Merida, Yucatan — An American man has been sentenced to 45 years in Mexican prison for the murder of a Florida woman. On Tuesday, 44 year old Damon Royce Martinez was sentenced by a Merida judge for killing his mother.
The incident stems back to April 16, 2025 when his mother, 71 year old Linda Johnson, was reported missing. Her body was found April 22 stuffed into a suitcase left near a construction site.
An autopsy revealed she died from mechanical asphyxiation by strangulation. Her son, Damon Royce Martinez, was arrested by Yucatan police in relation to her death on April 24, 2025.
According to Yucatan police (SSP) at the time, he was the last person seen with her inside her Chicxulub Puerto, Yucatan apartment.
“During an altercation he physically assaulted her, tied a rope around her neck and strangled her to death before putting her body in a suitcase that he dragged to a construction site,” the SSP reported April 24, 2025.
“The events occurred between the afternoon and evening of Wednesday the 16th, at the woman’s residence on 17-B Street near 48th Street in Chicxulub Puerto, municipality of Progreso.
“According to the complaint and the evidence obtained by the investigating police and prosecutors, the man was alone in the house with his mother. He allegedly beat her repeatedly, placed a rope around her neck and tightened it until she stopped breathing. The cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation.
“He put the body in a suitcase and placed it on top of a black bag, which he dragged for several blocks until he reached a construction site. Next to the wall of the construction site was a ditch where he hid the body, which was found by authorities on Tuesday.
“The man was brought before the judge who issued the arrest warrant for the crime of aggravated femicide.”
On February 24, 2026 he was found guilty of her murder and sentenced to 45 years in a Mexican prison. Both Damon Royce Martinez and his mother, Linda Johnson, were from St. Petersburg, Florida.
In a statement Tuesday, the State Attorney General (FGE) of Yucatan reported “after an abbreviated trial procedure against him, DRM was found criminally responsible and received a 45-year prison sentence for the crime of aggravated femicide committed against his mother in the town of Chicxulub Puerto.
“The facts, gathered by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) under criminal case 44/2025, allowed the judge to issue the guilty verdict and establish the sanctions corresponding to the degree of guilt of the man.
“The events took place in April of 2025, when the subject and his mother were on a property in the aforementioned town and he took advantage of the woman’s defenseless state to physically assault her until he finally caused her death due to mechanical asphyxiation by strangulation.
“The parties agreed to waive the sentencing hearing, which means there will be no appeal against the sentence issued.”
