Rosalie Martinez And Oscar Ray Bolin
Rosalie MartinezRosalie Martinez and her husband Oscar Ray Bolin, who murdered at least three women — including a teenager.
Rosalie Martinez had it all. Married to a prominent Tampa attorney with four daughters, Martinez was not only well off but the matriarch of a loving family. Nevertheless, she felt that something was missing in her life. Oddly enough, that something turned out to be the affection of a serial killer.
“I wanted to break out,” she said in November 1996. “I wanted to be loved like I’ve never been loved before, passion, someone to put me on an emotional pedestal, not with material things.”
Martinez met Oscar Ray Bolin in 1995, when she was working in the public defender’s office in Hillsborough County and was assigned to his case.
Already serving time for kidnapping and rape, Bolin would later be found guilty of murdering 25-year-old Natalie Blanche Holley, 26-year-old Teri Lynn Matthews, and 17-year-old Stephanie Collins. But Martinez remained convinced of his innocence.
“I never, never, ever thought for a second that he was guilty of those three murders,” Martinez said.
YouTubeMartinez got married to Bolin over the phone as he languished in Florida State Prison.
Though Martinez was transparent in her dreams of a more enthralling romance, it’s possible that hybristophilia was a factor in finding that romance with Bolin specifically. After all, this was a man who was found guilty of killing multiple women, and Martinez’s skepticism of his guilt was widely believed to be unfounded.
“I feel really sorry for [the victims’ families],” Martinez later said in 2015. “I really do. I feel them. I have four beautiful children. I can’t imagine. But I want them to understand that I wouldn’t have dedicated 20 years of my life on something I don’t truly believe in.”
Even the fact that he had already been found guilty of other crimes — like rape and kidnapping — didn’t sway her.
“He pled guilty to that crime,” said Martinez. “And I believe, because I know Oscar very well, if he had committed these three murders, he would have pled to something other than death… He’s always professed his innocence.”
Rosalie MartinezThree days after the happy couple got married, Bolin was sentenced to death.
They were married on October 5, 1996 over the phone. While he was in prison, she performed her role in the ceremony in her apartment with a minister present and with a photo of Bolin to stand in his place.
As Martinez explained it, their wedding was as much a genuine statement of their affection as it was a way to draw attention to Bolin’s case.
“If I was his wife, I thought people would listen to me,” she said. “I was a prominent member of the community. I knew three presidents. Senators. If Rosalie believes in this, let’s get on board.”
Unfortunately for the two of them, Bolin was sentenced to death just a few days after their wedding. After that day, Martinez fought as hard as she could to prove her husband was innocent. From shoe prints used as evidence not matching Bolin’s shoe size to mismatches of fingerprints, she claims that she’s found alleged flaws all over the place.
Ultimately, her many attempts to exonerate her husband failed and he was executed by lethal injection in 2016. She remained loyal to him until the end — and she was one of the last people he saw before he was put to death.
