Adela Gonzalez Martinez, a 39-year-old Hispanic woman, was found dead in her Brownsville, Texas, apartment on November 2, 2020. Her ex-husband, Jose Arnoldo Rodriguez, called police to request a welfare check after arriving at her Dana Avenue home to drop off their two children and finding the door partially open and unable to reach her. Police entered and found Adela in her bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.

Investigators say the killing was part of a murder-for-hire plot allegedly orchestrated by Rodriguez, who prosecutors say owed Adela tens of thousands of dollars in child support. Authorities allege Rodriguez hired two men from San Antonio, Jonathan Xavier Roman Martinez and Charly Angel Carrillo Torres; Torres is accused of driving and Martinez of entering the apartment and shooting Adela. Rodriguez had reportedly attempted to hire others in 2018 over a $10,000 child support debt.

By March 2021 police arrested Rodriguez, Martinez, and Torres. Prosecutors later charged Rodriguez’s girlfriend, Cynthia Margarita Olvera, accusing her of providing Adela’s address and conspiring in the plot. Three of the men have pleaded guilty and received sentences; one defendant’s case was still proceeding to trial. Anyone who knew Adela or has information about her death is asked to come forward.