Jailer To Take Test; Brother Missing

A Bingham County jailer whose brother disappeared just before he was to face sexual abuse charges will take a polygraph test to prove to investigators she is not involved with his disappearance.

Sheriff’s Lt. Larry Christian, Betty Moreno’s supervisor, said she was not ordered to take the lie-detector test.

“She volunteered to take the test,” Christian said. “She has been here all along saying, ‘Hey, if I can help, I will.”’

Blackfoot Police Detective Jim Richardson confirmed Tuesday that Moreno has agreed to take the test, but said the polygraph had not yet been scheduled.

Moreno’s brother, Jose Alfredo “Freddy” Martinez, has been charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor during an eight-month period in 1992.

Martinez, 31, who sometimes dresses in women’s clothes and goes by the name “Jackie,” was scheduled for trial July 16, but was reported missing by a family member on July 12 after he failed to return from a fishing trip.

Martinez’s car and several personal items - including a fishing pole, bloodied shirt and a knife - later were found along the Snake River just south of Blackfoot.

Police searched the river for Martinez’s body but discovered nothing.