Franklin Martin, 38, was found shot to death inside a room at the Howard Johnson Inn on Herndon Road in Ceres on September 25, 2025. A hotel employee reported an unresponsive person and a handgun left in the room; first responders confirmed Martin had died of a single gunshot wound shortly after 10:45 a.m. The room was processed as detectives began reconstructing his final hours.

While officers were at the motel, a woman flagged down fire personnel and said she was a victim of domestic abuse she believed had occurred at a Ceres motel. When contacted, she drove off with an unrestrained juvenile; a brief pursuit ended for safety, and she later crashed near Mitchell and Hatch roads and was arrested nearby. The vehicle was registered to Franklin Martin and contained his belongings.

In a subsequent interview the woman said she had been in a relationship with Martin for about 18 years and confessed to shooting him. She was booked on suspicion of murder, felony evasion, and two counts of child endangerment; the juvenile was placed in protective custody. The suspect was later identified as Zella Latrice Holmes, 40, of Atwater, and prosecutors charged her with murder; she entered a not guilty plea and a judge set bail at $2 million. Does anyone have information about Martin’s presence at the motel that morning or about his relationship with Holmes?