Stabbing Suspect Mom Was In The U.S. Illegally: ICE

LOGANVILLE, GA — The Loganville woman accused of stabbing her husband and four of her children to death early Thursday was in the United States illegally, federal immigration officials said.

Bryan Cox, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Martinez illegally entered the country from Mexico.

This is her first encounter with immigration officials and, therefore, it's not known how long she's been in the country, Cox said. Martinez told police her husband also had been in the U.S. illegally, Cox told the paper.

Martinez is charged with five counts of malice murder, five counts of murder and six counts of aggravated assault in Thursday morning's stabbings at her Loganville home.

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Gwinnett County Police say Martinez called 911 from the home, on Emory Lane, at 4:47 a.m. Officers arrived to find a grisly scene in which her husband — 33-year-old Martin Romero — and four of her young children were dead. A fifth child, 9-year-old Diana Romero, also was stabbed but survived.

The children who were killed are:

• Isabela Martinez, 10
• Dacota Romero, 7
• Dillan Romero, 4
• Axel Romero, 2

Diana was flown to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta on Thursday, where she was listed in serious but stable condition. Saturday morning, family member Hallie Romero said on fundraising site GoFundMe that Diana has been taken off of a breathing tube and "is slowly and steadily improving."

The fundraiser, for Diana's medical care and the rest of the family's funeral costs, had raised about $27,000 of its $50,000 goal Saturday morning.

Loganville Family Stabbing: Five Things To Know

Martinez made her first court appearance Friday morning, during which she displayed erratic, bizarre behavior.

Video from WSB-TV shows her in a jailhouse jumpsuit, smiling broadly and repeatedly giving a two-handed "thumbs up" sign to news cameras.

She made a hand gesture that looked like prayer several times and at one point dropped to her knees as if praying before being told by a sheriff's deputy to return to her seat.

With the help of a translator, she told a judge she wants to represent herself in court, saying her "attorney is the people we are fighting for." It was unclear from her rambling comments to the judge whether she understood the gravity of the charges against her.

A neighbor told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Martinez had been suffering mental issues and was upset about her father dying three weeks ago.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 20.

Martinez photo courtesy Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office. Family photo via GoFundMe.