Spring 2004 Edition

Kidnapped From His Fair Lawn Home In 1989, Irving Flax had been living in Fair Lawn at 15-01 Lucena Drive for 25 years.  He had a supportive family and a steady job as a warehouse supervisor at a food distribution center in Secaucus.  John Martini had neither of those.  In 1988, the 58 year old Martini left his wife (after 39 years) for a former prostitute, 29 year old Therese Afdahl.  A regular cocaine user, Martini killed his cocaine supplier and her friend in Arizona on Halloween night, and then fled with Afdahl to New Jersey, where he had once lived. Martini borrowed a friend's credit card and rented an apartment fifteen minutes from Fair Lawn (in Fairview).  Martini needed money fast, so he asked another friend, John Doorhy, for some advice.   Doorhy had recently worked at Irving Flax's home in Fair Lawn and noticed large amounts of cash and several bankbooks in the house.  Doorhy suggested that Martini kidnap Flax; Doorhy acquainted Martini with the Flax family's morning schedule. Martini and Doorhy made a deal.  In exchange for driving Martini to Flax's house and giving him written directions that Martini would later use to return there, Doorhy accepted Martini's promise of a percentage of the money that Martini anticipated receiving from the kidnapping. In preparation for the kidnapping, Martini retrieved from Doorhy's house a revolver that Doorhy had been holding for him, and purchased another revolver in Jersey City. On January 23, 1989, Martini and Afdahl drove to Flax's house. When Flax came out of the house, Martini got out of his car and called Flax by a nickname that he knew Flax had formerly used.  Flax asked whether Martini had been in the Army. Martini lied, saying "yes," and suggested that they go in Flax's car to a diner for a cup of coffee. Flax agreed. After the two men entered the car, Martini pulled out his recently-purchased revolver, told Flax that he was being kidnapped, and directed him to drive to a Garden State Plaza parking lot. Afdahl followed them. After both cars had reached the lot, Martini ordered Flax into Martini's car and drove to the Fairview apartment.  Martini tied Flax's wrists with electrical cord and taped his ankles together. Martini made Flax call his wife (Marilyn Flax).  Martini told Mrs. Flax that if she wanted to see her husband alive, she would have to give Martini $100,000. Martini also threatened to kill both her husband and her if she notified the police. Martini called again at 1 p.m. to see if Mrs. Flax had raised the ransom money. When she said that she could not obtain that much cash, Martini said that he would call back at 6 p.m. to see if she could raise $25,000. Throughout the call Martini repeatedly threatened to kill both the Flaxes.  At one point Martini told Mrs. Flax "I have a problem.  I'm going to jail for murder.  I need the money to get out of the state and I'm going to do anything I have to do to get it." During the afternoon, the police placed taps on Mrs. Flax's telephone. After Mrs. Flax withdrew the $25,000, FBI agents recorded the serial numbers of the bills.  At 5:30 p.m., Martini called again, arranged the delivery of the ransom money, and again threatened that someone would come to kill the Flaxes if Martini were arrested. The FBI recorded the conversation. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Flax received a call from her hysterical husband, begging her to give Martini the money. As arranged, Mrs. Flax dropped off the money at the Forum Diner (on Route 4 in Paramus) and Martini picked it up. FBI agents followed him, but Martini, fearful of being followed, drove into the Bronx, managing to lose the agents during the course of an hour's drive in traffic. He returned to his Fairview apartment and retrieved Afdahl and the victim, whom Martini ordered to drive to the Garden State Plaza parking lot, where Martini's car was parked. When they arrived, Martini put his gun to the back of Flax's head and shot him three times.  (Martini later claimed that he shot Flax, because he was afraid that Flax would escape.) Leaving Flax's body in the car, Martini drove his own car onto the Staten Island Ferry, from which he threw both his gun and his victim's car keys into the New York Harbor.  He then drove to the Bronx with Afdahl, disposed of the car, and arranged for a ride back to Fairview from the friend whose credit card he had been using. The next day, January 24, 1989, a security guard discovered Flax's body in his car at the Garden State Plaza parking lot. That afternoon, an acquaintance of Martini identified the male voice on the taped telephone conversation as Martini's. Alerted by a flyer that Martini and Afdahl were wanted in connection with a double homicide in Arizona, police in Fort Lee saw the two leave a motel and, carrying a black bag, walk to a telephone booth at a gas station, where Martini placed a call. When a taxi arrived, Martini and Afdahl entered it, whereupon police arrested them. A search of the bag revealed $23,760 bearing serial numbers that the FBI had recorded, the borrowed credit card that Martini had been using, the second revolver, and a key for the motel that they had just left. Police did not observe in Martini any signs of drug-related intoxication. After being arrested, receiving Miranda warnings, and being allowed to consult with Afdahl, whom he advised to cooperate with the authorities as he intended to do, Martini gave the police written and oral statements and his consent to search his motel rooms and his rented apartment. At trial, the State's forensic expert testified that the pattern of blood spattering and other physical evidence indicated that Flax had been shot at a range so close that the victim could not have opened the door and placed his foot on the ground as Martini had claimed. A physician with whom Martini had consulted on December 12, 1988, testified that he had observed no evidence of cocaine use. Mrs. Flax testified without objection to the telephone conversations with both her husband and Martini. Finally, a police officer who had taken statements from Martini read them into the record. Martini presented evidence of his cocaine habit, which, in addition to his ten-year affair with Afdahl, had broken up his marriage, and, Martini claimed, had diminished his capacity to commit his crimes purposefully or knowingly. His defense expert testified that Martini was "unquestionably" under the influence of cocaine, but the witness could not give an opinion within a reasonable degree of medical probability whether Martini had acted purposefully or knowingly during the shooting. The State's rebuttal expert testified that Martini had, within a reasonable degree of medical probability, acted purposefully or knowingly during the shooting. The jury found Martini guilty on all counts. At the penalty trial for the purposeful or knowing murder, the State sought to prove two aggravating factors: murder to escape detection, and murder during the course of a kidnapping. Martini offered the following mitigating factors:  extreme mental or emotional disturbance insufficient to constitute a defense to prosecution;  diminished capacity due to mental disease or defect, or intoxication; and furnishing substantial assistance to the State in prosecuting another person for murder.  Martini offered evidence of his drug abuse and its effects on his personality, and the State offered rebuttal evidence concerning Martini's character. The jury unanimously found that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors.  Martini was convicted of first-degree murder and related offenses.   His accomplice and girlfriend, Therese Afdahl, was sentenced to 65 years in prison.  Besides taking part in the crime, prosecutors also said Afdahl instigated the crime, by encouraging Martini to support her expensive lifestyle, which included a drug habit.  One thing the jury never knew (it was reported later) was that Martini had been an FBI informer.  For several years, Martini had been giving the FBI tips about illegal matters relating to the trucking industry.  However, the FBI found that Martini was giving them false information, so they stopped using his services several years before the murder of Fair Lawn's Irving Flax.    See What Has Happened To Martini  In The Past 13 Years.