Elmont man convicted of murdering ex-girlfriend at Belmont Racetrack

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Elmont man convicted of murdering ex-girlfriend at Belmont Racetrack
Jose Franco-Martinez, of Elmont, was convicted for murdering his ex-girlfriend, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. (Photo courtesy of the Nassau County Police Department)

An Elmont man was convicted Tuesday of murdering his ex-girlfriend at Belmont Racetrack, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Wednesday.

Jose Franco-Martinez, 58, stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Maria Larin, multiple times around her body with a silver kitchen knife as she was working with horses on the track, the DA’s office said.

He faces a potential maximum of 25 years to life in prison after being convicted of murder in the second degree. He is due back in court May 19 for sentencing.

Franco-Martinez was upset with Larin after their romantic relationship ended, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

“This defendant drove more than 1,000 miles across the country to murder his ex-girlfriend after he began to suspect that she was seeing another man. Without warning, on Father’s Day morning in 2018, he showed up to the Belmont Racetrack where she worked, waited for her to appear, and without uttering a single word, viciously attacked her with a knife,” Donnelly said in a statement.

“He stabbed and cut her 23 times as her co-workers ran over to try and save her life. Thankfully, staff at Belmont responded quickly and apprehended this defendant before he could flee. Our prayers are with the Larin family as they mourn this completely senseless loss.”

Franco-Martinez paid an acquaintance on June 16, 2018, to drive him from Kansas, where he was working, to New York to kill Larin the next day, the DA said.

Larin was a hot walker, which cools the horses down after racing, at the time of her murder.

Franco-Martinez previously worked as a hot walker at Belmont.

A co-worker of Larin’s who saw what happened picked up a shovel and hit Franco-Martinez in the head with it before he ran away and threw the knife into the bushes while security staff from the New York Racing Association chased and apprehended him.

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