Twenty-One-Year-Old Woman Charged with Second Degree Murder

For Immediate Release: Monday, September 11, 2023

Gaithersburg, MD – Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – Major Crimes Division have arrested and charged 21-year-old Jennifer Abigail Espinoza Orellana, of Gaithersburg, with the homicide of 20-year-old Jose Manuel Zavala Marquez.

On Sunday, September 10, 2023, at approximately 5:51 a.m., 1st District officers responded to the Adventist HealthCare Shady Grove Medical Center in the 9900 block of Medical Center Drive in Rockville for the report of a male who was dropped off with trauma to his body.

The investigation has revealed that Espinoza Orellana had an argument with her boyfriend, Zavala Marquez, at her residence in the 8000 block of Shady Spring Drive in Gaithersburg.

The argument continued outside the residence, where Espinoza Orellana allegedly stabbed Zavala Marquez in the chest with a knife. Espinoza Orellana then placed Zavala Marquez in her vehicle and dropped him off at the hospital, where Zavala Marquez was later pronounced dead.

A search and seizure warrant was obtained and executed at Espinoza Orellana’s residence, where items of evidentiary value were located.

Espinoza Orellana was arrested and taken to the Montgomery County Central Processing Unit, where she was charged with second-degree murder. She is being held without bond.

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Zavala Marquez was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore, where an autopsy will be conducted to officially determine the cause and manner of death.

Jennifer Abigail Espinoza Orellana ( Original Image

Release ID: 23-539
Media Contact:
Categories: arrest , homicide

For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail_Pol.aspx?Item_ID=43968