Jealousy, paranoia and anger mixed with methamphetamine and a weapon led to the senseless death of 21 year-old Martisa Palmer when her husband, Dustin Cox, shot her in the face after she refused to give him a cigarette. 

“There’s just no reason,” said Muskingum County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle. “It’s just an unspeakable, outrageous crime.”

According to a motion Litle filed with the Court, Palmer and Cox had an unstable marriage that, at times, became violent with Cox putting his hands on Palmer. 

In the earlier part of 2018, the couple separated temporarily. 

Cox was working in Columbus and began seeing another woman and never stopped, even to this day.

“Yet in the fall of 2018, Martisa took him back into her home and attempted again to make their marriage work,” wrote Litle. 

Palmer also allowed a family of three, plus two other men, to live in her house with them. 

“Martisa was, by all accounts, nice to everyone,” wrote Litle. “She allowed all of the Defendant’s friends to stay at the house. She was a user of marijuana but not the methamphetamine and fentanyl that those who moved in were using.”

In addition to using methamphetamine, Litle said Cox and the other men living in the house were also dealing to support their habits. 

On Dec. 30, 2018, Cox received a message from one of his wife’s friends asking if Palmer could join her on a trip to Coshocton where she planned to pick up her child. 

Cox replied “Hell no.”

According to Litle, the friend didn’t like Cox because he was abusive, and Cox didn’t like the friend because he thought she was encouraging Palmer to cheat on him.

Palmer eventually jumped into the conversation and continued to bicker with Cox as his rage and paranoia continued to escalate. 

While at their home on Pershing Avenue, Litle said Cox became so enraged, it drove one of the residents to leave. 

Cox would later text his friend, and brother of his paramour, saying he was “losing it” around 10:30 that night. 

When asked why, Cox responded “Because the drugs took over me I have been sick all day and it’s like I just wanna pull the trigger my butch ass gorilla looking wife is worthless.”

Shortly after, Palmer returned home with her friend. 

As her friend was leaving, she passed a message along to Cox saying Palmer wanted to talk to him upstairs. 

The two others who were home on the couch downstairs recall hearing Palmer and Cox arguing. 

“He just continued to escalate and escalate until finally he said ‘F*** you, bitch. I’m done with your shit,’ and he shot her in her bedroom,” said Litle. 

According to Litle, the coroner’s report indicated Palmer would have been sitting on her bed trying to turn her head away from the gun when her husband killed her. 

“He’s her spouse — the person who’s supposed to protect her, and instead of doing that, he betrayed her trust,” said Litle. 

Litle said Cox then ran out of the house and threw the gun under a tree on the Careytown Preschool and Child Care Center property. 

Around 3:21 a.m. police were made aware of the shooting, shortly after Cox ran from the scene.

Cox would later be arrested that afternoon when police found him inside his lover’s parked car. 

During sentencing Monday, Litle argued Cox should receive the maximum sentence — life with the possibility of parole after 22 years. 

The Court received more than 75 letters on Palmer’s behalf describing her as kind, generous, sweet and giving girl. 

In his sentencing memorandum, Litle highlighted excerpts from the letters noting Palmer’s excitement after graduating high school and her dreams of college, children and traveling Europe. 

“He snatched that away from her,” said Litle in court. 

Cox’s defense attorney, Kirk McVay, said called the whole incident a tragedy.

“The fact of the matter is, he did nothing, not one thing right, on Dec. 31, 2018,” said McVay.

McVay said Cox used alcohol, heroin and methamphetamine daily and went on to explain how crystal meth can intensify anger and paranoia.

“He would have never wanted to take the life of his wife,” said McVay.

When it was Cox’s turn to speak, he apologized to Palmer’s family. 

“I’ll never forgive myself for what happened. This will haunt me everyday. I just wish… I just wish I could turn back time,” said Cox. 

Time is what Cox will have a lot of after Fleegle sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 22 years — when Cox is 46 years-old. 

“These drugs are felony-illegal for a reason,” Fleegle told Cox. “Because they kill.”

Additionally, Fleegle gave Cox a 36-month, consecutive sentence on the third-degree felony count of tampering with evidence. 

“Any child at that scene could have gone out and harmed themselves,” Fleegle said regarding the gun he disposed at the preschool. 

Both charges also carried mandatory, three-year prison sentences on top of the time Cox received for a total of six years. 

Cox was ordered to pay $7,965.76 in restitution. 

The murder weapon is to be turned over to the State to be destroyed.