VALLEYFORD, Wash. — The Jannell Martensen being remembered by her family had many sides.
“Loving, caring, smart person that wore her heart on her sleeve," Her mother, Jacci Aronow, said by phone Wednesday.
Though Aronow also acknowledges her 49-year-old daughter was also sometimes too generous for her own good and allowed people to take advantage.
It was that characteristic, Aronow supposes, that may have led to her death.
Aronow spoke to KREM 2 News in between planning her daughter's funeral. Martensen was reported after she was last seen in November; her body was found December 14, according to Spokane Police.
“She didn’t deserve to die like she did a violent, ugly death alone somewhere," Aronow said. "That eats at us.”
Martensen's body was discovered along the 12000 block of S. Madison Street in Valleyford, the county medical examiner said this week.
Spokane Police released a short statement Friday that said "the body of a person reported to police as missing in early December" was located. The release said detectives working on the case "developed information that [led] them to a property south of Spokane Valley," but included no other details. A spokesperson confirmed days later, after the medical examiner's report December 19, the body was Martensen.
It wasn't the first time Martensen's name had come up, however.
Martensen was mentioned in an affidavit released Monday in connection to a double homicide in Minnehaha. The reported confessions of Brandon Kenny, the suspect in the separate case, shed light on what may have happened to the mother and grandmother.
Kenny is accused of murdering Colton Russell, 37, and Kiara Morgan-Weiland, 23, on December 8. The affidavit in Kenny's case shows both were suspects in what was at the time Martensen's disappearance.
The court document said, following his December 16 arrest for the murders, Kenny told investigators Russell told him in November he'd "accidentally killed" Martensen. Then, according to Kenny, Russell put a gun in his mouth and 'told him he had to help move Martensen's body or he would be killed' too.
Kenny reportedly told investigators he did move Martensen to the back of Russell's pickup before leaving.
Martensen's body was found two days before Kenny's arrest and reported admissions.
Aronow says her daughter was in an abusive, sometimes physically violent relationship with Russell.
“I encouraged Jannell at the time, turn him into the police for goodness sake. This is so wrong," she said, recounting an instance where she says Russell beat Martensen. "But she wouldn’t do it. They had this bond [...] we couldn’t imagine why.”
Martensen's daughter, Shelby Martensen-Wright, wrote to KREM 2 News Wednesday.
'NEVER in my wildest dreams would I think my mom would be breaking news in a missing persons/murder case. I am BEYOND HEARTBROKEN, ANGRY, HURT, SAD and everything under the sun it feels like. All of this could have been prevented if it weren’t for drugs!' she wrote.
Her family says Martensen had struggled with addiction for years. Now, they hope her story can convince others to find a way out of domestic violence or addiction.
“I don’t have a magic answer how to make that happen because I couldn’t make it happen for her," Aronow said. "But, we tried. We tried. And she tried on occasion, she did seven rehabs but she could not kick that.”
Martensen-Wright also expressed hope others, even those in her mother's circle, would get help.
'No one won here, everyone lost and it’s tragic for every single person involved,' she wrote. 'But, most of all my mom did not deserve what happened to her and for that I’m angry!! I hope anyone who see’s this gets a huge wake up call and gets help!!'
The Spokane County Medical Examiner has not yet released Martensen's cause or manner of death.
"But she’s at peace now," Aronow said. "And she hasn’t had this kind of peace in years.”
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