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Inset: Robert Marin (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Arizona home where Robert Marin allegedly shot his wife dead and then smoked a celebratory cigar while standing over her body, covered in blood (AZ Family/YouTube).
A tragic incident unfolded in Phoenix, Arizona, where a man allegedly shot his estranged wife four times before lighting a cigar in a chilling act of celebration, police reports reveal. The horrifying scene was discovered by the couple’s teenage daughter, who reportedly heard her mother begging for her life, pleading, “please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me.”
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, the daughter, upon encountering the bloody scene in the garage of their home, screamed at her father, Robert Marin, asking, “Why would you do this?!” Marin, 60, allegedly responded with a shrug before leaving the garage, only to return moments later to smoke a cigar over his wife’s body. In a desperate attempt to save her mother, the daughter performed CPR and called emergency services.
The victim, Heather Marin, had reportedly been in a heated argument with her estranged husband earlier that evening over the custody of their daughter, the affidavit states.
The document further reveals that Marin’s daughter had a verbal altercation with him earlier in the day. During this exchange, Marin allegedly expressed his animosity toward Heather, from whom he was in the process of divorcing. The daughter had confronted her father about the strained family dynamics, which may have exacerbated the tension leading to the tragic event.
“[Marin’s] teenage daughter reported she and Marin were in a verbal argument earlier in the evening,” the document alleges. “During this argument, Marin expressed hatred toward the victim [Heather Marin], from whom he was informally separated and in the process of divorcing. The daughter explained she had also confronted her father with her concerns about the dynamics of the separation which likely fueled the tension of the argument.”
As things escalated, the daughter told police she “overheard Marin make a heated and angry phone call” to Heather Marin, effectively telling her that “he could not deal with their daughter anymore and did not want the daughter to stay in the home any longer,” according to the affidavit.
The daughter “retreated” to her bedroom, where she made a phone call to her boyfriend and then received two phone calls from her mother, one around 8:39 p.m. and another around 9:09 p.m., but she did not answer either of them “as she was concerned it would further upset her father,” the affidavit states.
“Sometime after the unanswered call, [the daughter] later heard screaming coming from the garage area,” the document alleges. “As she walked towards the garage entrance door from the house, she distinctly heard her mother pleading, ‘Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,’ followed by approximately four gunshots.”
When the daughter opened the interior door to the garage from inside the home, she saw Heather Marin bleeding on the ground and Robert Marin “standing near or over her holding a firearm.”
Police believe the murder happened around 9:30 p.m. and was premeditated due to Robert Marin’s “indifference after the shooting, electing to smoke a cigar rather than render aid,” according to the affidavit, along with a number of other factors, including Heather Marin allegedly “pleading for her life before being shot multiple times.”
When cops arrived at the home, they found Robert Marin inside the garage “with blood on his clothing and shoes,” according to the affidavit. A firearm, holster, and spent casings were discovered in the garage.
“When deputies contacted the suspect, he dropped to his knees upon their arrival and was detained without making any statements,” the affidavit states. “Deputies noted a strong odor of alcohol coming from Marin during transport to a MCSO [Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office] facility for questioning and processing.”
The daughter told cops about a prior “unreported domestic violence incident” from early February 2026, during which Robert Marin held a firearm in his hand and threatened to shoot Heather Marin in the head before killing himself, according to the affidavit.
She also described receiving screenshots of text message exchanges between her parents containing “hateful and threatening language,” police say.
“[The daughter] confirmed that Marin was an avid gun owner with multiple unsecured firearms stored throughout the residence to include pistols and hunting rifles,” the affidavit explains. “She also described a large safe in a closet within the house which also stored firearms and ammunition.”
Robert Marin was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He’s being held in the Maricopa County Jail on a $2 million cash bond.