Philomath man pleads guilty in double murder

A 22-year-old Philomath man pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of aggravated murder in the 2011 killings of his girlfriend and their infant child.

Gustavo David Martinez-Aquepucho faces two potential life sentences in the deaths of Kelsey Rozetta Baker, 19, and their 1-year-old son, Theo, on April 29 of last year.

Martinez-Aquepucho, in shackles and black-and-white-striped jail uniform, sat silently in a Corvallis courtroom with about 20 people looking on while prosecutors and defense attorneys met behind closed doors.

After several minutes of deliberation, the prosecution and defense teams entered the courtroom, followed by Benton County Circuit Judge Janet Holcomb. She read aloud the two counts that Martinez-Aquepucho was charged with as part of a plea agreement. After he said he understood the charges, Martinez-Aquepucho pleaded guilty to both.

Martinez-Aquepucho and Baker were both students at Oregon State University. They met several years ago at Philomath High School, where Martinez-Aquepucho was an exchange student from Peru.

According to statements introduced during an earlier hearing, the two had been estranged and Baker, who had refused to reconcile with Martinez-Aquepucho, had been seeing another man prior to the killings.

The defendant reportedly told authorities that he drugged Baker and Theo with cold medicine and then slit their throats with a knife. He then cut his own wrists in a suicide attempt, saying he wanted to be with them in the afterlife.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Martinez-Aquepucho must serve at least 30 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Holcomb set sentencing for 9 a.m. on Dec. 10, scheduling up to a week for the hearing.

According to Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson, the hearing will determine whether Martinez-Aquepucho will serve the sentence for each count consecutively or concurrently.

Haroldson said the state will argue that the sentences should be served consecutively.

“We just shifted from proving what happened to now looking at establishing what should happen,” Haroldson said. “Where one is looking at the past, the other is looking to the future.”

Due to the guilty pleas, the court will not consider the death penalty.

Martinez-Aquepucho is represented by attorneys Mark Sabitt and Dan Koenig.