Man Who Strangled His Girlfriend 2 Weeks Ago Arrested Today

FREDERIKSTED — A St. Croix man who allegedly strangled his girlfriend at Lorraine Village two weeks ago was arrested by police late this morning, authorities said.

Eliezer Martinez, 26, of Grove Place, was arrested at 11:55 a.m. and charged with second-degree assault, the Virgin Islands Police Department said.

“Mr. Martinez was arrested for strangling and causing visible injuries to an adult female on August 3, 2022,” VIPD spokesman Glen Dratte said.

No bail was set for Martinez as per the territory’s domestic violence laws. He was remanded to the custody of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections at the John A. Bell Adult Correctional Facility in Golden Grove.

VIPD mugshot of Eliezer Martinez, 26, of St. Croix.

Martinez is scheduled for an advice-of-rights hearing on Friday at the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.

Members of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and Domestic Violence Unit made the arrest of Martinez in the Sion Farm area this morning, according to Dratte.

  

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.