Laredo Ax Murders

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Miguel Angel Martinez and Miguel Angel Venegas murdered three innocent victims in Laredo, Texas

The Laredo Ax Murders would leave three people dead and change the lives of three others forever.  No one could imagine the horrors that would be inflicted on the sleeping victims by teenagers no less.  Listen and decide if you think justice was served.

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1991 Laredo TX

Laredo sits on the Mexican-American border along the Rio Grande. It is the 10th most populated city in TX and the 3rd largest city on that border next to San Diego and El Paso. 

Cocaine And Weed

Living in Laredo were Miguel Angel Martinez, Manuel “Milo” Flores, and Miguel Angel Venegas. 

Martinez and Venegas had met in their sophomore year of high school. They knew each other but it doesn’t seem like they were particularly close. What they did have in common was a liking for cocaine and weed. Milo Flores was the friend Martinez and Venegas had in common. He was wealthy and he had the means to supply drugs. Martinez and Milo were 17, and Venegas was 16 on the night of January 18th, 1991.

Why Don’t We Just Kill Him?

We get two different versions of what happened that night. Early in the afternoon Miguel Angel Martinez and Venegas run into each other. Venegas mentions a party and going to hang with Milo. While they were hanging out, Milo brought up the fact that he was always the one supplying the coke. Venegas and Martinez had to find a way to get some money.

Miguel Angel Martinez had the keys to someone’s house. James Smiley was a Baptist youth counselor who Martinez claims took an interest in him. Smiley met Martinez when Martinez was 15 and Martinez worked under him at an Arby’s. Martinez didn’t have a father in his life. He grew up in a single-parent family with his mother and grandmother raising him. Smiley wanted to have a positive influence on him.

Martinez slept at Smiley’s home a few times in the past. He indicated that he and Milo had snuck in previously to steal items. Miguel Angel Martinez says that the house was supposed to be empty, like all the other times.

In Venegas’s account, they thought Smiley would be home, and when they were talking about stealing he says, “well why don’t we just kill him?” The others took it as just big talk and don’t take him seriously, which he considered a dare. From Milo’s place, they take a bat, an ax, and some knives and Milo drives them to Smiley’s house.

When they arrived Milo Flores dropped them off and drove away. Martinez and Venegas cased the place looking through the windows and realized there were 3 people in the house. At that point, Miguel Angel Martinez wanted to get out of there, but Venegas insisted on continuing with the plan.

Satan Wants Their Souls

They entered the house and the first person they came upon was sleeping on the couch. Venegas stood over him and hit him in the head with the ax. Then he took his knife and began stabbing the victim in the torso multiple times. Martinez recalls Venegas telling him it was his turn. Martinez took his knife and stabbed the victim in the torso multiple times as well.

Miguel Angel Martinez ran outside and started throwing up. When he came back to the house, Venegas had already entered a back bedroom and stabbed the 2nd victim to death. Martinez said he wanted to get out of there, but Venegas responded with “Satan wants their souls”. Venegas took the ax to the back bedroom and killed the 3rd victim using the ax.

The first victim was 20-year-old Ruben Martinez, the 2nd was 14-year-old Daniel Duentz, and the 3rd was James Smiley, 33.

The Devil Had His Back

Venegas talks about the murders saying at the time he really was thinking to himself, “more souls to the devil”. When he was standing over Ruben, Ruben started to wake up and turned and looked at Venegas, but fell back asleep. Venegas took it as a sign, that the devil had his back.

Assistant Laredo Police Chief Jesus Torres, who was the lead investigator on the case in 1991, said “the level of violence was incredible.” He indicated that there were signs that Dueñez put up a fight.

Venegas turned crucifixes around the house upside down. They took the TV and a VCR along with Smiley’s car. They drove to Milo’s house. Venegas went in to talk to him while Miguel Angel Martinez stayed in the car. When Venegas came back they drove around stopping at people’s houses. Venegas dropped off Martinez at his house in the late afternoon. 

Sentenced To Death

On January 22nd, police stormed Martinez’s home and arrested him. He was offered a plea deal for a life sentence but turned it down. He stood trial in April 1992 and after 5 days he was found guilty and sentenced to death. 

Because he was only 16, Venegas’s case bounced between courts for years as the state attempted to determine if he should be tried as a juvenile or an adult. In 1993 he made an armed escape from a juvenile detention facility. He crossed the border, but was eventually recaptured in Monterrey, Mexico in 1995. In 2004 the courts determined that he would be tried as an adult, at which point he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 41 years in prison on three counts of murder.

Milo’s case was brought before a grand jury, but there was no evidence to charge him with, and he has never been charged with any crime. Some believe this is due to his father being a District Judge at the time, but the current DA insists that the police, the Rangers, and the FBI have reviewed the case and come to the same conclusion. 

In Martinez’s case, the law states that, because he did not try to interfere, by trying to stop the person holding the weapon (which could easily have been turned on him), that he was complicit in this act, and was charged with the harshest sentence. After a campaign criticizing his death sentence, in 2002 it was commuted to life with the possibility of parole in exchange for testimony against Venegas when he was finally indicted. 

Some Other Things to Consider

Prior to accepting the plea deal, Venegas’ attorney was preparing to bring forward witnesses stating that James Smiley was a predator and that he had molested their children. Miguel Angel Martinez has never admitted that he was abused by Smiley.

After the release of the documentary, there have been petitions for his release.

“He said, ‘I want people to know if I was given the opportunity to parole, I would be an asset to the community and affect it positively.’ He just wants the chance to live a good life,” Moore said. During his 28-year prison stint, Martinez has earned a bachelor of science in business and two associate of art degrees, according to a website created by his family.

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