Crime Specialists Use Homicide Victim’s Head As Photo Shoot Prop

“You're just as evil to me as that murderer,” said Reba Sanchez.

December 19, 2018

Robert Page and one of the unnamed GBI employees [WSB-TV/screenshot]

By: Aaron Rasmussen

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — Two Georgia Bureau of Investigation employees who thought it would be fun to use a murder victim’s dismembered head as a photo shoot prop are now looking for new jobs.

A graphic arts specialist reportedly snapped the photo of a beaming homicide investigator holding victime Robert Page’s head during an autopsy procedure.

As CrimeFeed previously reported, the 77-year-old grandfather’s chopped-up body was found in a cooler and under a tarp in the yard of his 25-year-old neighbor, Christian Ponce-Martinez, in November.

“The officers went to the back of the residence and located the offender hiding under a couch, acting very nervous and suspicious,” said Major Craig Hammer at the time. “Officers then noticed a trail of blood. They followed it and it was Robert Page’s dismembered remains.”

Police arrested Ponce-Martinez and charged him with malice murder.

After the GBI photo recently came to light, Page’s family said they feel traumatized for a second time.

"Visually trying to see my father's head in a cooler is enough, but now you take it and you take pictures with it?" Reba Sanchez told WSB-TV of her disgust over the unprofessional antics of the unnamed agency employees. "You taking pictures, making light of a situation like that? I mean, you're just as evil to me as that murderer,” she added.

The victim’s widow, Lula Page, echoed her daughter’s sentiment. ”It’s awful that somebody would be that evil," she said.

GBI spokesperson Nelly Miles noted the agency’s position on the incident is that it was “highly inappropriate” and “it's been addressed.”

The GBI has now forbidden anyone from taking personal pictures in the medical examiner’s office, and the two workers were allowed to resign from their positions instead of getting fired.

The news is cold comfort for Page's daughter. "That's someone's loved one,” said Sanchez. “You wouldn't want anyone to do that to your family member. So why would you do it to mine?”