On a September afternoon in 2017, a dispute over a drug debt brought deadly violence to the driveway of a Kennewick, Washington home. Martin Ibanez, a 39-year-old male from Pasco, was visiting a residence on West Seventh Place on September 11th when he was fatally shot. The events that led to this confrontation began with a debt, reportedly between $3,000 and $4,000, that Ibanez owed to his drug supplier.
The supplier, identified as Carlos Tapia Torres, decided it was time to collect.
He enlisted another man, Stephen E. Morfin, to act as his enforcer. To locate Ibanez, Tapia Torres instructed an associate, Martin Mendoza, to guide Morfin to where Ibanez could be found. On the afternoon of the shooting, Mendoza got into a white Chevy Impala with Morfin and directed him to the house on West Seventh Place. While Mendoza waited in the car, Morfin got out and confronted Ibanez in the driveway. The argument was brief, ending when Morfin shot Ibanez several times before getting back into the car. Mendoza then took the wheel and drove them away from the scene. Ibanez was found wounded in the driveway and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The Kennewick police investigation quickly focused on the debt Ibanez owed, uncovering text messages on his phone that led them to Martin Mendoza. Mendoza eventually cooperated with investigators, detailing the roles of both Morfin and Tapia Torres. He described how he and Morfin fled to Franklin County, where they hid the Impala and where Morfin allegedly buried the handgun used in the shooting. Nearly a month after the killing, police tracked Stephen Morfin to a Pasco motel. On October 6, 2017, the Tri-City Regional SWAT team assisted in his arrest. Morfin was initially charged with second-degree murder.
The legal process saw outcomes for all three men involved. Stephen Morfin's first trial ended in a mistrial. He later reached a plea deal and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter, receiving a 10-year sentence. Carlos Tapia Torres, the supplier who ordered the collection, entered an Alford plea to first-degree rendering criminal assistance and was sentenced to one year and three months. Martin Mendoza, who drove the getaway car, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree rendering criminal assistance and was sentenced to five months in county jail in exchange for his cooperation.
