After three days of an emotional trial stemming from the execution-style murder of Thomas “Max” Martin and subsequent burning of his home and body, one of Martin’s killers, Johnathan Young, has been convicted and awaits sentencing from Monroe Circuit Judge Eddie C. Lovelace, while the other person charged with the slaying, Jesse Parke, is still awaiting trial.

Officials first learned of the crime after an early morning 911 call reporting a house on fire at 1600 Hope Road in the northern part of Monroe County. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they noticed a vehicle in the driveway and immediately began taking precautions to preserve as much of the scene as possible in case the owner of the vehicle was still inside the structure.

When firefighters were finally able to enter the home, they located a badly burnt human body and immediately contacted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Roger Barlow, who was a deputy at the time, responded to the scene, contacting and requesting the assistance of the Kentucky State Police.

KSP Detective Michael Dubree, who lives in Monroe County, arrived on the scene shortly after being dispatched from KSP Post 15 in Columbia, and quickly located what appeared to be two bullet holes in the skull of the victim. Positive identification of the body was impossible due to the damage inflicted by fire and heat; however, officials knew that the residence has been occupied for several years by Martin.

The body was taken to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville to obtain positive identification and determine cause of death, and Dubree contacted Martin’s son, Marty, to get a DNA swab for comparative analysis. A criminal investigation was opened and the hunt for Martin’s killers began.

Dubree and fellow KSP Detective B.J. Burton first learned that Young and Parke had been at Martin’s home the night of the fire early on the morning of August 26 from Barlow, who also provided the detectives with phone numbers for both men.

Preliminary interviews were conducted with both men, who provided the detectives with false information, a tactic that continued for several days, Dubree said. Young and Parke pointed the officers toward a neighbor of Martin’s, Gary Geralds, explaining that Geralds had come to Martin’s house earlier in the evening and that the two men argued over the fact that Geralds owed Martin money. They explained they left the residence shortly after Geralds, fearing that he might return and cause trouble.

Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Clay Hundley called Geralds to the stand, learning that the two men had known each other for several years. Geralds testified that Martin had called him that night looking for liquor, and that Martin had been drinking that night. Geralds explained to Hundley that the two other men were inside Martin’s home when he arrived, noting Max had called one of them “Jess.” Geralds explained that he had left Martin’s home around 10 that night and that the two other men were still there.

That statement, which Geralds had given detectives early in the investigation, was the first indication that something was wrong with the story provided by Young, who had told detectives that he and Parke left the residence around dark that night. Throughout the trial, Dubree testified that, from the very beginning, Young lied and attempted to mislead investigators.

The first big break in the case came when detectives were able to subpoena records from Bluegrass Cellular that tracked Young’s movements the night of the murder. Using technology that shows where a phone is located by recording its proximity to area cell phone towers, officials learned that Young’s phone placed him in locations other than where he had told them he had been. Those records, Dubree said, placed him near Martin’s home later than he had told them, as well as placing him back in the same area very early the next morning.

When detectives informed Young about their knowledge of his misinformation, more stories ensued. In fact, Dubree testified, it wasn’t until the fourth interview with Young that he seemed to begin to sense detectives were very close to closing their net and he began to talk.

According to testimony from Dubree and Detective Israel Slinker, text records from the phones of both suspects had been subpoenaed, and when Young learned that detectives would soon see those records he knew that he had better tell his story.

Parke had left for a vacation in Myrtle Beach and Young was scared. Still, though faced with the possibility of the death penalty, Young still evaded the entire truth. It wasn’t until detectives convinced Young to have a telephone conversation with Parke on speaker that they learned there had also been a robbery in connection with the murder and arson. According to testimony from detectives and recorded interviews and phone calls that were played aloud for the jury, it seemed as if most of the truth was finally revealed.

Young and Parke, testimony revealed, went to Martin’s house in the early evening hours of August 25. Young stated that Parke gave Martin $1200 that he owed him and that all three men had been drinking and were pretty drunk. At some point later that evening, Martin allegedly made a disparaging remark concerning Parke’s wife, at which point Parke looked at Young and made a motion with his hand that indicated a gun, the testimony revealed.

