‘He was always happy,’ says family of man killed at Fort Worth stables with son present
Three years ago, Arnulfo Omar Martinez traded his pickup truck for his first horse.
Martinez, 43, had loved horses since he was a child in Mexico but never had the means to afford his own until, as an adult living in Fort Worth, he was able to work out an agreement with a seller, according to his sister-in-law, Adilene Zuniga, 34. The horse he received in return for his pickup was large, she said, and family members teased him it was far too big for a shorter man like him. About a year ago, he gave away that horse in return for a smaller one named Hammer.
The tough-to-tame bronco, which was brown with a streak of white across his long face, wouldn’t let anyone ride him until Martinez took the time to earn his trust, Adilene said. He enjoyed taking a wild and intimidating animal like a horse and getting it to follow his lead.
On Aug. 6, Martinez, a father of five, was with his 13-year-old son at the Chavelas horse stables on Angle Avenue where he kept Hammer. Martinez was away from his son for a moment, Adilene said, when other people heard him and another man begin to argue. The teen could make out one line from his father clearly, she said: “Put the gun down.”
The statement was followed by gunshots. “And that’s when my nephew ran to his dad,” Adilene said.
“The only thing that people heard was Arnulfo telling him to put the gun down ... If you want to fight, to put the gun down,’” she said. “But we don’t know what triggered him to even come up to Arnulfo or anything. That’s the only thing that everybody heard.”
His son quickly called 911 as well as his mother, Maria Zuniga, Adilene said. The family was aware of the other man from seeing him at the stables, she said, and knew he had been confrontational with Martinez in the past. Her brother-in-law had always been able to brush him off, though.
More than a week later, Martinez’s children, wife and large extended family split between Fort Worth and Mexico still don’t why the shooter decided to take his life, what his name is or where he might be. And they say they want more information from police.
Adilene Zuniga spoke over the phone with the Star-Telegram on Friday in a three-way call with Maria, a 40-year-old Mexican immigrant who doesn’t speak English. She posed questions for Maria — who’s the sister of her husband — in Spanish and roughly translated what she was saying.
Police spokesperson Officer Tracy Carter said in an email on Friday detectives have identified a suspect and issued an arrest warrant in his name on a charge of murder. The department isn’t releasing any other details at this time, Carter said.
Police have passed on this information to Maria but haven’t been forthcoming with more details, Adilene said. She believes her sister-in-law, as Martinez’s widow, has the right to know who is named in the warrant or where this dangerous individual is thought to be. “How does she know who she has to look out for?” Adilene said.
An officer explained police aren’t releasing the suspect’s name because they don’t want to alert him of the investigation, she said. But she feels at least his wife deserves to know something.
“I would really appreciate if the investigators would communicate with her more,” Adilene said.
Daniel Segura, another police spokesperson, told the Star-Telegram on Saturday the detective assigned to the case has assured him the immediate family was given necessary information including “a direct way to maintain communication.” He added that the suspect’s name is often not released to the general public to prevent the suspect from trying to flee or hide.
As they have sought answers this week, Martinez’s family has also been focusing on mourning his life, gathering inside Hawkins Family Funeral Home on Wednesday for a funeral service. Around 100 friends and relatives made it, everyone wearing a face mask and sitting with their own immediate families.
It was a lot of people to gather amid the coronavirus pandemic, Adilene acknowledged, but she wanted all those who loved him to have a chance to say goodbye. After the service, they drove to Mount Olivet Cemetery, where he was laid to rest. Adilene’s niece sang two of his favorite songs: “Amor Eterno” and “Hermoso Cariño.”
Maria spoke on Friday about how Martinez was above all else a loving family man, and would “take the shirt off his back” if someone needed it.
“His family, what they’re gonna miss about him is that he would tell them that he loved them every day,” Adilene said. “He was a very, very loving person toward Maria. I witnessed it every time we were together.”
‘She wants justice’
The couple got together in 2003 as they worked at the same camp of mobile homes in Fort Worth, Adilene said. He was an electrician; she would do the last clean at the end of the day.
Maria remembers she was instantly drawn to his goofy sense of humor, infectious laugh and warm smile. He loved music — in particular band music like Tamborazo — and would burst into song or a dance.
“He was always happy. He was friendly,” Adilene said. “A lot of people liked him.”
The two met each other in January of that year. By October, they had moved in together.
They never got married, Adilene said, but made a lasting commitment to each other nonetheless.
Martinez had two daughters from a previous relationship, and while they lived with their mother most of the time, he continued to be a part of their lives, along with Maria. The pair then had three kids of their own — a 16-year-old girl, 13-year-old boy and 7-year-old boy.
Between the two of them, Martinez was the one who would spoil the kids, Adilene said. He loved taking them to the movies or out on a camping trip, she said. He never had the heart to tell them no.
“His kids were his world,” Adilene said. “His kids were everything to him.”
One of his favorite things to do with his children was to take them to the stables to see Hammer, she said. He would show them how to feed the horse, and train them in the right way to ride him. His two sons would join him the most frequently.
Martinez, whether he was with one of his kids or by himself, stopped by Chavelas most afternoons after work to check up on Hammer and give him some food.
Before he died, Adilene said, he had talked about wanting to buy land so he could build a ranch of his own and have enough room to let several horses run free. He and Maria hoped to save money so they could one day make this dream a reality.
They had even visited some plots of land, Adilene said.
“They already had a goal of, ‘Let’s save up and buy land,’” she said. “He was even excited to look at land.”
This prospect has dwindled in the wake of Martinez’s murder. His family has realized the hard truth that they can’t even continue to care for his horse.
As much as possible, though, they have wanted to try to turn a sad situation into a positive one.
Adilene came up with the idea for a raffle for the horse in which people could pay $50 for a ticket, helping to fund Martinez’s funeral and burial. She shared the information to her Facebook page, she said, and then a relative tweeted about the raffle on Aug. 9. It has been retweeted more than 470 times in the six days since.
A total of 150 people paid to enter the raffle, Adilene said. She was preparing on Saturday to pick a winner at 5 p.m., streaming the selection to her Facebook page.
The funds raised through this effort, coupled with more than $8,000 from a GoFundMe page, was able to fund a service for Martinez that honored his life and all of the love he had in it, Adilene said.
His five children were all there to mourn him.
“They’re gonna miss his smile, his funny personality and just the caring person that he was,” Adilene said. “Like (Maria) says, they were probably not filled with luxury, but with love from him they were very fortunate.”
When asked what she wants readers to know about her late husband, Maria said she wants it to be known he was at the stables that night to feed his horse, as he did every day. He wasn’t drunk or on drugs, she said. He wasn’t causing any problems.
She wants people to know “she wants justice,” according to Adilene. That begins with an arrest of the suspect.
“She wants them to give him the justice that they need,” she said. “This is not something that can just be blown off.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 5:35 PM.
