In 1979, Martha Guzman, 19, was a very active member of the Spanish Church of God at 3401 Bryant St. who had been attending the church for about 2 1/2 years. She was appointed as a committee member of a youth group that met on Thursdays.
Denver church location of Spanish Church of God in 1979 – Google Maps image
Martha, a senior at West High School, had just been elected president of a church committee and spent much of her time volunteering there. Some classmates teased her because of how devoted she was to the church.
It was one of the reasons she had arguments with her mother, according to one news report.
Martha was so eager to go to a youth church service on Oct. 25, 1979, that she arrived early, between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., or about two hours before the church service was to begin.
Gary Sturgill, who lived a few blocks away, would later recall that he saw a girl walk in front of his home at 5:05 p.m. and enter the church through a side door. He lost sight of her and again saw her talking to a man at the same side door.
Sturgill had estimated that the man was about 5-feet-10 and weighed more than 200 pounds. Sturgill walked over closer to the pair until he was about 10 feet away.
He was close enough for him to realize that the girl didn’t seem to know the man, who was wearing a red T-shirt and dark pants.
Dan Rosenblath also lived near the church in a home that was diagonally across the street. The evening he took a walk to the Safeway store on 38th Avenue.
He saw a man with a Doberman pinscher walking on the north sidewalk of 34th Avenue coming from the west and approach a young woman who was at the east door of the church. Rosenblath would later recall immediately thinking something was wrong. It was “trouble.”
Rosenblath described the young woman as a small, very attractive girl wearing a purple dress. The girl was trying to go into the east door of the church.
He stared at them for some time. It appeared that they were in conversation. Rosenblath also noted that the girl didn’t scream out. It appeared the young man was helping her out and that she didn’t seem concerned.
Martha let herself into the church with her own key, possibly to pray and catch up on volunteer work.