In the fall of 2019, the life of 40-year-old Delilah Martinez was tragically cut short in a violent encounter in Whiting, Indiana. On the evening of October 27th, police responded to a report of shots fired in the 1100 block of 115th Street. There, they discovered Martinez lying in the grass, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. She was unresponsive and was pronounced dead the following day.
An investigation revealed a bullet hole in her car, which was parked on the street nearby.
The investigation into her death soon focused on her ex-girlfriend, Lydia Conley, a 40-year-old from Chicago. Prosecutors alleged that Conley was enraged after Martinez ended their relationship and began dating a man. Just a week or two before the fatal shooting, Martinez had broken up with Conley. The day before the shooting, Conley allegedly confronted Martinez and her new boyfriend, reportedly threatening Martinez's life during a heated phone call that the boyfriend overheard. A co-worker later told police that Martinez had been shaken by this incident.
In June 2020, a murder warrant was issued for Lydia Conley. She was taken into custody in Chicago by the U.S. Marshal's Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force, assisting Hammond Police Department detectives. Conley maintained her innocence throughout the legal proceedings. During her trial, her defense attempted to suggest an alternative suspect, another woman Conley had been seeing concurrently with Martinez. However, the court did not allow the introduction of this woman's past unrelated convictions.
In June 2022, a jury found Lydia Conley guilty of the murder of Delilah Martinez. She was subsequently sentenced to 70 years in prison. Conley later appealed her conviction, arguing that the trial court had erred by not allowing her to present the other woman as a potential suspect. In May, a court rejected her appeal, upholding the conviction and sentence.
