Investigators believe an argument over $20 worth of fentanyl led to last week’s fatal stabbing at a gas station in Thornton, according to court documents.
Anthony Valenta, 28, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Mary Ann Martinez, 40, Adams County court records show.
One witness told police that he had been hanging out with Martinez on Sept. 16 and saw her arguing with a man about money at the gas station, according to Valenta’s arrest affidavit. The man said he wanted his $20 back and pulled out a 4-inch knife, the witness told police.
The witness said the man, later identified as Valenta, stabbed Martinez in the chest and fled the gas station in his car, hitting Martinez with the vehicle on his way out of the parking lot, the affidavit stated.
Thornton police officers responded to the Maverick gas station, 237 E. 120th Ave., shortly after 5:15 p.m. on Sept. 16. Paramedics took Martinez to an area hospital, where she died at 7:04 p.m., according to the affidavit.
When he was arrested, Valenta told paramedics that he tried to buy $20 worth of fentanyl from Martinez, but she gave him an empty container, the affidavit stated.
He told investigators that she pepper-sprayed him when confronted about it, and he admitted to stabbing her with the knife in his pocket, police wrote in the affidavit. He claimed he was blinded by the pepper spray and didn't know where he stabbed her, and said he left the gas station when other men nearby started throwing rocks at him.
Police later spotted a vehicle matching the witness's description driving recklessly and swerving into oncoming traffic on Madison Street, according to the affidavit.
Officers followed that car, driven by Valenta, to the 4300 block of East 119th Way, where it pulled into an open garage, police said in the affidavit.
Valenta was arrested and booked into the Adams County Detention Facility at 12:07 a.m. Thursday, roughly seven hours after the stabbing, . As of Wednesday, he was still being held at that facility without bail, Adams County court records show.
He is next scheduled to appear in court for an advisement hearing on Sept. 30, according to court records.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
