HOMICIDE
HooD
IN THE
STORY BY Monica Faram & Matt Smith
With 30 years under her belt in law enforcement, Kelli Martin recently debuted her first book,“ Homicide in the Hood: Murders that Haunt A Small Town Girl.”
The book details homicides that occurred in the 1980s in Granbury, where Martin grew up. At that time the town had a population of about 2,000, with only 6,000 in the entire Hood County.
“ It was very exciting to write the book and release it,” Martin said.“ This was a goal that I had for a long time. I always wanted to write a book and always loved writing as a kid.”
Martin’ s family has been in Hood County since the 1860s. She said her grandmother, who was a school teacher in Somervell County, was a huge influence on her growing up.“ She was always reading and teaching us things,” Martin said.“ She treated me like I could do anything, even as a little kid.”
Growing up in a house with domestic violence impacted her decision to go into law enforcement. Martin’ s father was a veteran and had a tendency to have anger issues, she said.
“ I couldn’ t help my mother back then but I can help these women and their families now,” she said. That’ s why injustice really gets under my skin.”
Martin early on dreamed of becoming an English teacher until murder most foul, and too close to home, sidetracked her career goals in a different direction. She went on instead to become a law enforcement officer, criminologist and victim’ s advocate during a career spanning 30 years while working in Hood, Johnson and Tarrant counties. Martin also taught classes at Texas Christian University, Tarrant County
College and University of Texas at Arlington as an adjunct professor.
The book delves into six unsolved murders. Roughly 200,000 unsolved murders give or take vex investigators both professional
20 Community Life