Thank you for taking the time to view Samantha's and Amy's page, we miss them dearly.

 Justice4SamanthaandAmy@gmail.com

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 “Power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed.”
 ― Wally Lamb, I Know This Much Is True

 

 

There was never the knock at the door that every parent dreads. The Harlingen Police Officer responsible for the task to notify two families that their daughters were never coming home was simply too tired and went home to bed.  Two families lives were mercilously altered on October 2, 2009 and so began a pattern of corruption, coverup and generally dispicable behavior by the Harlingen Police Department, the Cameron County District Attorney's Office and the family of Cesar Martinez, Jr.

 

Cesar was a high school athlete driving home from just getting some burgers,  so he says, after a big football game win with his girlfriend, Shelby. They were speeding down the highway, in his  full sized pick up truck that had been lifted high off of the ground, celebrating and not paying attention, when they t-boned Samantha's Mazda Protege'. His truck drove through and over their car, flipped and skidded on it's side leaving deep ruts in the road from his spinning wheels. Samantha and Amy were crushed  and died instantly. Those words are painful to type and feel again. Harder yet is what followed; and continues to follow every single day. While the police were snapping papparazi cell phone photos of Samantha and Amy, Cesar's father freely walked around the crime scene talking to the police witnesses. The police declined to interview the two witnesses in the SUV directly behind Samantha and Amy, the only witnesses that saw exactly what happened literally right in front of them. Cesar and Shelby had a few scratches but walked away from the wreck. Just a day  after he killed Samantha and Amy, Cesar's parents acquired another truck for him, and  Cesar and Shelby attended their homecoming  school dance the next day. Samantha and Amy still lay in morgue, their families unable to comprehend their losses.  Still, this is not the worst of what is to come.

 

If the Harlingen  Police Department and Cameron County District Attorney's office would have done their jobs, we wouldn't have to. This site outlines all of the evidence we have had to collect because the  HPD, insurance companies and AG's office refuse to do so. The Martinez's  also must have been worried for their son's freedom since this wasn't his first high speed incident. Mr. Martinez had us served with a lawsuit the very day we buried our daughters. The Martinez's were seeking damages for Cesar's scratches and the loss of his truck, or more likely they knew what was to come and wanted the legal procedures to stay in their county. So their pull in the community would easily sway the outcome.

 

And so we fight with all that is left of our hearts and souls, most of which was buried with Samantha. We fight on with her strength and determination. Her hard line between right and wrong motivates us. Her smile and unforgettable laugh lifts us. Everyday we fight and we will not stop until we feel that Cesar Martinez, Jr., his parents, and the corrupt law enforcement officers have been brought to heel by justice. Perhaps then we can begin to navigate our lives without Samantha & Amy.

 

We have included many details. Much of it is graphic, disturbing, and painful to watch. This site is not for anyone under 18 years of age or for anyone easily disturbed. It is brutal to see, painful to reconcile, and impossible to forget. This is the story we were left with and the story we are forced to tell. We can not change the details or the facts and we can not choose to be silent. It is up to you to decide if you are capable of witnessing the video and pictures of the wreckage.