Family believes HPD could have caught loved one's killer in weeks, but case was suspended instead

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A month ago, Troy Finner, then-chief of the Houston Police Department, made the bombshell revelation that a man's 2018 murder in southwest Houston was one of a quarter million cases never investigated because HPD did not have the manpower.

"There's also a concern that homicides were included in this number. Thus far, we have found only one incident. It was initially coded as a failure to stop and render aid. However, investigators later found it to be an intentional vehicle assault, which led to a death. That investigation is still ongoing," Finner said on April 11.

ABC13 got ahold of the heavily redacted incident report, which shows the homicide happened in the parking lot of a strip mall on Renwick Drive late at night on May 4, 2018.

The report also shared the victim's last known address, where ABC13 went, knocked on the door, and met with Marco Ramirez, identified as victim Nicolas Martinez's brother-in-law.

"He was a very nice guy, a nice person, and he's one of the oldest brothers that helped his mom a lot. And she went through a lot," Ramirez said, with emotions still sharp six years after losing his family member.

Ramirez said he was the one who got the call to identify his 61-year-old brother-in-law in 2018. It was a duty put on him that he says left a horrible memory.

"To see him the way (the suspect) left him on the streets," Ramirez said.

According to a redacted police report from the night of the incident, an earlier altercation led to an unknown suspect driving a black Ford Expedition or Explorer into Martinez, dragging him upwards of 100 feet.

Ramirez told ABC13 that the fight happened before Martinez arrived, essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I got attached to him in a few years, and it was amazing," Ramirez said.

Shortly after the death, the family claimed calls from the police stopped. A lawyer was hired to do some of their own investigating, but they got nowhere.

Then, on Thursday, ABC13 was the one to tell Marco his brother-in-law's case was the only homicide in the 246,000 suspended HPD incident reports. Police told Eyewitness News nearly a month ago they knew about this suspended homicide, but Ramirez said his family hasn't been contacted by HPD in years.

Ramirez wondered what could have been done if the case wasn't suspended in the first place.

"Yes, they could have caught the person in the next two or three weeks because there were witnesses. There were people on the streets. There were cameras. Security systems all the way around. A gas station. A phone store. So many stores," Ramirez said.

The idea that police were never allowed to investigate this brutal attack is indescribable to this devastated family.

"When they sign up for that job, they know what they need to do, and it's not just for the people out there. It's for them, too," Ramirez said

As of Thursday, HPD told ABC13 it's working to find out if they have tried to contact the family.

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