![\"Victims](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/qhpkfjvyzdphfjvs.jpg\")
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ORINDA, Calif. – A man was charged with special-circumstance murder Tuesday in the stabbing death of a Martinez<\/a> homeowner, months after authorities say he targeted two homes in Orinda for burglary months earlier.<\/p>\n “I was upstairs washing my hair. I didn’t even know he tried our front door,” an 83-year-old Orinda woman told KTVU after being told of the alleged connection. “I’d be surprised that he would be capable of murdering somebody and have a knife with him.”<\/p>\n Suspect charged with murder in Martinez slaying <\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Marcos Iriarte-Valdez, 36, was charged Tuesday by the Contra Costa County DA’s office with murder\u00a0in the fatal stabbing of Todd Stewart<\/a>, 68, on Francis Court, a quiet cul-de-sac in Martinez.<\/p>\n He’s also been charged with the special circumstance of murder while fleeing from a burglary attempt. That means authorities believe he was out casing yet another home, despite the charges in Orinda.\u00a0<\/p>\n Same suspect accused of Orinda burglaries <\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n It was back on April 29 when Orinda police say the same man broke into two homes in the upscale Orinda Downs neighborhood, on another cul-de-sac off Dalewood Drive.<\/p>\n The 83-year-old woman says the man stole a laptop from her garage and ate some food. She and police say another woman a few doors down had a scary run-in with the same man the same day.\u00a0<\/p>\n “She was in the back of her house, I think, and saw the reflection in her bathroom,” the woman said of her neighbor. “She saw this man trying to get into her back door.”<\/p>\n The 83-year-old woman’s husband, who wanted to be identified only as Jim said of their neighbor, “She screamed and I think he took off.”<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n He says he was under the impression the defendant would remain in custody. Instead, a judge released the defendant on his own recognizance after a home detention violation, just a day before the Martinez homicide.<\/p>\n “The judge uses his discretion or her discretion, I don’t know who the judge was – so, you know, who am I to argue?” Jim said.<\/p>\n At the same time, Stewart is dead, his screams caught on surveillance video haunting neighbors.<\/p>\n “I’m saddened that someone was killed,” Jim said. “It’s a sad situation whenever that happens.”<\/p>\n Iriarte-Valdez is being held without bail. He is to be arraigned on the murder charge on Wednesday. His burglary cases are still pending.<\/p>\n Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com\/henrykleefan<\/p>\n The Source: KTVU reporting, Contra Costa County court records<\/p>\n Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Orinda<\/a>Martinez<\/a>News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORINDA, Calif. – A man was charged with special-circumstance murder Tuesday in the stabbing death of a Martinez…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1184,392,2042,2648,100,143,145,144,29954,1181],"class_list":["post-430389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-ca","tag-contra-costa-county","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-martinez","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-orinda","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Surveillance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/wipnxlpwf05ya0tg.jpg\")
Suspect freed day before slaying <\/p>\n