Kriti Mehrotra
When a beloved father of two named Scott Martinez was found dead inside his apartment in La Mesa, California, in the early hours of June 17, 2006, it left his loved ones shattered. Investigation Discovery’s ‘On the Case with Paula Zahn: Blood Reveals the Sword’ explores this matter in detail, highlighting precisely how the case went cold even with DNA evidence. In fact, despite authorities’ best efforts, it wasn’t until 2019 that his assailant was positively identified through genealogy, leading to an arrest, extradition, and a long-awaited conviction.
Scott Martinez Was Stabbed to Death With a Sword
A native of California, Scott Martinez had managed to build a good life for himself by the time 2006 rolled around, as he was a dedicated family man, a community member, and a gambler. The 47-year-old had tied the knot when he was quite young, as he believed he had found the love of his life, with whom he welcomed two adorable daughters into the world. His elder daughter, Angelina Panek, revealed in the aforementioned original that although her parents divorced when she and her sister were toddlers, they still had a great relationship with their father. After all, he always showed up for them, didn’t back away from difficult conversations, and showed through his actions that he only ever wanted to provide them with a good, happy, stable life. They were his priority.
Scott had since found love again with a woman named Karen Stacy, who understood his dedication to his daughters, as she was a mother herself, making them bond on a deep level. He thus got down on one knee for her, ready to start a new chapter of their lives soon, to which she obviously said yes. Therefore, by the time the summer of 2006 rolled around, they were planning for a future but had not yet moved in together, so the last time she saw him was late on June 16. According to Karen’s account, Scott left her home late on June 16, claiming he wasn’t feeling well and that he wanted to rest at home.
A few hours later, at 3:30 am, she dialed 911, asserting she needed immediate aid as she was outside her fiancé’s home and he wasn’t opening the door. She claimed she had made her way there after he failed to inform her he’d make it home okay, and she had forgotten her keys to his place, so she was worried he might have been having a medical emergency. However, when officials arrived and made their way inside, they were faced with a gruesome, bloody scene. Scott was lying dead in the living room, with a bent sword near his head – it was later confirmed he had been stabbed over 30 times with the same 3½ double-edged sword with a bronze handle. The sword had bent from the force of the attack, making it clear to officials that Scott’s murder was personal.
Investigations Into Scott Martinez’s Homicide Initially Led to His Best Friend
Although Karne had initially told officials she had made her way to Scott’s apartment in worry over his health after he failed to contact her, her story changed when she was questioned again. She told investigators she had actually been told what to say by her fiancé’s best friend, a man named Dino, because he believed Scott was dead inside his apartment and they needed immediate help. Suspicion thus fell on Dino, a local with a history with law enforcement who knew of Scott’s fate before investigators had even entered his home. It’s imperative to note that while the scene was gruesome, investigators had managed to recover blood that did not belong to the victim. There were some drops of blood on the bathroom floor and sink, an empty toilet roll, a cut screen in the bedroom window, and a bloody tissue underneath it.
The fact that Scott had a torn convenience store bag near his remains and items from it were scattered nearby also gave investigators an idea of the crime’s timeline. They hypothesized he died between midnight and 1 am, with his killer lying in wait for him inside his 2nd-floor apartment. From his wounds, they believed he fought back to the best of his abilities before being overpowered and fatally stabbed with a sword from his own apartment – he seemed to be a collector of sorts since he had several edged weapons in various corners of his home. In the struggle, they believed the assailant had injured himself, so he tried cleaning up before deciding to flee by jumping out the bedroom screen window.
When detectives looked into Dino, they came to believe he could have been responsible for Scott’s murder because he had a financial motive. After all, as a gambler, Scott had placed several of his vehicles and assets under his best friend’s name, which Dino tried to take possession of almost immediately after the murder. However, Dino maintained his innocence and claimed that he planned to sell the assets to secure money for the future of Scott’s daughters. He also claimed he knew his best friend’s fate because two mutual friends, John and Kelly, had informed him of it. His DNA evidence cleared him, and John and Kelly also backed his claims, asserting they had gone to Scott’s home because Kelly had to pick something from there. She had previously babysat Scott’s daughters for him, so she had confirmed her visit half an hour prior.
Scott Martinez’s Case Went In Several Directions Before an Arrest Was Made 13 Years Later
When the couple went there, Kelly used her keys to go in after Scott didn’t open, and that’s when they saw the gruesome scene. They subsequently heard a noise from further in the house, so they panicked under the belief that the killer was still inside, fled, and called Dino. They didn’t call 911 as they were worried authorities might try to place the blame on them, as they had previously been in legal trouble, too. In the end, following a search of their home and car, an analysis of their DNA, and a lack of any defensive wounds on their bodies cleared them. With their accounts, the window of the crime was further corroborated to be between midnight and 1 am on June 17, but no leads ever came for it. Investigators subsequently pursued various avenues and left no stone unturned, but the case eventually went cold due to a lack of official leads or persons of interest.
Scott’s friend Chuck also gave the police several possible suspects, but none went anywhere. Therefore, with this pattern continuing when officials revisited the case several times over the years, they decided it was time to utilize the unidentified DNA evidence recovered from the scene. Through it, in the late 2010s, they created a profile of their potential suspect, had a composite sketch made, and then sent all the details for further genealogy testing in the hopes of finding a name. In January 2019, they identified Scott’s killer as Zachary Aaron Bunney, who used to live less than a mile away from Scott’s home in 2006 but had relocated to Oregon shortly after the crime.
Zachary Bunney is Currently Incarcerated in a State Prison
Investigators traveled to Oregon to question Zachary on January 9, 2019, but he refused to answer anything and also refused to provide a DNA sample. However, when told that they had a warrant to collect a DNA swab, he complied, and it turned out to be a match to the DNA of the blood recovered from the scene. So, he was arrested on January 10, with the announcement of the same being made on January 24, following which he was extradited to California to face trial for murder. Although he had refused to answer any questions, it came to light that at the time of the crime, he was the boyfriend of Scott’s housekeeper, Adara Roth.
According to details from old police records, Adara had once confessed to Chuck that she had been cheating on her boyfriend, so it’s likely Zachary believed Scott to be the other man. After all, she had a key to his place and would often frequent it since she was indeed his housekeeper, nothing more, so he could have gotten the wrong impression, stolen the key on the fateful night, and decided to seek revenge. In court, it was also argued that he fled the crime scene in a hurry and did not clean it, as he had probably intended to, because he heard John and Kelly, which became his downfall. At the time of his arrest, officials also noticed significant scarring on his hands and a disfigured finger, consistent with old injuries from a blade.
In the end, on November 13, 2019, 39-year-old Zachary pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter and use of a deadly weapon in the slaying of Scott Martinez. He was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving 80% of his total term, or 9 years. Therefore, today, at age 46, he likely remains incarcerated in a California Correctional Facility, where he is expected to remain until at least he becomes eligible for parole in 2028. If denied early release, he will remain behind bars until 2031.
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