King County Prosecutors responded to a location where detectives found a body. Seattle Police say investigators found a body believed to be connected to the disappearance of Seattle woman Leticia Martinez, who was last seen March 31 at a Mariners game. The body was found about one mile from where police found her son Patrick Cosman, who investigators say was taken by the man she went to the Seattle Mariners game with – 46-year-old Brett Gitchel.
Police will not confirm that it is Martinez’ body they found, but say the remains were found in a wooded area between Talbot Rd. and State Route 167 in Renton. Brett was arrested at a Shoreline Costco on April 5, accused of stealing $10,000 worth of jewelry from a Costco in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood.
Newly released charging documents detail what may have led up to the disappearance of Leticia Martinez. Martinez, 58, was last seen at a Seattle Mariners game on March 31 with Brett. She took a selfie of herself and Brett Gitchel. Leticia then sent the pic to her family.
“Within a three days period, Brett Gitchel was the last person to be seen with Leticia Martinez-Cosman. Brett Gitchel would drive Leticia’s vehicle to a remote area outside of Seattle for a short period of time the next day, kidnap and attempt to kill her son and burn Leticia’s vehicle,” court documents said.
Prosecutors allege that Gitchel was the man who Martinez’ son came in contact with in the early morning hours of April 2. Her son woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his bedroom door (from inside the house). He did not recognize the man, but believed he may have been a neighbor. The man told him that his mother had been hurt in a fall and that he could take him to the hospital to see her.
During the car ride, the man parked the vehicle and tried to put a bag over Martinez’ son’s head in an effort to choke him. The son fought back and bit the man and was able to escape and hid in the woods. Court documents say Gitchel was that man mentioned. Brett Gitchel had wounds on his hands that look to be bite marks.
Martinez’s Honda CRV that she took to the Mariners game that day was found burning on the side of the road near Lewis Park and north Beacon Hill. She was not inside. Surveillance footage indicates that Gitchel purchased a gas container and lighter around 6 a.m. the same day Martinez’s car was found burned.
Gitchel has now been charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, first-degree theft and second-degree arson.
