Two teenage girls will be burying their mother this week. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectives say Martha Montoya, 56, was killed by her husband Saturday morning.
Montoya's daughters told detectives they witnessed their stepfather with a sledgehammer in his hand.
"I'm in shock, we're still in shock. It wakes me at night every single day since it happened," said Monica Collins, Martha's cousin.
A PBSO arrest report says the teenage girls woke up to hearing arguing at their Lake Worth home on B Street.
"The baby girl called my mother and said that her dad was chasing her mom with a hammer," said Collins.
They found their mother lying in a pool of blood and saw their stepfather, Walter Lopez, with a sledge hammer in his hand.
"It's painful to know that somebody died such a terrible death," said Collins.
Collins couldn't believe what was happening when she saw all the crime scene tape at her cousin's home.
One of the teens told deputies Lopez tried to hit her with a sledge hammer too. The girls were able to get away and call 911.
"It pains me the most, that how could somebody try and hurt the girls?" said Collins.
The arrest report says Lopez was found on I-95 south of Woolbright Road. He told detectives he blacked out and did not remember anything. He was arrested and charged with first degree murder.
Collins says her cousin and Lopez were married for several years. She never saw any signs of aggression or violence. She says Martha was kind and worked hard to care for her girls.
"She always talked about she had her prepaid college for them and how she’s saving money for them," said Collins.
Collins says she and her husband are going to do their best to raise the girls and give them the life their mother would have.
"I want them to feel like they have a future, not to feel like a foster child wondering what do I have out there for me," added Collins.
The family has set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay for funeral costs and help save money for the girls' college education.
