A body found in Renton on Tuesday has been identified as Leticia "Leti" Martinez-Cosman, who was last seen March 31 at a Mariners game.
Martinez-Cosman died from asphyxiation due to strangulation, the King County Medical Examiner's Office said Friday. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. Ricardo Martinez said Friday he was informed by authorities the body was his sister's.
Martinez said his sister was an outgoing woman who "always looked at stuff on the brighter side." She was devoted to creating a sense of community wherever she was, with whoever she was with, he said.
Homicide detectives found the body in a wooded area in Renton while following leads in the case, a Seattle police spokesperson said.
The area is about one mile from where police found Martinez-Cosman's 24-year-old son, who police say was abducted by the man who accompanied Martinez-Cosman to the game.
New details about the investigation into Martinez-Cosman's disappearance were included in charging papers filed earlier this week against the man. Brett Michael Gitchel, 46, is accused of later abducting her adult son, torching her SUV and stealing diamonds from Costco.
Martinez-Cosman's son lived with her and has been diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. He was awakened around 2 a.m. April 2 by an unknown man knocking on his bedroom door, prosecutors said. The man told him that his mother had been in an accident and that he would drive him to the hospital.
After driving around in the man's SUV, the son later told police, the man stopped, got in the back seat and attempted to smother and strangle him from behind, according to charging documents. During the ensuing fight, the man told the son "he was doing this for his mother and that this was to spare him from being committed to an institution because of his conditions," prosecutors allege.
The son bit the man's arm and eventually got out of the SUV and called his father, who told him to call 911, according to the probable cause statement. The man drove off in his SUV.
Gitchel, already facing a slew of felony charges for crimes allegedly committed in the days after the March 31 ballgame at T-Mobile Park, will be charged with a count of second-degree murder in the death of Martinez-Cosman, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Gitchel was arrested last week and remains jailed in lieu of $5 million bail.
The community has raised more than $13,000 to support the family of Martinez-Cosman through a GoFundMe account set up by her brother.
Martinez-Cosman grew up in San Diego with her five siblings before moving to the Pacific Northwest and settling in West Seattle in the mid 1990s.
Martinez-Cosman was interested in "everything," her brother said, but she especially enjoyed fashion, designing — she designed swimwear as a teenager and worked at a wedding boutique when she first moved to Seattle — and cooking.
"She's always just a happy, healthy person," who enjoyed running and exercise Martinez said.
Martinez-Cosman owned a White Center coffee shop called Cafe Rozella in the 2000s. That's when she was "her happiest," her brother remembered.
The intimate cafe at 17th Avenue Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest was a living and breathing hub where bits of culture from immigrants from nearly every continent mixed comfortably — "it was her heart and soul," her brother said. The coffee shop has since closed.
Martinez-Cosman often filled the space with musical performances, and she would provide free coffee when local AA groups met at the shop, Martinez said.
People found community at Cafe Rozella, and providing community for people was Martinez-Cosman's calling, her brother said.
In 2007, two years after the cafe's opening, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels named Martinez-Cosman "a force of change" in the community.
"She's always very giving," her brother said. "She wanted to make everyone happy, she was just one of those people."
Martinez recalled spending time with his sister and his nephew "going out and having fun, going to the movies, dinners and lunches" and particularly his sister's love for the Mariners.
"It's just a real point of my life that I'm not going to be able to see her and do that stuff now, but she's always with me. I just try to keep that in with me and close to my heart," Martinez said.
