Aransas County Attorney’s Office

ARANSAS PASS, TEXAS (News Release) - On January 7, 2025, Judge Patrick Flanigan sentenced Adrian Tovar Martinez, age 44, to two life sentences for the offenses of Aggravated Sexual Assault and to one 10-year sentence for the offense of Obstruction/Retaliation. He also ordered these sentences be stacked on top of a prior 20-year sentence that the defendant received in San Patricio County for another Sexual Assault involving a different victim.

On October 2, 2013, S.H. was walking down a street in Aransas Pass. The defendant attempted to make small talk with her and hit her in the head from behind causing S.H. to fall. Once she was on the ground, the defendant dragged her to a remote part of a field and sexually assaulted her. S.H. attempted to fight back and scratched the defendant repeatedly in an effort to get his DNA under her fingernails. When S.H. fought back, S.H. said the Defendant would bite her, hit her, and threaten to kill her. After the assault, the defendant told S.H. that if she told law enforcement, she would be killed. When S.H. was able to get away, she was able to make it to a Stripes where the clerk called 911. At the Stripes, law enforcement took several photos of S.H.'s injuries, which included injuries to her face, neck, chest, back, knee, and shoulders. She had torn clothing and blood on her clothing. At the time of the assault, the defendant's identity was unknown and he was a stranger to S.H.

Law enforcement was able to locate the scene of the assault and found the victim's socks, the defendant's underwear, and the victim's knife that she attempted to use to defend herself. S.H. was also able to describe a grim reaper tattoo found on the defendant's body and helped generate a composite sketch for what the attacker looked like.

S.H. was taken to the hospital where a sexual assault exam was performed and various samples were taken from S.H's body. When the samples were tested in 2013, the DNA that was collected from various parts of S.H.'s body, including under her fingernails, contained the DNA of an unknown male.

For many years, the case was in limbo as law enforcement followed up with multiple suspects in the case. All of them were ruled out due to their DNA not matching the DNA found on S.H. Meanwhile, the defendant was committing other sexual assaults in the San Patricio County and Houston. In 2020, it was revealed that the unknown male DNA in those cases matched the unknown DNA in S.H.'s case.

In 2021, there was a break in the case which pointed detectives to the defendant. In 2021, the defendant's DNA was taken and sent to DPS for comparison. It matched the DNA in S.H.'s case and the San Patricio case. Houston did not (and still has not) made the attempt to match the defendant's DNA to the sexual assault kits for their victims.

S.H.'s case was indicted in 2022. The defendant was appointed an attorney who delayed the case for two and a half years and then withdrew from the case. A new attorney was appointed in June of 2024.

On January 7, 2025, the defendant was finally found guilty for his crimes against S.H. At punishment, the State put on testimony from M.O., the San Patricio County victim. M.O. was common law married to the defendant for approximately a year. She advised that during their relationship, the defendant sexually assaulted her on at least two occasions. One of them occurred when their 5-month-old child was in the same bed with them. M.O.'s case previously went to a jury trial in San Patricio County where he received the maximum of 20 years in that case.

The State also put one of the Houston victims, B.L., on the stand to testify. B.L. testified she was at home one night when the defendant broke into her apartment and sexually assaulted her when her four-year-old son was at home. During the assault, B.L. testified that she attempted to run away, but the defendant grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back inside the apartment. During the assault, B.L. stated the defendant continued to bite her and strike her with his hand.

After hearing all the testimony, Judge Flanigan sentenced the defendant to the maximum in each count and ordered the sentences run consecutive to the 20-year sentence the defendant is already serving.

The Aransas County Attorney's Office is including photographs of the defendant's tattoos in the hopes that it will generate leads in other cases. We would like to thank the Aransas Pass Police Department, the bravery of S.H., M.O, and B.L., and the Houston Forensic Science Center.

TERMS & PHRASES:

Consecutively - the sentences are served after the previous sentence has been completed - this is also referred to as stacking.

Concurrently - the sentences are served at the same time for the amount of the longest sentence