Inset: Robert Marin (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Arizona home where Robert Marin allegedly shot his wife dead and then smoked a celebratory cigar while standing over her body, covered in blood (AZ Family/YouTube).
An Arizona man is facing charges after allegedly murdering his wife and then nonchalantly smoking a cigar over her body, according to police reports. The chilling incident unfolded Monday night in Phoenix, with the couple’s teenage daughter discovering the horrific scene after hearing her mother’s desperate pleas for her life.
When the daughter stumbled upon Robert Marin, 60, standing in the garage covered in blood and smoking a cigar, she reportedly screamed, “Why would you do this?!” Marin allegedly responded with a mere shrug before leaving the garage, only to return moments later to continue smoking, authorities stated in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
The victim, Heather Marin, was reportedly embroiled in an argument with her estranged husband over their daughter’s living arrangements. According to the affidavit, the couple was in the process of divorcing and had been informally separated.
The affidavit details that Marin’s teenage daughter recounted a verbal altercation with her father earlier that evening, during which Marin expressed animosity toward Heather Marin. The daughter also confronted him about the separation, which seemed to intensify the argument.
As tensions heightened, the daughter told investigators that she overheard Marin make an angry phone call to Heather, during which he allegedly declared he could no longer handle having their daughter stay with him. This conversation, according to the affidavit, appeared to escalate the situation further.
As things escalated, the daughter told police she “overheard Marin make a heated and angry phone call” to Heather Marin, effectively telling her that “he could not deal with their daughter anymore and did not want the daughter to stay in the home any longer,” according to the affidavit.
The daughter “retreated” to her bedroom, where she made a phone call to her boyfriend and then received two phone calls from her mother, one around 8:39 p.m. and another around 9:09 p.m., but she did not answer either of them “as she was concerned it would further upset her father,” the affidavit states.
“Sometime after the unanswered call, [the daughter] later heard screaming coming from the garage area,” the document alleges. “As she walked towards the garage entrance door from the house, she distinctly heard her mother pleading, ‘Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,’ followed by approximately four gunshots.”
When the daughter opened the interior door to the garage from inside the home, she saw Heather Marin bleeding on the ground and Robert Marin “standing near or over her holding a firearm.”
Police believe the murder happened around 9:30 p.m. and was premeditated due to Robert Marin’s “indifference after the shooting, electing to smoke a cigar rather than render aid,” according to the affidavit, along with a number of other factors, including Heather Marin allegedly “pleading for her life before being shot multiple times.”
When cops arrived at the home, they found Robert Marin inside the garage “with blood on his clothing and shoes,” according to the affidavit. A firearm, holster, and spent casings were discovered in the garage.
“When deputies contacted the suspect, he dropped to his knees upon their arrival and was detained without making any statements,” the affidavit states. “Deputies noted a strong odor of alcohol coming from Marin during transport to a MCSO [Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office] facility for questioning and processing.”
The daughter told cops about a prior “unreported domestic violence incident” from early February 2026, during which Robert Marin held a firearm in his hand and threatened to shoot Heather Marin in the head before killing himself, according to the affidavit.
She also described receiving screenshots of text message exchanges between her parents containing “hateful and threatening language,” police say.
“[The daughter] confirmed that Marin was an avid gun owner with multiple unsecured firearms stored throughout the residence to include pistols and hunting rifles,” the affidavit explains. “She also described a large safe in a closet within the house which also stored firearms and ammunition.”
Robert Marin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He’s being held in the Maricopa County Jail on a $2 million cash bond.
