Full Notification

(HOUSTON, TX) – Investigators with the HCSO’s Cold Case Unit have identified and charged a man in the 1987 capital murder of a 68 year-old woman.

Roman Martinez is charged with Capital Murder for the November 1987 death of his neighbor, Jacqueline Anderson.

Martinez, 71, is currently detained at a state parole violator facility in downtown Houston.

A photo of Martinez is attached.

On the evening of November 11, 1987, Jacqueline M. Anderson, 68, was found bound and strangled inside her north Harris County home. Anderson’s husband had recently died and she lived alone at 202 West Hambrick Road.

The case was investigated by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Division at the time but after a year, investigative leads were exhausted and the case went unsolved.

The HCSO’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case in 2012 and established Anderson’s neighbor and parolee from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Roman Martinez, as their primary suspect.

Cold case investigators located and interviewed Martinez who confessed to having broken in to Anderson’s home. He admitted that while committing the burglary, Anderson arrived home and walked in on him. He stated that he stole money out of the victim’s purse during the burglary. Martinez admitted to having physical contact with Anderson, but stated that she was alive when he fled the home.

After the murder Roman Martinez moved away from the neighborhood. Less than three months later, he was arrested in Waco, Texas for a burglary and drug possession. In September of 1989, Martinez was arrested in Harris County for the burglary of a home. He was apprehended inside the home of a 51 year old woman. This burglary took place less than one mile from the Anderson home.

Roman Martinez has a lengthy criminal history that extends back to the 1950s. This record of convictions includes numerous burglaries, thefts, drug possession, aggravated robbery and rape by force. Martinez is currently a registered sex offender out of El Paso and on parole for a Harris County burglary until 2029.

The HCSO’s Cold Case Unit was reconstituted in 2009 by Sheriff Adrian Garcia. Since then investigators have solved 17 cold cases – with a total of 21 murder victims.

Photos of Mrs. Anderson are attached.