Megan Marotte, a 20-year-old Staten Island resident, was reported missing by her brother on August 7, 2013.
“She had not been in contact with her family for several days,” said Michael Cosenza, then a detective with the New York City Police Department’s Staten Island Homicide Squad.
“They were worried for her safety,” Cosenza said in the “Last Sightings at the Deli” episode of
New York Homicide
, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on
Oxygen
.
Her relatives’ concern was amplified by the fact that Marotte was pregnant. The case would lead detectives through a twisty maze that grew darker at every turn.
Who was Megan Marotte?
Investigators learned that Marotte was independent from a young age. “Her mom and dad divorced, and then her mom moved to Florida with her younger sister,” said her best friend, Allie Tesnakis. “Megan and her older brother decided to stay [in New York].”
After Marotte’s father’s death, her friends noticed that Marotte grew distant. She’d begun spending more time with her boyfriend, Peter, who was in his 30s. She lived with him on and off.
Police search for leads in the case
After talking with Marotte’s brother, police interviewed Peter. He said that he last saw Marotte on August 1 and that he didn’t want her to have his baby, according to
New York Homicide
.
“Peter told us that the two of them got into an argument… and that he threw her out of the house,” said John Serdaros, who was then a detective with the NYPD’s 121st Precinct on Staten Island.
Peter also said that he’d received a message from Marotte in the early morning hours of August 4. It had been sent from the phone of their mutual friend, Robert.
“We ran our checks to find out where Robert lives,” said Serdaros. “We got his address and his arrest history and found that he was a registered sex offender.”
Robert’s rap sheet raised a red flag. But when he was interviewed at his home, police found no signs of foul play. He told police he’d last seen Marotte a few days earlier when she’d helped him and his wife run their food truck.
After closing up the truck on August 3, the three went back to Robert’s place and partied until after midnight. “Megan asked to use the phone, and she called Peter from Robert’s cell phone,” said Cosenza.
Robert told police that he dropped Marotte off on the corner of Port Richmond Ave. and Forest Ave. at about 5 a.m. on August 4, and that that was the last time he saw her.
Three days after Marotte vanished, detectives still had no evidence that a crime had been committed.
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Police seek clues from surveillance cameras
On August 8, police posted missing flyers and reached out to the media. They hoped that Marotte would see the posters or hear reports and contact them.
“She was very young, and it was a story that drew much more attention than other typical missing-persons stories,” said Mark Stein, an editor and former reporter at the
Staten Island Advance.
Marotte’s friend Cynthia Gonzalez recalled how seeing those posters was “gut-wrenching.”
“Obviously, you pray,” she said, “… but you know the statistics.” In their search for Marotte, detectives reviewed footage from cameras covering the area where Robert had dropped her off. Video confirmed his account.
The footage also showed Marotte go into the Five Eleven Deli & Grocery, where she stayed for several minutes. When she left the deli, she walked off in the direction of Peter’s apartment.
“The focus shifts to Peter again because he left this part out,” said Serdaros. “There’s inconsistencies in his story.”
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When detectives interviewed Peter again, he told them that she did come back to his house, and they argued. “He didn’t want to have her in the house, so he said he turned her away,” Serdaros said. “It was the last time he saw her. He didn’t know where she went after that.”
Investigators had no direct evidence to hold Peter. So, police returned to the surveillance footage. It showed that Marotte returned to the same deli around 6 a.m. and stayed inside for about 20 minutes.
Detectives went back to the deli to see if interior cameras captured images of Marotte. Footage showed her seated in a booth.
Two men in the footage caught detectives’ attention. One let Marotte use his phone. One was “staring at her,” said Cosenza. “He was raising some flags for me.”]
Megan Marotte’s body found in Willowbrook Park
On August 15, police got a report of a foul odor coming from Willowbrook Park, a large green space adjacent to the College of Staten Island. The source was human remains.
An autopsy report confirmed that the deceased was Marotte. “She was naked from the waist down, and her legs were spread,” said Consenza. “It suggested there was some sort of sexual assault.”
While friends struggled to process the news of Marotte’s murder, detectives quickly found that the media attention to the case generated fresh leads.
On August 16, a cab driver told police that he recognized Marotte as a passenger he’d picked up with a Hispanic man on August 4 near the Five Eleven Deli. He drove them to a nearby Ramada hotel, said Cosenza.
The cab driver picked out the other passenger as one of the men in the deli security footage. Detectives reviewed security footage from the Ramada.
Marotte was seen with a man, but they left the hotel after just a few minutes. An exterior camera captured them walking toward Willowbrook Park.
Pedro Martin identified as man in the hotel video
As a result of dogged detective work, investigators learned that the man seen in the deli and at the Ramada was known as “Toro.” On August 17, they identified him as 27-year-old Pedro Martin.
Martin said that he and Marotte went to the Ramada to have sex. He claimed that when they were turned away because he had a negative reputation there, they went their separate ways.
“I know if I don’t get a confession, we’re gonna have to let him go,” said Cosenza. “He’s gonna be in the wind.”
Cosenza got creative. He confronted Martin, claiming that he had security footage of him and Marotte at the park. Martin got rattled.
“He was just stuttering. He would start to sweat,” said Louis Martinez, of the NYPD’s 123rd Precinct Detective Squad on Staten Island, who aided in the interrogation.
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Late in the evening on August 17, Martin cracked. He told police he’d been out drinking and doing cocaine when he made eye contact with Marotte at the Five Eleven Deli, according to
New York Homicide
.
“He approached her outside of the store, at which time she solicited him for sex,” said Serdaros. “He agreed to pay her to have sex.”
In the park, after leaving the Ramada, they argued. “It was a dispute over money. He dropped her to the ground,” said Serdaros. “He choked her out till he knew she was dead because he was afraid that she was going to scream.”
Pedro Martin arrested and sentenced
Two weeks after Marotte was last seen alive, Martin was charged with second-degree murder.
Because detectives couldn’t prove whether the sex act was forced or consensual, Martin wasn’t charged with rape or sexual assault.
“It just felt so senseless,” Tesnakis said. “I remember feeling really angry because, of course, we don’t get Megan’s version of what happened.”
In June of 2014, Martin pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
To learn more about the case, watch the “Last Sightings at the Deli” episode of
New York Homicide
. The show airs new episodes on Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on
Oxygen
.