Woman charged for having a role in the death of a Como neighborhood man

Court records show a St. Paul woman has been charged with one count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder for the death of a man earlier this month in the city’s Como neighborhood.

According to a criminal complaint, 27-year-old Sabrina Anne Martens has been charged for the death of 37-year-old Andrew Gutzman. During a court appearance on Friday, Martens’ bail was set at $1 million.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, police were called to a home on the 900 block of Hatch Avenue around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, July 5 after a caller said someone had died. When police arrived, they spoke with the caller, who told officers a woman approached them and said someone was dead inside the home.

Court filings say police found a woman in the kitchen, who sent police to a room where they found Gutzman’s body, adding he was covered in blood and had been shot in the chest. Gutzman died at the scene.

A medical examiner says based on the state of his body when they arrived, Gutzman’s death is believed to have happened between the hours of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 4 and 2:30 a.m. on Friday, July 5.

The woman who was at the scene told police she found Gutzman, who was her ex-boyfriend, bleeding on the floor when she got home, and then ran out, screaming for help because she didn’t have a phone, according to the complaint. She ran to a neighbor first and then to a bar.

The woman then told police during an interview that Gutzman had a “huge meth problem” and would sell both meth and marijuana from his house, adding he had been robbed multiple times and was “very paranoid.” She went on to say she was trying to find a new place to live, away from Gutzman, and that the morning prior, she found he was paying for prostitutes. She then took some money from him before leaving with some of her items to stay with another man in Anoka.

The complaint says she found Gutzman the next morning when she returned. She was eventually eliminated as a suspect due to police tracking her whereabouts.

Officers then went through Gutzman’s phone records and discovered calls from a number that was associated with Martens — that number had called him three times between 12:20 and 1 a.m. on the morning of July 5, according to the document.

Officers were able to track the number to a report of a stolen firearm belonging to Martens earlier this year, and also discovered a vehicle registered in her name is similar to the one spotted outside of Gutzman’s home. they also were able to track Martens’ cell phone location to the 900 block of Hatch Avenue between 1:09 a.m. and 1:43 a.m. the day that Gutzman died.

Police eventually tracked Martens down and arrested her on Wednesday. After searching her apartment on Hazelwood Street, police add they found an empty case for a Glock 9mm gun.

During phone calls with her family, the complaint says Martens told one person that she was by herself on the night of the July 4 and was committing robberies. With another family member, she told them that her car was parked in an alley and had its lights off.

Police say they were able to access Martens’ phone, and using a search warrant, found a text message exchange that had been deleted. The conversation began at 1:15 a.m. on July 5 and ended at 1:42 a.m. Among the messages were “His whole house is empty,” “he got a lot of meth” and “start walking to the door he getting in the shower ima snatch and run.”

Police say Martens also made four calls to the same number involved in the conversation between 1:43 a.m. and 1:47 a.m. on July 5, and believe she set up the robbery with the person, giving them details to the house layout, as well as Gutzman’s condition and location. They went on to say that Martens is believed to have been the lookout in the area after leaving Gutzman’s home.

During their investigation, police say the casing found at Hatch Avenue was similar to those found at a shooting scene in Minneapolis, three days before Martens reported her gun as being stolen.

Martens’ next court date is scheduled for the afternoon of Aug. 22. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has reached out for a booking photo, was told that police are going to hold onto it for now since investigators may still use it as part of their investigation.