram that Linda Martin became so scared of her estranged husband after the fight that she carried two guns wherever she went, hired a protective service and stayed at hotels to hide from him.

Kenneth Martin is accused of getting out of his vehicle on Central Avenue and Southlake Boulevard in Southlake, walking up to his estranged wife’s car and shooting her in the head on the afternoon of May 31, after a meeting with an attorney about the pending divorce.

Kenneth Martin of Keller was in the Tarrant County Jail on Sunday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Warren St. John of Fort Worth, Martin’s attorney, declined to comment.

Hitt could not reached Sunday for comment.

The Flower Mound police reports and affidavit gave this account of the Nov. 1 brawl:

The Martins had been married for 20 years and separated for two months. Linda Martin told police her last eight years of marriage had “not been very good.”

On the morning of Nov. 1, Linda Martin told her estranged husband that she was in a relationship with a man she identified as Jason. The two had been seeing each other for eight months.

The Martins stopped living together in October, according to Tarrant County court documents. The couple did not have children together, though she had two from a previous marriage. A divorce petition she filed in November was dismissed because it was filed in the wrong county.

Kenneth Martin then filed for divorce in Denton County on Nov. 24, and she filed a counter-petition the next day. She filed for a protective order in March, according to Denton County court documents.

Kenneth Martin, a heating and air-conditioning technician, texted his estranged wife about picking up their dogs for the night of Nov. 1. When he arrived at the Flower Mound residence, he saw another truck parked in the driveway and confronted Hitt.

“Listen here, buddy. That’s my wife,” Kenneth Martin told Hitt, according to the affidavit.

In a written statement to Flower Mound police, Linda Martin said her “separated husband” took the news that she was dating well, but that he was angry when he arrived at their home.

The two men fought in the driveway of the home. Hitt pulled out a knife and the men continued to fight until Kenneth Martin ran to a neighbor’s home. Hitt followed.

On the neighbor’s patio, Hitt and Kenneth Martin started fighting again, knocking over patio furniture. They stopped after Linda Martin yelled at them and Flower Mound police began to arrive.

Flower Mound officers who responded to the scene saw two gashes on Kenneth Martin’s head, but Hitt’s story of being hit in the face was not consistent with his injuries, according to the affidavit.

Hitt was arrested and booked into the Flower Mound Jail. While being booked, Hitt stated that his wife would be his emergency contact, and the name he gave was not Linda Martin, according to the affidavit.

He was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but a Denton County grand jury declined to indict Hitt in May.

Hitt was a Flower Mound Planning & Zoning alternate commissioner until he was removed by the Town Council on Aug. 4.

The council removed him after his involvement with a private Facebook site, “Grow Slow Flo Mo,” where he posted a request for anyone to provide information on Town Council member Bryan Webb and his wife and daughters, “from mundane to inner secrets.”

Southlake police said Kenneth Martin followed his wife after they left the attorney’s office and stopped right behind her near Central Avenue and Farm Road 1709 sometime before 5:30 p.m. May 31. He got out, walked up to her car and shot her in the head, police said. A handgun was recovered at the scene.

Linda Martin died a few hours later at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website.

This report contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Woman slain in Southlake said last years of marriage ‘not very good’: affidavit."