A 51-year-old Franktown woman missing since 2019 was strangled and her body dismembered and disposed of at a veterinary clinic in Estes Park, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.
Kimberly Bell was reported missing by her sister in August 2019, and it took investigators years to gather enough evidence to seek a grand jury indictment in her death, Sheriff Darren Weekly said at a news conference Tuesday.
Javier “Alex” Martell, 30, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder following an indictment Thursday, according to court records.
Jennifer Lynn Bremer, 38, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime and identify theft, both felonies, following the indictment.
Bell was last seen in July 2019, and her missing persons case was turned over to the sheriff’s office’s cold case team in 2021, Weekly said.
Investigators allege Bell was in her car with Martell and Bremer and parked near the Lincoln RTD station in Douglas County on July 22, 2019, when Martell “became enraged” with Bell, put his arm around her neck, dragged her from the driver’s seat to the back seat and started strangling her, Weekly said.
Bell already knew Martell and Bremer, but Weekly did not elaborate on how they knew each other.
Martell then told Bremer to switch from the front passenger seat to the driver’s seat and drive away as he continued to strangle Bell, Weekly said.
Sheriff’s officials allege Martell stopped strangling Bell for a few moments and then decided to “finish the job” and killed her.
Bremer and Martell then drove to several locations around metro Denver with Bell’s body in the back seat, including to an Aurora Home Depot, where Martell bought an ax.
They then drove to a remote area near Estes Park where Martell allegedly dismembered Bell’s body and put it into trash bags, loaded it back into the car and threw the bags into dumpsters at a nearby veterinary clinic.
Bell’s remains have never been found, Weekly said.
The case is a big deal to the sheriff’s office because investigators do not have the victim’s body – a first for the agency and the reason the case was presented to a grand jury, Weekly said.
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“The amount of investigative work that had to take place to get to this point is truly remarkable,” he said.
Bell’s family is struggling with the news of her death five years after her disappearance, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.
Martell is in custody on a $10 million cash-only bail and is set to appear in court Nov. 15.
Bremer was released on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and is set to appear in court Dec. 16.
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