Preliminary Hearing Date Set for Man Accused of 1997 Double Homicide

Rafael Martinez appeared in Van Nuys Superior Court  Tuesday wearing his white California Department of Corrections uniform, his waist in a chain, wrists bound.  His stooped shoulders and haggard appearance made him look older than his 39 years. The convict is currently serving time for stabbing a North Hollywood woman to death in 2001.

Advances in DNA now have Martinez facing charges for two more North Hollywood stabbing deaths,.

When they announced Martinez’s arrest on the most recent charges, LAPD detectives said that they used 12-year-old DNA evidence to link Martinez to the the murders of Nancy Boehm, age 57, and her 23-year-old mentally impaired son, Shawn, at their home on the 5700 block of Riverton Avenue. The evidence, police said, came from beneath Boehm’s fingernails. 

At Tuesday’s appearance, the judge set Martinez’s preliminary hearing date on the murder charges for October 25. Martinez’s public defender told the court that the hearing is expected to last three to five days. The process will determine if there is enough evidence to put Martinez on trial for the murders. 

Neither prosecutor Deborah Brazil nor public defender Thomas Burns wished to speak about the case after Tuesday’s hearing. 

Police have said that the killings of Boehm and her son were drug related. Both Boehm and the 2001 victim, Luz Nieves, who lived a few block away, were drug dealers, according to detectives. The victims, police said, were killed in a similar manner, slashed and stabbed. 

Martinez, police said,  lived in the victims' neighborhood.