Grisly details of Horn killing revealed; suspect arraigned on murder charges

Court filed documents provide grisly details into last week’s murder of Barry T. Horn, the executive director of the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art. Also, Ernesto Ivan Martinez was arraigned Wednesday on a murder charge in Horn’s slaying.

The preliminary autopsy report says that a forensic pathologist found a minimum of "77 sharp force wounds" to the body, 54 of those "significantly" perforated the skin while 23 were superficial.

The report identifies a single stab wound to the chest, that perforated the sternum and pierced the right ventricle of the heart, as the most lethal of the wounds.

"This caused a phenomenon known as cardiac tamponade, because sufficient blood accumulated within the pericardial sac to stop the heart’s beating," the report stated.

The report also lists several potentially lethal stab wounds, including one that perforated the neck, hitting the carotid artery, others to the lungs, liver, right kidney, spleen and rib cage causing ten rib fractures. Horn’s body also showed some minor blunt force injuries to the face.

"Most of the wounds appear to have been delivered when the decedent was already largely incapacitated, likely by the stab wound to the heart," the report says.

The autopsy report also lists the murder weapon as a small knife — three quarters of an inch in width and 3 ½ inches in length. The description of the knife is based on wounds to the body.

Under heavy guard, Martinez, 20, went before Municipal Judge Ben Neece Wednesday morning, who ordered he be held without bond on the charge of murder and set a $25,000 bond on a burglary of habitation charge, and $10,000 bail the charge of motor vehicle theft.

Martinez was transported to Carrizalez–Rucker Detention Center after the arraignment.

During the arraignment proceedings, Neece stated that Martinez had been charged with burglary based on a confession that Martinez gave to police; that is, on Oct 22 Martinez broke into Horn’s home at 1400 Flor De Mayo St. and stole a television set.

The other two charges derived from the early morning hours of Oct. 24, when the slaying took place.

An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday stating that at approximately 12:45 a.m. the Saturday before Martinez entered Horn’s house without consent through a bathroom window at the back part of the house.

Martinez had in his possession a knife, walked into Horn’s bedroom and attacked him with the knife, records show.

The arrest warrant states that Horn was stabbed in the chest, back and head area and that Horn’s final resting place was the hallway outside his bedroom.

The document further states that after the murder, Martinez got into Horn’s 2008 gray Hyundai Sonata and fled to Matamoros, Mexico.

Prior to being charged with murder, Martinez was identified as a person of interest in the murder.

On Sunday Martinez was charged with theft of a motor vehicle and was later detained by Mexican state police in Matamoros, who also seized the vehicle.

On Monday evening, Martinez was returned to authorities in Brownsville.

Tuesday afternoon, Brownsville police detectives and Brownsville Fire Department rescue divers were seen combing a resaca on Alton Gloor Boulevard across from Solomon Ortiz Elementary, apparently searching for the weapon used in the slaying. The location of the resaca is less than a quarter of a mile from Horn’s residence. Police wouldn’t say if they found anything.

Shortly after the slaying, police issued a press release stating that Horn and Martinez were partners and had been living together.