Share and Follow
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 man in Arizona, Robert Marin, allegedly shot his wife four times and then smoked a cigar while standing over her body. Their teenage daughter discovered him in this state after hearing her mother plead, “please don’t kill me,” according to law enforcement reports.
Upon stumbling upon the horrifying scene in the garage of their Phoenix residence on Monday night, Marin’s daughter reportedly screamed, “Why would you do this?!” This detail is included in a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime.
The 60-year-old Marin allegedly responded with a mere shrug and left the garage, only to return moments later to puff on a cigar beside his wife’s lifeless body, as outlined in the affidavit. Meanwhile, their daughter attempted CPR and contacted emergency services.
The victim, Heather Marin, was Marin’s estranged wife. The affidavit notes that the couple had argued over their daughter’s stay with Marin on the night of the incident.
According to the document, Marin’s teenage daughter explained that the evening had already been tense due to a verbal dispute between her and her father. During this confrontation, Marin expressed animosity towards Heather, from whom he was separated and in the process of divorcing. The daughter mentioned that she had also raised concerns about their separation, which likely exacerbated the situation.
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.