Franklin Martin, 38, a man found shot to death on September 25, 2025, was discovered inside a room at the Howard Johnson Inn on Herndon Road in Ceres after a hotel employee reported an unresponsive person and a handgun left in the room. First responders confirmed that Franklin Martin, 38, had been killed by a single gunshot wound shortly after 10:45 a.m., drawing detectives to the motel as they began piecing together the final hours of the man's life.
Even as the room was being processed, a woman flagged down fire personnel blocks away and said she was a victim of domestic abuse that she believed had occurred at a Ceres motel. When officers contacted her and asked if she was connected to the motel death, she drove off with an unrestrained juvenile in the vehicle. A brief pursuit was terminated for safety, but the woman continued driving recklessly until crashing into a curb near Mitchell and Hatch roads; officers arrested her in a nearby parking lot. The car she was driving was registered to Franklin Martin, 38, and contained his belongings.
In a subsequent interview, the woman told detectives she had been in a relationship with Franklin Martin, 38, for approximately 18 years and confessed to shooting him inside the motel room, according to police. She was booked on suspicion of murder, felony evasion, and two counts of child endangerment; the juvenile was placed in protective custody as the investigation continued. Authorities initially withheld the names of the victim and suspect while next of kin were notified and evidence was gathered.
Days later, authorities identified the suspect as Zella Latrice Holmes, 40, of Atwater, and the victim as Franklin Martin, 38. Prosecutors charged Holmes with murder in the shooting of Franklin Martin, 38, and she entered a not guilty plea in Stanislaus County Superior Court. A judge set bail at $2 million and scheduled her next appearance for December 1 while detectives continued to examine her claim of long-term domestic abuse. Public records of gun-violence deaths also list Franklin Martin, 38, as killed by gunfire in Ceres on September 25, 2025.
