Left inset: Martin Mendoza (Santa Clara County Jail). Right inset: Marissa DiNapoli (Morgan Hill Police Department). Background: Surveillance footage captures Marissa DiNapoli’s last interactions with Martin Mendoza before her alleged murder (KSBW/YouTube).
A 20-year-old man in California faces murder charges for the recent killing of his girlfriend, after confronting her about communicating with a former boyfriend. Security videos captured the young victim’s last moments with him before allegedly stabbing her several times in the back and abandoning her at a nearby lake, authorities report.
Martin Mendoza Jr., 20, was seen in Ring camera footage shared by the NBC and ABC partner KSBW leaving a Morgan Hill home with Marissa DiNapoli, 18. This occurred a day prior to her being reported missing and two days before her body was discovered at Anderson Lake on July 2, as stated by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
Mendoza’s criminal complaint, obtained by Law&Crime on Tuesday, details what was going on in the footage and what allegedly happened between Mendoza and DiNapoli leading up to her murder.
“Marissa and Martin were walking down the stairs together while Martin was confronting her about contacting her ex-boyfriend,” the complaint says. “Marissa’s facial expression was visibly apprehensive in the video footage.”
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The Ring camera captured the couple on video on June 29, with cellphone ping data showing DiNapoli and Mendoza leaving the residence where it was captured at around 9:45 a.m. that morning, the complaint states.
“At approximately 0952 hours, Marissa’s cell phone pings showed it to be traveling east on E. Dunne Avenue toward Anderson Lake,” the complaint says.
Between 9:58 and 10:04 a.m., both Marissa and Martin’s cellphones allegedly showed up in the area of Anderson Lake. At approximately 10:14 a.m., both phones traveled west on E. Dunne Avenue at Thomas Grade before stopping in the area of E. Dunne Avenue and Heritage Green Park, according to the complaint.
“At approximately 1018 hours, Martin’s vehicle was captured traveling westbound on E. Dunne Avenue at Hwy 101,” authorities allege. “It was around this same time that Marissa’s phone last showed activity.”
DiNapoli failed to show up to her shift at Starbucks later in the day, with her co-workers telling cops she “almost always worked the PM shift.” A missing person report was made on June 30. Mendoza’s vehicle was captured on video attempting to leave the United States and crossing into Mexico at the San Ysidro border on July 1. DiNapoli’s body was found a day later, and Mendoza was taken into custody upon his attempted return to the U.S. on July 6.
“Marissa was found with five stab wounds to her back,” the complaint says. “In subsequent interviews with family members, it was disclosed that there were multiple prior unreported incidents of domestic violence where Martin physically assaulted Marissa.”
Mendoza was arraigned Tuesday on charges of murder committed with the use of a deadly weapon, with circumstances in aggravation including great bodily injury (GBI), being armed or using a weapon, targeting a vulnerable victim and taking advantage of a position of trust. He was ordered held without bond and did not enter a plea.
