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Mother Asks Community To Wear Pink To Honor Her Daughter Found Dead In Newark

Patricia Martin, 17, of Pleasanton was one of two victims found dead in a Newark motel Friday, according to relatives. Their cause of their deaths has not yet been determined.

Community members are encouraged to wear pink today in honor of a Pleasanton teen who was found dead in Newark last week.

Police found the bodies of a 17-year-old Pleasanton girl and a 24-year-old Livermore man in a second floor room at the E-Z 8 Motel Friday morning.

The couple had sustained gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities are investigating the incident as either a murder-suicide or double suicide. However, Newark police told the Fremont Argus that it may take weeks to determine the cause of death and several months to sort out what took place.

Though authorities did not release the identities of the victims, family and friends confirmed that the teenage victim was Patricia Martin, a 17-year-old girl reported missing as a runaway on Sept. 10.

Patricia’s mother, Kathy Martin, posted on Facebook that her daughter was last seen with James Cole, also known as James Shanelec, a 24-year-old from Livermore. He was driving a white two-door Honda with a sunroof, she said.

A vehicle similar to the one Martin described was surrounded with police tape in the motel’s parking lot Friday.

Martin announced on Facebook yesterday that today would be "Pink Day" in Patricia's honor.

Patricia’s school, Village High School in Pleasanton, also began offering grief counseling services at the school.

An anonymous student support hotline for the Pleasanton Unified School District can be reached at 925-417-5199.

Anyone with possible information related to this case is encouraged to call the Newark Police Department at 510-578-4237 or the Pleasanton Police Department at 925-931-5100.

Suicide prevention resources

According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website, there are 36,000 suicide deaths in the U.S. every year. These can be prevented, the organization says.

Some of the warning signs of suicide are "serious depression, increased use of drugs or alcohol, unnecessary risk-taking, making threats of suicide and making a plan," according to the foundation.

If you know someone who is showing the warning signs of suicide, reportingonsuicide.org recommends not leaving the person alone. It says you should “remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt” and call U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

There are many options for those seeking help.

Renee Fazeli September 17, 2012 at 10:48 am
I'm confused about the headline ...
corinne steel September 17, 2012 at 12:49 pm
its saying that the mother of the found teen is asking the community...
corinne steel September 17, 2012 at 12:50 pm
It sounds like "mother found dead" rather than "the mother of the daughter found dead"...
David Mills (Editor) September 17, 2012 at 01:18 pm
Thanks for point this out Renee and Corinne... the headline has been fixed. Our apologies for any confusion
Zinn September 17, 2012 at 01:26 pm
Does anyone know the backstory to this tragedy? Why did she run away? Who was this guy she was with? What drove her to suicide? The mother seems very loving and supportive. Did this girl have a father?
Autumn Johnson (Editor) September 17, 2012 at 01:35 pm
@Zinn: Here is a bit of backstory for you and we will update as we get more information. http://pleasanton.patch.com/articles/missing-pleasanton-teen-found-dead-in-newark-believed-to-be-patricia-martin
Zinn September 17, 2012 at 04:21 pm
Autumn, thanks for the link but none of the above questions I asked were answered.
Autumn Johnson (Editor) September 17, 2012 at 04:25 pm
@Zinn: the link has all the backstory we have. Due to the sensitive nature of this story, we are trying to take in consideration her family and friends as we write articles with information about her life.
Pleasanton Mom September 17, 2012 at 06:08 pm
Zinn:
Without going into private details, I can just say the father passed away very suddenly about 13 months ago. It was an unexpected and very sudden passing. Our family knows the mother to be loving as you've described and also very hard working. Tricia herself was vibrant and had many friends. Many of the teens in the community are just in shock and I just can't even imagine what her family is going through. The pink request did seem to start to be passed through the teen community here late yesterday so I'm sure many will honor Mrs. Martin's request and do so out of love for the Martin family and to honor their friend.

