Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced the suspect in the killing of Morgan Hill resident Marissa DiNapoli faces life in prison.
Martin Mendoza Jr., 20, was arraigned on charges of first degree murder and the use of a knife to commit murder at the San Jose Hall of Justice on Tuesday. He was denied bail.
Judge Franklin E. Bondonno scheduled a follow-up hearing for Sept. 9 and ordered the release of additional facts related to the developing murder case — including the revelation that DiNapoli was stabbed five times in her back, according to the Morgan Hill Police Department.
Police said witness interviews and forensic evidence supports law enforcement’s conclusion that Mendoza stabbed and killed DiNapoli. She was last seen on surveillance footage from Mendoza’s residence on June 29.
Cell phone data obtained by the FBI placed both DiNapoli’s and Mendoza’s phones near Anderson Lake on the morning of June 29. DiNapoli’s body was discovered by a community member on July 2.
According to recently unsealed police records, police responded on June 30 to reports that multiple men were knocking on the door of a Morgan Hill home around 9pm. A family member of the victim was contacted across the street; she stated she was searching for Mendoza to confront him about Marissa’s whereabouts. During the interaction, Mendoza was observed by police retreating into the home where the 911 report originated.
Mendoza fled to Mexico following the interaction. He was caught trying to return to the U.S.
He hid behind his attorney, out of sight, during Tuesday’s arraignment.
Rosen stood beside the DiNapoli family as he addressed the press following Tuesday afternoon’s arraignment. He said Mendoza faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted of 1st degree murder, and 16 years to life if convicted of 2nd degree murder.
“The Morgan Hill Police Department did an excellent job in this investigation. They quickly reached out to the DA’s Office, to our investigators, as well as to the crime lab, which helped process the murder scene,” Rosen told the Morgan Hill Times. “(We) also worked with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Marshals, and very quickly got an arrest warrant for Mendoza, which allowed law enforcement to arrest him as he walked back into the country.”
DiNapoli’s biological family and friends turned up to Tuesday’s arraignment in droves. Her sister, Monice Ramirez, brought a body-sized poster featuring a photo of DiNapoli to carry the memory of her younger sister.
“She was a good girl,” Ramirez told the Morgan Hill Times. “She was loving, funny and a woman of God for sure. Love and God are a lot of what she was.”
Ramirez and friends of DiNapoli launched a petition on Change.org calling for an investigation of the Morgan Hill Police Department and its handling of the case after they said the department was slow in releasing information. They also accused the department of racial bias.
Friends and family declined to answer any questions regarding the police investigation following Tuesday’s arraignment.
When asked about the Ramirez family’s criticism of the police investigation, Rosen told the Morgan Hill Times he stood behind the police department’s actions.
The recently unsealed facts also revealed subsequent interviews with family members that referenced multiple prior unreported incidents of domestic violence in which Mendoza physically assaulted DiNapoli. The late teen’s friends confirmed on Tuesday they were also concerned about Mendoza’s escalating behavior toward DiNapoli.
“Two years ago I tried to tell her he’s gonna kill you, and that same day, I told her father that she was still seeing him, and she ended up kind of breaking our friendship a bit because she was so in love with him,” friend Vanessa Chambers said. “He’s a piece of shit.”
Who is this guy? Is he from Morgan Hill and does he have family there. It’s hard to try to keep your family safe from these predators when you know they are not good people. My heart goes out to the family and friends of this lovely young woman. My prayers for a conviction.
Who is this guy? Is he from Morgan Hill and does he have family there. It’s hard to try to keep your family safe from these predators when you know they are not good people. My heart goes out to the family and friends of this lovely young woman. My prayers for a conviction
This is just a publicity move for Jeff Rosen. He doesn’t truly care about what the family and friends of this poor woman are going through.
I say this because Mr. Rosen is helping his friend, Valerie Houghton, to sex traffic my children and violently assault me. He is doing this under the color of law.
I told Mr. Rosen that Ms. Houghton is profiting from the sexual abuse of my kids and that she was having me assaulted. I was sure that he would do something to protect me and my kids. Instead, he filed charges AGAINST ME. I hadn’t even committed a crime. The whole goal was to quickly bring the matter to competency proceedings to absolve his friend of her crimes.
You can watch one of the times that I begged D.A. Rosen for help. He is seated second from the left.
https://youtu.be/7sy-bBU4KQs?t=893
I have been poisoned so many times that now my testicles have atrophied, all my organs are damaged and the shape of my face has changed. I have also lost sensation across my entire body.
