Family members became concerned when Rafael Martinez, age 59, disappeared from his home on Caroline Street in the Village of Clyde. They posted on social media sites asking for anyone’s help in finding the man.

State Police began working the case after responding to a report of a missing adult person.

Little did family know that Rafael, also known as Ralph, or Ralphy, had been the victim of a domestic incident at his residence.

During a domestic dispute, Rafael’s wife, Linda R. Martinez, age 53, had shot her husband sometime  on Sunday (10/25).

After the shooting death,  Linda reportedly called a nephew, who, along with another accomplis removed the body, transporting it to Cayuga County and dumping it into the Seneca River.

Rafael’s cell phone and the gun used to kill him were thrown into a pond in the Town of Savannah.

Through an investigation by the New York State Major Crimes Unit out of Canandaigua, an interrogation,  a forensic study of a cell phone, evidence began to build concerning Linda and the two men involved in transporting the body and concealing evidence.

Members of the State Police Underwater Recovery Team, assisted by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and CSX Railroad, recovered the body of Rafael Martinez, age 59, from the Seneca River in Cayuga County on Wednesday (10/28).

The State Police Underwater Recovery Team, then searched a Town of Savannah pond where the gun used in the killing and Rafael’s cell phone were reportedly thrown. They have not yet been recovered.

Linda Martinez, who admitted to the shooting death of her husband, was charged with Murder in the Second Degree on Wednesday (10/28) and remanded to jail.

Sources close to the investigation indicted Linda Martinez claimed that Rafael had beat her and she shot him in self defense.

The two male accomplices, who  are also facing charges, cooperated with the State Police and admitted their role in the crime.

The investigation is on-going and further details will be released in the future.  State Police were assisted by the Wayne County District Attorney’s Office, Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, the Village of Clyde Police Department and the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office.