Darwin Martinez-Torres Indicted For Rape, Murder Of Muslim Teen Nabra Hassanen

A Virginia man was indicted Monday for the murder and rape of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen. Nabra, a Muslim, was killed in June on her way back to her community mosque with friends after eating a final meal before fasting for Ramadan.

Darwin Martinez-Torres, 22, was charged with capital murder, rape and abduction. Martinez-Torres admitted killing Nabra and led police to the pond where he dumped her body, according to a search warrant affidavit. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty in the case, the first capital punishment case in Fairfax County since 2011.

“You conform the charges to what the evidence will show,” said Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond F. Morrogh in his announcement Monday, according to the Washington Post. “It is my intention to seek the death penalty.”

Nabra’s murder shocked the Muslim community in Virginia, prompting concerns that she may have been killed as a result of her faith.

“He killed her because she’s a Muslim,” her father told reporters shortly after her death. “This is what I tell the detective. Why was he running behind the kids wearing Islamic clothes with a baseball stick? Why, when my daughter fell down, why did he hit her? For what? We don’t know this guy. He doesn’t know us.”

Prosecutors and police, however, said they had not found any evidence that her murder was a hate crime. Instead, authorities said, the incident may have been related to road rage. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement told local television station WTTG-TV they Martinez-Torres may have been in the country illegally.

Martinez-Torres reportedly happened upon a group of teens, including Nabra, around 3:40 a.m. Jun. 18. He got into an altercation with one of the teens and chased them with his car, causing them to scatter. The cause of the fight remains unclear, but Martinez-Torres then got out of his car and chased them with a baseball bat, according to police. When one of the teenagers turned around, they saw him standing over Nabra. Police said Torres then hit Nabra with the baseball bat and put her in his car.

Martinez-Torres drove elsewhere with Nabra in the car. He assaulted her and killed her before dumping her body in a pond near his apartment. Martinez-Torres returned to the scene of the crime where police had arrived to search. They stopped him for “driving suspiciously” and he was identified by one of the teenagers as the man who they saw that night. After his arrest, he admitted to killing Nabra and brought police to her body.

A judge was set to schedule a trial date Thursday for Martinez-Torres.