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Marvin Ernesto Funez-Martinez (Charles County Sheriff’s Office).
A 23-year-old man in Maryland will spend several decades behind bars for killing a 22-year-old driver, fatally stabbing the victim 59 times with a kitchen knife after a brief argument over a “really small amount of money.” Charles County Circuit Court Judge Donine Carrington Martin last week ordered Marvin Ernesto Funez-Martinez to serve 38 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of Marco Alexander Pulido-Castro, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office, police in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2023, responded to a residence in White Plains regarding a reported assault and stabbing. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they located Pulido-Castro’s lifeless body “in the fetal position” inside the trunk of a Nissan Sentra. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
Investigators said it was quickly revealed that Funez-Martinez had hired the victim to drive him and two other individuals to a Washington, D.C., nightclub. Pulido-Castro went to the club with Funez-Martinez and the others before driving them back to White Plains.
However, before they returned home, the victim pulled into a gas station and “requested additional money for gas” from Funez-Martinez. Pulido-Castro’s request angered Funez-Martinez, and the two were “involved in a small argument because the victim requested more money,” prosecutors said.
As they arrived back at Funez-Martinez’s home, Pulido-Castro’s car was overheating, so he remained outside while the others went inside the house.
“Funez-Martinez, who was already carrying a pocketknife, went inside his residence and retrieved a larger knife from the kitchen,” the release states. “The victim was checking under the hood of the vehicle when Funez-Martinez returned outside, and Funez-Martinez began stabbing the victim repeatedly. The victim tried to escape to a yard across the street, but Funez-Martinez followed him and continued to stab him. Funez-Martinez ultimately stabbed the victim 59 times and knocked out multiple teeth. After the stabbing, Funez-Martinez dragged the victim to his vehicle and placed his body in the trunk.”
After the attack, Funez-Martinez fled behind the home, but witness reports led police to locate him a short while later. Authorities noted that he had multiple cuts on his hands which were also covered in the blood of the victim. He later confessed to the murder.
During the sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Constance Kopelman emphasized the seemingly innocuous spat that led to Pulido-Castro’s death as well as the brutality of the attack.
“The defendant was particularly violent, extraordinarily dangerous. He needs to be incarcerated for as long as possible. He committed the most brutal murder I have ever seen. This was an awful way for Marco Alexander Pulido-Castro to die,” she said. “The defendant killed the victim over a really small amount of money that he actually owed the victim. [The victim] suffered. It was just cruel. It just doesn’t get more cruel than what he did to Marco Alexander Pulido-Castro. — He was brutally killed for working. He didn’t get to enjoy his later years. He didn’t deserve to take his last breath on Gateway Boulevard, face to the ground, being stabbed.”