24-Year-Old Plainfield Man Sentenced To 40 Years In State Prison For Strangling His Girlfriend To Death

Friday, May 17, 2024, 5:00 P.M. ET. By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

PLAINFIELD, NJ.- A 24-year-old Plainfield, New Jersey man, who brutally strangled his 19-year-old girlfriend to death in 2020, was sentenced on Wednesday to 40 years in New Jersey State Prison.

     According to Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel, on July 11, 2023, Bryan Gonzalez-Martines, 24, of Plainfield, New Jersey, was found guilty by a Union County jury on the charge of first-degree Murder before Union County Superior Court Judge Thomas Isenhour. On Wednesday, May 15, 2024, Judge Isenhour sentenced Gonzalez-Martines to a term of 40 years in New Jersey State Prison. Judge Isenhour ordered Gonzalez-Martines to serve 85% of his custodial term before becoming eligible for parole.

     The conviction and sentence stem from an incident that began on the morning of July 6, 2020, when members of the Plainfield Police Department responded to a residence located on the 700 Block of Kensington Avenue in the City of Plainfield to conduct a requested welfare check.

     Upon arrival, Police Officers entered the residence and discovered the body of Brenda Montoya-Cruz, 19, of Plainfield. A subsequent investigation by Detectives of the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Plainfield Police Department were able to identify Gonzalez-Martines as the suspect and the individual for the death of Ms. Montoya-Cruz.

     “We are grateful for the hard work of Assistant Prosecutors Alaina Caliendo and Shivani Trivedi along with Homicide Task Force Detectives Nora Berrios and Ryan Kirsch on this case,” said Union County Prosecutor Daniel. “I hope this sentencing can bring some relief to those mourning Ms. Montoya-Cruz.