New York Woman Helps Track Suspect In Dad's 1986 Killing; 'I Had To Do It For My Father'

Aspiring actress Joselyn Martinez helped authorities track down a suspect connected to the death of her father according to The Exponent Telegram.

Martinez's father was shot and killed in 1986 when she was 9-year-old. There was one man in question but not convicted. According to reports, Martinez became a driving force in the attempt to solve her father's murder in 2006.

Martinez contacted "America's Most Wanted," social networks, and also made payments of "$69.99 to various online search programs that turn up potential phone addresses and phone numbers for people." After years of research and using her own finances to find a positive location of the suspect, Martinez was notified that the suspect, identified as Jose Martinez, was arrested and charged for murder in Miami on Friday.

"It's amazing. I didn't plan for this. It's been surreal. I didn't suddenly find him," she told reporters. "This took years of putting away efforts. It just took many years, and I felt like I was doing something. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't want people to think I was crazy,. I just feel like I had to do it for my father and it's up to New York state to decide what happens next."

It's unclear if Santos has a defense attorney or if he will face charges in connection to him fleeing the country as a wanted suspect. The Exponent Telegram reports Santos was arrested "without incident."

Martinez documented and filed all of the information she found on Santos and later turned it into a cold-case detective. The case was closed after authorities learned Santos was incarcerated in the Dominican Republic for an "unrelated case" after the shooting.

"They should not have closed the case," Raymond Kelly, a police commissioner, told reports. No reports of a civil suit against the police department for closing the case has been made.