What followed was the crux of the prosecution’s case; text messages between Young and Parke, presumably so Martin wouldn’t know what they were discussing, seemed to lead directly to Martin’s death.

Young to Parke: “Wanna do the big deal.”

Parke to Young: “Kill Max.”

Young to Parke: “Yea get it.”

Young to Parke: “Do it now.”

Young to Parke: “Do it now.”

According to testimony, Parke asked to see Martin’s handgun, a .25 caliber semi-automatic that Martin kept with him at all times. Parke then handed the firearm to Young, who handed it back to Parke.

Parke then walked into the kitchen, only to return and find Martin slumped over in the chair, nearly passed out. The recorded interviews with Young related that Parke shot Martin in the back of the head with Martin’s own handgun. Young said after the first shot that Martin looked at Parke with seeming disbelief before Parke emptied the rest of the gun’s magazine into Martin.

Young told investigators that, in total, Parke shot seven or eight times. Autopsy results reported that a total of three projectiles were recovered from Martin’s body, two from the head and one from the neck.

Young went on to tell detectives that after Parke finished shooting Martin, the two of them used a blanket that was in the chair behind Martin’s body, to pull him out onto the floor, and that Parke then took Martin’s wallet out of his pocket.

The two men went through the house for seven or eight minutes, according to Young’s recorded statement, searching for a box of money that Martin allegedly kept in the house. Young recounted that Parke went into the rear of the house and got a container of kerosene and dumped the flammable liquid throughout the kitchen and bedroom of the home before lighting the fuel in an attempt to burn all the physical evidence pertaining to their crimes.

Young went on to tell the detectives that he and Parke drove back to Parke’s house, but that he drove by himself back to Hope Road to make sure that the house had burnt. When he saw the house had not actually burnt, he returned to Parke’s house and the pair went back to Martin’s with a jug of gasoline to finish the job.

Young told investigators he waited outside in the truck while Parke went back inside and again poured flammable liquid through the interior of the residence, finishing by pouring a trail out onto the porch where he again touched a flame to it. Young reported that, this time, there was an explosion that blew the front windows out of the house. He went on to say that he took Parke back home before going to his own house and going to bed.

In summation at the close of the trial, Hundley told the jury that prosecutors were treading new ground with the case. He explained that although there were no pictures or video of the crime, there was a cyberspace picture of the murder and that the text messages were proof that, although Young didn’t actually pull the trigger himself, he was the instigator to Martin’s brutal homicide and that Parke was the instrument used to carry out the act.

The jury agreed with prosecutors in the case and found Young guilty of murder, second degree arson and first degree robbery, ruling that there were aggravating circumstances in this murder case. “Aggravating circumstances” refers to the fact that the murder was committed during the commission of a robbery, and the fact that aggravating circumstances exist allows for a stiffer penalty for the defendant.

Judge Lovelace instructed the jury that on the charge of murder they could recommend a sentence of between 20 years and life in prison with the possibility of parole in 20 years, life without parole for 25 years, or life without parole.

He further instructed the jury that on the other two charges, both being class B felonies, they could recommend a sentence of no less than 10 or more than 20 years, with the accused having to serve 85 percent of the sentence before he would be eligible for parole. He also informed the jury that they would need to recommend whether the three sentences would run concurrently or consecutively, and that Young would be given credit for time served.

When the jury returned, they recommended to Lovelace that Young be sentenced to 25 years for the murder of Martin, and 20 years each on the charges of arson and robbery. They further recommended that the sentences run concurrently, making him eligible for parole in 20 years. Lovelace will pronounce final sentencing on Young on June 28 in Burkesville.

Detective Michael Dubree possibly summed the situation up best at the conclusion of the trial when he said; “Nobody wins in these things. What brings some closure to one family, tears another apart. In the end, one family loses a father, another a son.”