Investigators also cited surveillance footage, physical evidence and apartment keys before a jury convicted Javier Rosado Martinez in the 2022 killing.
ORLANDO, Fla. — A small horn-shaped pendant found during the investigation of a 93-year-old woman’s killing became an early clue in a case that eventually sent her daughter’s boyfriend to prison for life without parole.
Javier Rosado Martinez, 58, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted sexual battery in the death of Dolores Padilla Marrero at an Orange County senior living complex in March 2022. His July 14 sentencing brought an end to a prosecution built around several strands of evidence that investigators said connected him to the victim’s apartment: a distinctive piece of jewelry, surveillance material, physical evidence and items recovered after his arrest. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but jurors recommended life without parole. Martinez also received a consecutive five-year term for attempted sexual battery.
The pendant drew attention while investigators were still working to establish what had happened inside Padilla Marrero’s residence. Orange County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Joe Covelli said authorities found a small horn-like piece of a necklace near the victim. Investigators showed an image of the item during the public announcement of Martinez’s arrest. According to Covelli, Martinez’s girlfriend told detectives that he habitually wore the horn. She was one of Padilla Marrero’s daughters and had been involved with Martinez in an on-again, off-again relationship. Investigators treated that recognition as an important lead rather than relying on the jewelry alone to identify a suspect.
Detectives also turned to the building itself. Padilla Marrero lived in a secured senior residence on Alafaya Trail, so investigators examined how anyone without normal access could have entered. Authorities said Martinez first had difficulty getting into the building before another resident let him inside. Surveillance cameras at the complex captured evidence investigators used to place him there during the relevant period. The footage mattered because it provided a separate line of evidence from the pendant and helped detectives reconstruct movement around a residence where an unknown intruder would not necessarily have been able to enter freely.
The case expanded again when deputies arrested Martinez at his home in Casselberry. Investigators said they recovered property there that tied him to Padilla Marrero’s apartment, including keys to her residence. Covelli also said investigators developed DNA evidence and other material that further supported the case, though authorities did not disclose all of their findings when they announced the arrest. He said Martinez’s physical appearance also assisted investigators when reviewing visual evidence. Taken together, authorities said, the information moved the investigation beyond a single clue discovered at the scene.
Before detectives could focus on a suspect, deputies had to determine that Padilla Marrero’s death was not natural. Her relatives went to check on her March 14, 2022, after she stopped answering messages following her birthday celebration the previous evening. When they found her in her bedroom, patrol deputies noticed circumstances they considered unusual. Covelli said the homicide unit was not routinely called to deaths involving residents of such facilities because many were the result of natural causes. In this case, deputies preserved and processed the room as a possible crime scene while awaiting the medical examiner’s findings.
The autopsy confirmed investigators’ concerns. The medical examiner determined that Padilla Marrero died from strangulation combined with blunt force trauma to her torso and ruled the manner of death a homicide. The finding gave detectives a medical basis for treating the apartment as the site of a killing and made the evidence recovered there critical. Authorities said the pendant was found with clothing near the victim. The circumstances also led prosecutors to pursue a separate sexual-battery allegation, which ended at trial with Martinez being convicted of attempted sexual battery in addition to first-degree murder.
Padilla Marrero’s family had last seen her after what should have been an ordinary family milestone. She had celebrated her 93rd birthday March 13 before a daughter took her back to the senior living complex at about 8 p.m. Later, relatives tried to reach her. One daughter had been exchanging messages with her mother about buying dresses and became concerned when Padilla Marrero stopped responding. A daughter and son-in-law returned the next day, used spare keys to enter and eventually found her dead. That welfare check started the investigation that would lead detectives from the bedroom evidence to Martinez.
Investigators already knew that Martinez had a direct connection to both the family and the apartment. He had been dating another one of Padilla Marrero’s daughters and had previously lived with the women, according to sheriff’s records reported by local news outlets. He was no stranger trying to navigate an unfamiliar building. Detectives said he knew Padilla Marrero’s habits, including that she typically locked her bedroom door at night. Reports also said Martinez had moved out of the residence in January 2022, roughly two months before the killing, following problems connected to his behavior.
There was also a dispute between Martinez and his girlfriend on the evening of the killing. According to information she gave investigators, she believed he was acting as though he was under the influence of narcotics. Their argument took place after Padilla Marrero’s birthday celebration, which Martinez was not believed to have attended. The daughter later received a message from Martinez indicating that he considered their relationship over and would retrieve belongings. Investigators documented those events as part of the timeline, while the physical and video evidence provided independent information about his presence at the senior complex.
After Martinez was taken into custody in March 2022, detectives questioned him about the period in which Padilla Marrero was killed. Covelli said Martinez did not confess. The sergeant said Martinez told investigators he had blacked out, leaving detectives to build their case through evidence rather than an admission. At the time, all criminal allegations remained unproven. The sheriff’s office said it believed the combination of evidence was strong enough to support the murder case, and prosecutors later carried that evidence into court more than four years after the homicide.
Trial proceedings began in late June 2026. Prosecutors told jurors that the evidence would point to Martinez as the person who attacked Padilla Marrero. What had been a lengthy pretrial case moved quickly once testimony began: the jury returned guilty verdicts after four days. Martinez was convicted of first-degree murder as well as attempted sexual battery. The verdict established his criminal responsibility and cleared the way for a separate decision over punishment, with the state asking jurors to recommend a death sentence.
The jury chose life instead. On July 14, the court sentenced Martinez to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder, following the jury’s recommendation, and imposed the additional consecutive five-year sentence for attempted sexual battery. State Attorney Monique Worrell described the crime as a betrayal of Padilla Marrero’s trust and said the sentence would prevent Martinez from harming anyone else. The outcome left the early clues from the apartment — particularly a recognizable pendant — as part of the evidence trail that had begun when deputies decided to treat an elderly resident’s death as potentially suspicious.
Martinez now faces permanent imprisonment on the murder conviction, with the five-year term attached to the attempted sexual battery conviction to run afterward. The death sentence originally sought by prosecutors was not imposed. For investigators, the case that began with a family welfare check ultimately turned on preserving a suspicious scene and connecting multiple independent pieces of evidence to a person who already knew the victim and her home.
Author note: Last updated August 21, 2026.