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Zoneil Maharaj (Editor) June 18, 2013 at 02:47 pm
That's great to hear! We have a full list of locations in Newark, via Newark Unified, here:Read More http://newark.patch.com/groups/schools/p/newark-unified-offers-free-summer-lunches-for-community-children
Dan June 17, 2013 at 07:40 am
I agree 100% with CT
Andrea " Andy " June 18, 2013 at 10:10 pm
I helped run the Snack Shack for 10 years presented a Binder to Coach with all Accounting of allRead More monies provided for deposit - Its real simple if any Booster member requests to see Books - Give them the Books for review - I do not understand why this has not been done - Even if seen in 2010 this is 2013 and things change and the Membership is entitled to regular Audits on the money they worked so hard to raise. So produce, show and review!!!!!
anonymous1 June 19, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Oh this opens up NMHS like a can of worms. There have been suspicions of this for years regardingRead More Rich Swift at the annual Crab Feed, Margaret Jean at the 4th of July Fireworks sales, Stacey Kelly snackshack, and how about Edna, shes always at the gate taking the money. Im glad someone with balls is getting this out in the public. Yes, the money needs to be counted and deposited by a committee and not the individual in charge as has been the case for many years. While were on the subject of NMHS, what about the rumors that Rich Swift threw away letters from colleges for prospective athletes. Rumor has it there were many letters found in his drawers after his death.
Mona Taplin June 15, 2013 at 06:23 pm
Good response Teddy, and truth.
Bong Sativa June 17, 2013 at 05:57 am
The more likely explanation is that the vast majority of Newark Police officers lack the requisiteRead More aptitude & agility necessary to fill shopping bags with groceries & didn't want to do anything to further embarrass themselves while under the scrutiny of the bewildered shoppers like James.
Teddy June 17, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Bong Sativa maybe you can meet Officer Indica.
Shimadog June 15, 2013 at 10:10 am
Could it be that, because busloads of inner city non resident children jam the place, someone wiselyRead More decided to make the hours available to Newark taxpayers first?
Audrey June 15, 2013 at 10:27 am
Yes they are walking as I write this! but it is not to late to sponsor them! please!!!
Mona Taplin June 13, 2013 at 04:03 am
This probably sounds heartless, but it sounds like this house should be condemned before a tragedyRead More occurs. I doubt if any organization can bring it up to code because of the cost. It's really sad to see this happening to a working person in this country.
Adam Moe June 13, 2013 at 09:47 am
I'm not sure if your mom will qualify but there are lines of credit out there that she can get as aRead More home owner. It will require her to have the income to pay back small portions at a time. Not trying to make it harder just trying to help. See about it online or let me know more and I'll see what I can do to help.
Teddy June 16, 2013 at 07:00 am
Mona Taplin you are right on re: all your remarks.
Tony June 16, 2013 at 05:33 pm
Thanks James!, You know it's amazing when somebody puts their own personal time to learn andRead More understand something and then you share it... I would have been more then glad to explained myself in more detail face-to-face because I may learn something myself but like a marriage you don't get on here and start posting every little detail about you and your wife and I'm not going to get on here and start posting every little detail about my past employer`s. So to whoever flagged me you could have simply posted a disagreement and I'm open-minded and can admit when I make a mistake...I would've simply deleted my post if you could've proved it wrong.
James Nelson June 18, 2013 at 07:58 am
Tony, You are an upstanding individual, glad you joined the Patch! ;)
James Nelson June 18, 2013 at 08:11 am
I would also like to point out that I have on two other occasions asked this Mike Bucci guy the sameRead More question and each time I am Ignored. If this is what us Newark Residents can expect from an aspiring Politician then he can keep his day job! We already have enough Status Quo people in our gov failing to answer the simple questions.
James Nelson June 5, 2013 at 09:11 pm
Landline? That's like so 15 years ago! People still do home telephone services? Wow!
Dina Murtaza June 9, 2013 at 08:41 am
Yes I have a cell phone and a landline when I am working. Lots of people have it as a 2nd phone.Read More Found out the people working on the lines accidently cut off the phone lines.
Audrey June 6, 2013 at 05:36 pm
have they been claimed yet anyone know??
Anna Locke June 7, 2013 at 09:17 am
UPDATE! Just got a call this morning from a neighbor of the man who owned them. The gentleman diedRead More Mon or Tues and the poor dogs hadn't been well taken care of for years - slept outside, no affection, etc. Long story short - the neighbor wants to adopt them! YAY! <3
Anna Locke June 5, 2013 at 01:35 pm
Make sure to post on Facebook. He may have a microchip...hopefully. You can take him to CentralRead More Vet to check. Good luck! I just found two at the Lake Monday evening.