In the winter of 2017, the life of Noel Moctezuma, a 26-year-old Hispanic male, was tragically cut short. On the evening of February 21st, he was shot and killed inside his own apartment located on South 56th Avenue in Yakima, Washington. An autopsy would later confirm that he died from a gunshot wound to the head. At the time of his death, Moctezuma was a resident of Yakima and was married.
For more than a year, the case remained without a public suspect.
Then, in June of 2018, Yakima Police announced an arrest. They had issued a second-degree murder warrant for Dallas F. Martin, who was 20 years old at the time of the announcement. Investigators were led to Martin by a witness. Police indicated that the shooting was not a random act, nor was it related to gang activity or drugs, though a specific motive was not immediately released.
The arrest of Dallas Martin revealed a more complex and troubling history. At the time he allegedly killed Moctezuma, Martin was already out on bail for a separate murder charge from 2015 in Thurston County. He was on trial for that earlier killing when police in Yakima secured the warrant for his arrest in connection with Moctezuma's death. This meant that the man accused of ending Noel Moctezuma's life was already facing justice for another alleged homicide when the two men's paths crossed.
