U.S. Army Sergeant Tyrone Hassel III was killed outside his father’s home in Michigan on December 31, 2018.
His murder has sparked widespread interest and will be the subject of an upcoming episode of ABC’s 20/20.
Hassel was a mechanical engineering graduate of Grand Valley State University and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he met his wife, Kemia Martin, who was also serving.
The couple was married in 2017 and had a son together. Prior to his death, they were living in Georgia.
On New Year’s Eve, the police received a call from Martin reporting her husband had been shot. They found Hassel dead in the driveway. Eleven days later, Martin and her lover, Jeremy Cuellar, were implicated in the murder.
It was revealed that the couple had planned the murder to collect Hassel’s life insurance payout. Cuellar pulled the trigger and both were charged with first-degree premeditated murder. Cuellar also faced a firearm charge.
The court heard that Martin and Cuellar had communicated through Snapchat to carry out the murder. Following their trial, Martin and Cuellar were both dishonorably discharged from the army. Martin admitted to orchestrating the murder and Cuellar confessed to pulling the trigger.
Martin’s actions have been condemned, with the victim’s mother expressing that she hopes Martin will spend her life in prison, suffering and thinking about what she did.
Martin and Cuellar will be the subject of the ABC’s 20/20 episode on February 16, 2024, at 9 pm ET. Viewers will gain insight into the story and the events that led to Hassel’s untimely death.
