5 chilling details about Martre Coles' murder

Tonight's episode of Snapped on Oxygen will replay the 2017 murder of an aspiring young artist from Virginia named Martre Coles. Post-investigation authorities discovered that Martre was killed by his stepmother Denise Gay and her elder daughter LaToya Gay.

In 2018, Denise was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and LaToya was sentenced to 30 years in prison for being an accomplice to the crime when found guilty.

The upcoming Snapped episode titled Denise Gay which focuses on this case, will air on Oxygen on February 23 at 6 pm ET. The longline for the same reads:

"An aspiring artist from Virginia whose disappearance sends shockwaves through his family and community”.

5 disturbing details surrounding Martre Coles' murder

1) Martre Coles’s body was found in a plastic container

As per Oxygen True Crime, Martre Coles’s body was discovered on April 2, 2017, three weeks after he disappeared.

A passerby waking saw something popping out of a large plastic tub. When the witness neared the tub and lifted the cover, he found the lifeless body of Martre Coles. As per Oxygen, the place where he was found dead was just a few miles away from his home.

2) Martre’s autopsy revealed some harrowing details

Following the discovery of Martre’s dead body, when the autopsy reports came in, it was revealed that he died from lack of oxygen, medically termed asphyxiation. He was strangled or suffocated to death as per the reports.

The autopsy also stated that the victim had two drugs in his system at the time of death: Trazodone, which is used as a sedative, and GHB, which is known to slow down breathing.

3) The victim's step-sister allegedly saw his murder

During investigations, Denise Gay’s younger daughter Alana alleged that she saw her mother kill Martre Coles and also claimed that she was assisted by LaToya (Denise Gay’s elder daughter). Alana also alleged that her mother and LaToya dragged a big container out of the house that had the body of Martre in it.

As reported by Oxygen True Crime, during the trial, prosecutors also claimed that after putting the victim's body in a container, Denise "threw him out like trash."

4) Denise Gay sent a fake email to Martre Coles

Denise Gay used her computer to send the victim a fake email from Full Sail University, in an attempt to convince Martre that he had been accepted into his dream college and that this was his chance to leave his unwelcoming home.

Authorities speculated that Denise did this to murder Martre, fabricate a story, gain more time to dispose of his body, and ensure that no one would question anything because they would believe that Martre was in college.

5) Denis Gay’s internet history helped solve the case

As per Oxygen, during investigations when the detectives checked Denise’s cell, they found records of searches on how to get rid of a dead body. Some of her other searches included “find something that works like chloroform” and “how long it takes to suffocate someone with duct tape.”

As for the motive behind the murder, Martre's sisters alleged that Denise killed Martre because he reminded her of her husband's late wife who was Martre's mother. However, this speculation was not confirmed.

To learn more about this case, watch season 35 episode 7 of Snapped on Oxygen titled Denise Gay. The episode airs on Feb. 23 at 6 pm ET.

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