A parolee from Oakland was charged today with two counts of murder and special circumstances for allegedly killing his girlfriend and her 17-month-old son and dumping them along the Berkeley shoreline.

Authorities, confirming for the first time that the body of a child found in the bay Sunday was that of Zoelina Williams’ son, theorize that Curtis Martin III murdered the boy first. Then he killed Williams to keep her from revealing what he had done, police believe.

Martin, 38, who was convicted of beating a 3-year-old boy to death in 1994, made a brief appearance this afternoon in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland. He did not speak as Judge Robert McGuiness read the criminal complaint aloud.

Relatives of the victims wept as McGuiness told Martin that besides being accused of murdering his girlfriend Williams, 23, of Oakland, he was charged with murdering her son, Jashon. Martin is also accused of enhancements for using a weapon and causing great bodily injury.

In addition, Martin was charged with two special circumstances, one alleging that he committed multiple murders and the other that he murdered Zoelina Williams because she was a “witness to a crime.” Sources close to the investigation say police believe Martin killed Williams because she knew he had killed her son. (more…)