In the quiet outskirts of Glendale, Arizona, the lives of 27-year-old Teresa Marie Dempster, a woman of female gender, and 42-year-old David Richard Uhl were violently cut short in November of 1988. Their deaths were not an isolated incident but the beginning of a multi-state crime spree that would end with the capture of a fugitive and his accomplice.
Dempster, who was suspected of being a drug supplier, and Uhl, a salesman, were found shot to death, their murders setting off an investigation that would soon stretch across the country.
The individuals responsible for the double homicide were identified as John Martini and his girlfriend, Theresa Afdahl. Following the killings in Arizona, the pair fled east, eventually settling in New Jersey under assumed identities. Their time as fugitives was short-lived, however, as their violent tendencies resurfaced. Three months after the murders of Dempster and Uhl, in January of 1989, Martini and Afdahl orchestrated the kidnapping of a warehouse executive named Irving Flax in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. They successfully collected a $25,000 ransom from his wife at a diner in Paramus. The following day, Flax was found dead in his car in a mall parking lot, having been shot three times in the back of the head.
The brazen nature of the kidnapping and murder of Flax led to a swift law enforcement response. On the night of Wednesday, January 25, 1989, authorities tracked Martini and Afdahl to a motel in Fort Lee, New Jersey. As they attempted to leave, they were apprehended, and found in possession of the ransom money and a firearm. Their arrest brought an end to their violent cross-country journey.
In the aftermath of their capture, the full scope of their crimes came to light. Martini was charged with capital murder in both New Jersey and Arizona. In August of 1992, to spare himself the death penalty in Arizona, he pleaded guilty to the murders of Teresa Marie Dempster and David Richard Uhl. This plea resulted in a 50-year prison sentence. His girlfriend, Theresa Afdahl, also received a 50-year sentence for her role in the crimes. At the time of his plea in Arizona, Martini was already on death row in New Jersey for the murder of Irving Flax and was later convicted of a fourth murder that he had committed in Philadelphia in 1978.
