In the early morning hours of June 3, 2020, the life of 34-year-old Mathew Bond of Longmont, Colorado, was tragically cut short. Bond, a male, was discovered deceased inside a stolen vehicle on Valentine Lane. His death was the result of a shooting that had occurred more than an hour earlier in a cul-de-sac on the 1200 block of Hunter Court. The Longmont Police Department immediately launched a homicide investigation into the incident.
The investigation quickly led authorities to identify Richard Lawrence Martinez as the primary suspect in Bond's death. Just two days after the discovery of Bond's body, Martinez was apprehended in Espanola, New Mexico, with the assistance of the Espanola Police Department and New Mexico State Police. Surveillance had been conducted on a relative's home where Martinez was located. When he left the residence, a high-speed chase ensued, ending in a crash, after which Martinez fled on foot before being captured. Longmont police have stated that they are not seeking any other suspects in this case.
During the subsequent trial, it was revealed that Mathew Bond was not the intended target of the shooting. The events of that fatal morning stemmed from a dispute between Richard Martinez and another man, Seth Eberly. Eberly had reportedly threatened Martinez's girlfriend with a shotgun hours before the shooting. In response, Martinez armed himself and went to Hunter Court to confront Eberly. Bond was a passenger in the car Eberly was driving when Martinez fired approximately 13 rounds into the vehicle. Tragically, one of these shots struck and killed Mathew Bond. In May 2022, Richard Martinez was convicted of first-degree murder with extreme indifference and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
