WILLIE MARTINEZ: 'I LOOKED FOR HIM A WHOLE DAY BEFORE I FOUND HIM IN THE
BACK YARD'

Elmer Martinez found his son Willie dead in the back yard of their home in
Chimay on Nov. 3, 1997, two days after Willie had been released from prison.

Willie Martinez was 24.

The cause of death was a morphine overdose. The Office of the Medical
Examiner says the death was a suicide, a ruling that left Elmer Martinez
bitter.

"It's hard enough to lose a son, but to have it be called that," he says,
his voice trailing off.

Elmer Martinez thinks his son became addicted to opiates while he was in
prison for robbery.

"I looked for him for a whole day before I found him in the back yard," the
father says. "I don't know why they do this.

"It seems they get a taste for drugs and that's it."