Martinez was last seen in Nacogdoches, Texas on July 13, 2009. She was born in Mexico and was living in the United States illegally at the time of her disappearance. She has two young children, both of whom are U. S. citizens, and they were visiting their grandmother in Mexico when Martinez disappeared. She had asked the father of one of her children for money to help bring her children home from Mexico. He agreed to meet her and lend her money shortly before she disappeared. Martinez planned to go to the county courthouse on July 13 to pick up copies of her children's birth certificates, but she never arrived there. She has never been heard from again.

Martinez was reported missing on July 16. That same day, her vehicle was found abandoned on the side of County Road 525, near the intersection of U. S. Highway 59 south. There were no obvious indications of a struggle at the scene. Martinez may have gotten a ride south with a truck driver in order to find her children; however, her family never saw her. Both the fathers of her children have been questioned and neither of them have been named as suspects. Authorities believe Martinez was taken against her will. Her case remains unsolved.