Here you can see the damage to facial structure:
https://archive.ph/nf2ag
Here you can see many of Ms. Houghton’s threats that I was directed to view on social media.
https://pdfhost.io/v/Su6QiWEU8_Valerie_Houghton_posts__1_-compressed
After the D.A.’s Office raised a doubt for my competency to stand trial, I refused to undergo any psychological evaluation. The poisonings then became more acute.
I sent Mr. Rosen all the pictures and screenshots of the threats. I also offered Mr. Rosen the names of two doctors that could confirm that I had been poisoned. He just didn’t care.
Eventually a psychical report was written and submitted into the record with the assistance of the D.A.’s Office. I never met or spoke with any psychologist. Said report completely absolved Ms. Houghton of any misconduct.
You can read excerpts from the report here:
https://archive.ph/IWTqh
I have posted more details of the process here:
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/272/404/301/district-attorney-jeffrey-rosen-please-stop-sex-trafficking-my-kids/
Please stop voting for D.A. Rosen. He has done this to other children and parents. Read how he prosecuted Daya Baran. Baran made reports that his toddler was being molested. He was then both poisoned and prosecuted. Now he is a diabetic and the pigmentation in his face has been damaged.
https://freearianna.org/story
See how Valerie Rae Berry spent a year in jail after trying to protect her daughter from being sexually abused.
https://www.kron4.com/news/retired-college-professor-sentenced-for-abducting-daughter-out-of-santa-clara-county-in-1990/
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/uk/retired-professor-charged-with-1990-california-abduction-of-daughter-idUSKCN0Q328I/
Read how Violet Brook’s children were being sexually abused. She went to D.A. Rosen for help. He ignored her because Valerie Houghton was involved.
Here is a subsequent lawsuit:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20795180-2019-10-25-complaint
You can read how Jeff Rosen never filed charges against Dr. Patrick Clyne for molesting dozens of kids. He also never reported him to the medical board. Dr. Clyne went on to molest dozens of more children in “Freedom”, California.
https://www.newsminimalist.com/articles/california-revokes-doctors-license-for-child-sex-abuse-dc10581a
https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/05/21/former-santa-clara-county-child-welfare-physician-accused-of-sexually-abusing-kids-loses-medical-license/
In 2011, Jeff Rosen put him on the Brady list. This was the statement that his office released:
[a committee of prosecutors] “feels that there is substantial evidence that Dr. Clyne committed multiple crimes involving moral turpitude, specifically sexual assault.”
https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/04/23/new-details-emerge-about-fired-santa-clara-county-pediatrician-accused-of-sexual-molestation/
Here is another case of Jeff Rosen failing to protect child. The arrest last week of the San jose police officer accused of sexually abusing several girls has led to more new reporting.
This arrested officer used to work for the DA’s Office in their parenting program. In 2017, Rosen’s office failed to report innprouate relationships with the children to CPS. This allowed the police Officer to be a foster parent .
https://archive.ph/xfhPL
How much more evidence does the community need? Jeff Rosen just doesn’t care about abused children
If you want to know why Jeff Rosen isn’t taking the sexual abuse of my children seriously, just watch about a minute and 20 seconds of this video. Rosen compares sexually molesting kids to liking mayonnaise.
He says that there is no reason to be angry.
I couldn’t believe my ears:
https://youtu.be/qSBNs1rJFac?t=3041
There is a new report regarding the two baby deaths from fentanyl overdoses. The death of Baby Phoenix was already established as negligence on the part of Santa Clara County though an investigation from the California Department of Social Services.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/01/15/editorial-accountability-for-baby-phoenix-fentanyl-death-still-lacking-after-two-years/?preview_id=10081932
District Attorney Jeff Rosen has now added murder charges to the previously filed child endangerment charges.
But what is striking is the statement that Mr. Rosen made at the press conference.
“We expect adults to take care of children.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/san-jose-drug-dealer-2nd-overdose-murder-charge-baby-winter-baby-phoenix/
What about Rosen? Is he being hypocritical? Is he not an adult? Remember that he never reported Saul Duran’s inappropriate relationships with young girls which occurred during the time that Detective Duran was employed by the Office of the District Attorney. It is noteworthy that the upgrading of charges comes only days after it was reported that Rosen failed to disclose the abuse to Child Protective Services, allowing Duran to continue being a police officer and a foster parent. One has to wonder what the motivation for the new charges is.