MS-13 gangster enrolled in Maryland school while being investigated for murder: Report

A teenage member of the MS-13 gang who entered the country illegally and was later convicted of murder in the 2022 slaying of a Maryland woman was allowed to enroll in a public school before he was formally charged, according to a report.

What's more, Walter Martinez attended Edgewood High School in Aberdeen without local or federal authorities notifying school officials that a murder suspect was walking in their hallways, according to Baltimore's Fox 45 WBFF.

"There was no information in our possession that would suggest he was a danger to other students and staff," Harford County Public Schools told the station about Martinez's October 2022 enrollment. "HCPS is not afforded unfettered access to information held by law enforcement which may suggest that a potential student is dangerous, gang-affiliated, or suspected of heinous and disturbing crimes."

Maryland law does not require police or Child Protective Services to inform school systems about student's suspected criminal behavior until they are charged.

Martinez crossed into Texas illegally while alone in March 2022 and was sent to live with a sponsor in Maryland, WBFF reported.

In July of that year, he killed 20-year-old Kayla Hamilton inside a mobile home where they both rented rooms. Prosecutors said the victim was raped, tied up and strangled with a phone cord.

Authorities quickly pegged Martinez as the primary suspect and had video and audio evidence to link him to the killing.

Harford County State's Attorney Alison Healey told Baltimore's 2 ABC WMAR that Hamilton called her boyfriend around the time she encountered Martinez.

Her boyfriend didn't pick up, and Hamilton wound up leaving a voicemail that documented the attack. The voicemail was played during Martinez's court hearing last month.

"It was very hard to listen to," Ms. Healey told WMAR. "It's a shame, but it was obviously a very crucial piece of evidence in this case that we did have to present, but it was pretty appalling."

Investigators waited for DNA tests to remove any shadow of a doubt about Martinez's connection to the incident, which took six months to complete.

The then-17-year-old was allowed to enroll in local public schools until he was arrested in January 2023.

"It makes me angry," Tammy Nobles, Hamilton's mother, told WBFF. "You're sitting there putting this monster into high school with other people's children, and you're putting children at risk. Look what he did to Kayla."

Defense attorneys for Martinez confirmed during his sentencing hearing last month that he was a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13.

While behind bars, Ms. Healey said Martinez wrote a letter to a pastor in El Salvador in which he confessed to four murders, two rapes and other crimes. The state's attorney said it seemed that most of those crimes were committed while he was still in the Central American country.

The state's attorney added that the letter was instrumental in persuading Martinez to plead guilty last month to Hamilton's killing.

He was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Since he was 17 at the time of the killing, he could not be sentenced to life without parole.