While the pain of loss never leaves, the family of a murder victim finds some solace.

Aric Sleeper here, ruminating on the stories of those who have lost a loved one to violent crime. 

I attended the 27th annual Victims’ Dedication Ceremony on Friday, April 10, at the Monterey County Government Center in Salinas, and walked away thinking about something I learned while reporting on my recent story about the Cold Case Project of Monterey County—and the unsolved case of Francis DeAlvis, who was murdered in his Monterey apartment in 1984. 

I found a common thread expressed among the friends and family members of victims: the grief and anguish that comes when a loved one is murdered never goes away. 

The annual ceremony was themed “Listen. Act. Advocate. Protect Victims. Serve Communities,” and led by Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni. 

Following Pacioni’s opening remarks, she spoke about the case of Yvette Martinez, who was murdered outside of her Greenfield home in 2010 and her body burned inside of her car, which was found on Highway 198. 

For years, Yvette Martinez’s case remained unsolved. Although her ex-boyfriend, Noel Ledesma, was a prime suspect in 2010—due to a history of domestic violence and suspicious behavior before and after Martinez’s death—he had an alibi, which his brother vouched for. 

The District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force, formed in 2020 by Pacioni, took on the case with the aid of a $535,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. In the case of Martinez, investigators re-examined the data from Ledesma’s cell phone and found that he was lying about his alibi and that he was not at a family party as he said, but was near Martinez’s cell phone when she was murdered.

With the evidence uncovered by the Cold Case Task Force, Ledesma was found guilty of first-degree murder. In March, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. 

At the Victims’ Dedication Ceremony, the victim’s sisters, Monica and Crystal Martinez, spoke through tears about their experiences following the murder, and the anguish they’ve felt since the day they lost their sister. 

Although the pain of their loss will always be there, the sisters said that bringing Ledesma to justice did give them some solace, and they encouraged others, like the family of DeAlvis, still waiting for answers, to never give up hope.