On November 4, 2015, a car fire on a secluded dirt road on Swan Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts, revealed the body of 35-year-old Marie R. Martin of Webster. An autopsy determined she had been shot before the vehicle was set ablaze.

Investigators uncovered that Martin had been involved in a custody dispute with her ex-boyfriend and had sought someone to assault or kill him. Through a handyman she was introduced to Donovan Goparian, then 42. Rather than carry out Martin’s request, Goparian attacked and killed her, investigators say, then placed her body in her car and set it on fire. Police arrested Goparian and charged him with first-degree murder and desecration of a body. Another man, Thomas Hogan, was initially charged with misleading investigators because Martin’s body was found near his home, but the prosecution later focused on Goparian. A former girlfriend of Goparian testified she was with him when he set the car on fire, saying she did not know the body was inside.

In February 2020 a jury found Donovan Goparian guilty of first-degree murder; the conviction carries life without parole. The case later produced post-conviction litigation about possible third-party evidence and ongoing discovery. Does anyone have information about Martin’s life in Webster or the days leading up to November 4, 2015?