Ohio teen stayed in locked SC hotel room with ex-girlfriend’s body for hours, friend says
The last time Brooklyn Ferrell spoke to Natalie Martin was on June 6, 2023.
Her friend had texted her at 10:02 p.m. Just hours later, Martin was dead, at the hands of her high school boyfriend.
The Ohio 18-year-old was strangled in her Myrtle Beach area hotel room, where she was found unresponsive the morning of June 7, 2023. She had just graduated from high school and was on a trip with friends.
Among them was Blake Linkous, who was arrested for Martin’s murder and pleaded guilty Monday to her death during his trial.
He stayed in bedroom for hours with girlfriend’s body
Horry County Police allege that Linkous, who was 18 at the time and from Blue Rock, strangled Martin the evening of June 6 at the hotel they were staying at on Maison Drive.
On June 6, after going to the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach, Linkous and Martin returned to their hotel room where they got into an argument because Martin was texting another guy, according to court testimony Monday.
Linkous then manually strangled her.
One of Ferrell’s friends called the morning of June 7 saying that Martin wasn’t breathing, Ferrell said in an interview in 2023. “A few hours later I received another call from a different friend that she was in fact dead,” Ferrell said.
Linkous and Martin stopped using their phones at 10:17 p.m. Martin never used hers again.
Linkous allegedly sat in a locked bedroom for hours with Martin’s dead body before coming out, having stabbed himself in the chest, Ferrell said.
Ferrell did not go with the group to Myrtle Beach as she was playing in an all-star softball game in Florida.
Martin and Linkous had been a couple for several years until they broke up in February 2023, but the two had remained friends, Ferrell said.
Ferrell claims that Martin was being abused by Linkous, which eventually led to their breakup. And although Ferrell hung out with Martin and Linkous often, she still wasn’t aware how serious the abuse was.
“I thought I knew Blake well. Obviously not well enough,” Ferrell said. “Myself, (Natalie’s) parents and her friends really had no idea what she was going through and never suspected any of this to happen.”
Ferrell isn’t sure what happened that night. “I know that they were having arguments down there a few days before, but I’m not sure if they were arguing that day or not,” she said.
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Martin’s obituary described the Roseville, Ohio, teen as a “free, pure and wild spirit with a contagious laugh. ... She loved to hunt, shoot guns, fish, wrangle snakes, plant and nurture flowers, and could gut and skin a deer better than most grown men.”
“I would like people to know that Natalie was just an 18-year-old girl who just graduated from high school,” Ferrell said. “I want other people who are like Natalie to know it is OK to reach out if you suspect anything or are going through any type of abuse. This does not just happen in movies or on TV shows. It can happen to anyone. This is real.
“Domestic violence is a serious issue. It’s not something to joke about or take lightly. Look out for one another. Most importantly, hold your friends tight. You never know when your last goodbyes or I love yous may be.”
Both teens were from ‘tight-knit’ community
Linkous has been out on bond since his 2023 arrest, allowed to remain with his parents on house arrest and ordered to have no contact with the victim’s family.
However, both Linkous and Martin are from a small community, both graduating May 26, 2023, from Philo High School which had about 2,000 students, Franklin Local School District Superintendent Kacey Cottrill said in 2023. He described the community as tight-knit.
Martin’s parents were at the trial Monday but declined to comment.
Linkous, now 20, was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
