A serial child molester learned his fate after being found guilty of sexually abusing numerous girls between the ages of four and 11.
Edward Martinez, 53, of Waynesville, Missouri, was convicted of 20 felony charges in September 2024. He was sentenced to nine life sentences, The Springfield Daily Citizen reported.
"I looked him in the eye in court and told him that to his face when I was on the stand. I said I told you we would get you. I said it might take a while but I wouldn't rest until it happened. And that's what we did," Leanna Bremenkamp told KY-3. "I let this monster into our home, around my kids and he betrayed our trust. We trusted him and invited him into our family and this is how he did us. It's not right."
Martinez was a manipulative predator who groomed the girls and their families with gifts and financial support in order to have access to the young girls, a press release from the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney stated.
"The victims usually were the children of his significant others or his close friends — or the young friends of those children," prosecutors stated.
The case against Martinez spanned 25 years, from 1996 to 2021, although investigators believe that the incidents of abuse could stretch back further. Martinez was charged with similar crimes in the 1990s, but was found not guilty.
"You don't rejoice in it. It's not one of those moments where you're high-fiving or anything like that. It's still a sad moment," Repubilc Police Detective James Stephenson told KY-3. "37 years ago was the first victim. When you think about that, 37 years of, a life of, essentially what the evidence proved was geared towards victimizing the young and disabled."
