Autopsy: 10-year-old Albuquerque girl was strangled

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Medical investigators say strangulation was the cause of death of an Albuquerque girl whose dismembered remains were found wrapped in a smoldering blanket in her family's apartment. Autopsy results made public late Monday detail the slaying of Victoria Martens on her 10th birthday last August. Authorities have described the crime as horrific. The results show the girl was sexually assaulted and that efforts to dismember her body followed after she died. Her spine was fractured and she suffered both blunt and sharp injuries, with one slash exposing her organs. Some of her organs were removed. Victoria's mother, Michelle Martens, the mother's boyfriend and the boyfriend's cousin all are charged in the girl's slaying. They are set to stand trial later this year.