Man killed by train devoted to family in Mexico, horses

Friends of Juan Martinez said when he walked, he'd have his head down and go at a vigorous pace, never wanting to be late. Often, he'd wire money back to his mother in Mexico, where Martinez's employer said the majority of his wages went.

Co-workers said that's where Martinez was heading Wednesday morning when he was struck and killed on an Auburn railroad track near the 1200 block of C Street Northwest.

Police said the 50-year-old was talking on his cell phone, and though the conductor of the Amtrak Cascades train blew the horn, the train traveling at 80 mph couldn't stop in time.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled Martinez's death an accident.

"All that was left was his racetrack ID," said a grieving Steve Bullock, who hired Martinez as an Emerald Downs groom about two months ago. "That's the only way they knew it was him."

A list of family phone numbers was in Martinez's wallet, but authorities had difficulty locating it after the accident, friends said. Martinez cared for four people back home, and often spoke lovingly of his mother and children in Mexico, Bullock said.

The rails on which Martinez was hit parallels a street and there are no signs or crossings. Gus Melonas, a spokesman for BNSF Railway, which owns the track, said about 50 trains -- passenger, freight and commuter -- pass through the rail corridor between Kent and Auburn every 24 hours.

Martinez had previously worked at Emerald Downs before grooming horses at a Texas track, Bullock said. He returned looking for work earlier this year, and was hired as part of a three-person crew. Co-workers said they expected him to be there for years.

Co-workers said he worked seven days a week for at least six hours, and sometimes worked until 11 p.m. running horses. Steve Bullock recalled Martinez as a happy, outgoing guy who had plenty of patience around animals, even when they tried to bite him. Last month, he groomed the horse Whiteriver Gold that won a $6,200 purse.

"All he talked about were his babies; he took care of the young horses and he wanted them to be good," Bullock said. "This is all pretty sad."

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