Stab Magazine | The True And Terrible Death of Junny Rios-Martinez

Live Now: Chapter 11 Mini-Documentary With Dane Reynolds

5568 Views

The True And Terrible Death of Junny Rios-Martinez

How a known child molester posed as a surf magazine journalist to kidnap and murder an 11-year-old Florida boy.

news // Feb 21, 2018
Words by stab
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Twenty seven years ago my father pulled me aside, handed me a newspaper clipping, and delivered a lecture about the nature of humanity.

I didn’t think much of it at the time. Just another boring paternal moment as I was entering an age where I didn’t want or need his wisdom, nor his advice.  

At eleven years old I was almost a teenager.  Damn near an adult.

But it stuck with me, however vaguely. Became a hazy memory buried in my head, half-remembered, then less.

A few years ago, pieces of the story struggled their way to the surface of my consciousness. A murky recollection. Maybe fiction. Maybe real.

Did I dream it? Had it happened at all?  

I asked my father. He didn’t recall.

The man who knows everything, Matt Warshaw, didn’t know what I was talking about.  

I’ve written about it a few times in the hope that someone would read and jog my memory. Help me wrap my fingers around the blurry half-fact buried deep within my brain.  

Nothing, anywhere. Until I recently stumbled across a mention online.

This was it.

The story’s far more than I remembered. A truly shocking tale, in the truest sense of that word: shocking. Dark, dreadful, worth being remembered, now probably impossible to forget.

This that story, pieced together from court records, along with a few external sources, researched, reported, assembled, and edited, more than written.

It is not an easy listen.

Comments

Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.

Already a member? Sign In

Want to join? Sign Up

Advertisement

Most Recent

Watch: What Happens When A Brand Takes Its Youth Team To A CT Event?

A: Good things, typically.

Mar 29, 2024

Full Frame: Scandinavia Is Surfing’s Next Frontier

A 30-hour drive, bathymetric maps, and 10 years of searching yield surfing's newest discovery.

Mar 29, 2024

Watch: João Chianca Had A Remarkable Hawaii Season Before His Injury

Plus an update on his condition.

Mar 28, 2024

Pittar’d And Feathered

Do the WSL judges deserve the internet's wrath? We asked the man of the hour.

Mar 28, 2024

Robbo, Pickles, And Tyler Wright Become The Underdogs Breakfast At Uninspiring Winkipop

The foreboding blade sharpens and inconsistent judging prevails on Day Two in Torquay.

Mar 27, 2024

“I Don’t Always Win Heats, But When I Do, I Try To Beat John John”

Slater shines and the axe begins its descent on Day 01 at Bells.

Mar 26, 2024

Back Against The Wall: The Ramzi Boukhiam Redemption

Morocco's first CT surfer on speaking six languages, having no coach, and snatching Fil Toledo's…

Mar 25, 2024

Will Kirra, Babies or JJF Stop a GOAT Winning at Bells?

Bluesky BOAG advice from a Superman specialist and former Trials winner.

Mar 25, 2024

Bells Preview: The WSL’s Victorian Sword Dancing Equinox Ritual

Will a Brazilian crack the Top 10 at Bells?

Mar 25, 2024

69 Shin Bones Later + the Anticlimactic State of Big Wave Record-Breaking

Lucas Chumbo might have surfed the biggest wave ever this year. But how will we…

Mar 23, 2024

Watch: ‘Fresh and Fried’ Ft the Quik Kids

How taxing is it to tackle the Gold Coast’s Triple Crown in a single day,…

Mar 23, 2024

The Popular Vote: The People’s Stab In The Dark With Kolohe Andino Champion

Which board looked best — to you —under Kolohe's talons?

Mar 22, 2024

Six Key Learnings From Portugal

Three CT events in, what do we know? 

Mar 21, 2024

‘Zipper’ Is Going On Tour, Here’s Where You Can Watch It  

Dates, times + locations for the Venice, Encinitas, Sydney + Byron premieres.  

Mar 20, 2024

Dane Reynolds On His Future, His Past, And Chapter 11’s Raison D’être

Our 9-minute plunge into the collective psyche of Ventura's pillar(s).

Mar 20, 2024

From ‘Blue Ribbon Cross Country Runner’ to Vogue – How Steph Again Is Back With A Rip Curl Remix

Everything we know about the she-GOATs sponsorship boomerang.

Mar 18, 2024

Stab Interview: Darren Handley Explains Why You Can’t Buy The Winning Stab In The Dark Model

And his decades-long standoff with Slater.

Mar 17, 2024

Griff Embraces Portugal’s Eternal Time Loop To Vanquish Medina + Ewing, Defay Delays The Inevitable

A redeeming closing act at Supertubos.

Mar 16, 2024
Advertisement