"Carmen" redirects here. For the waitress, see Carmen Garcia.
Dig a little deeper. We'll get to the bottom of this.
—Carmen Martinez

Carmen Martinez is a main character featured in Season 3 of Criminal Case. Appearing as the Elite Force Detective of the Bureau, she serves as one of the player's three partners throughout the season.


Hailing from Baltimore, United States, Carmen is 40 years old and worked as an investigative journalist prior to her tenure in the Bureau. She was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, ultimately winning it over her competitor, Jude Connelly. She has black wavy hair at shoulder-length and black eyes. She wears a brown jacket with silver plating and two zip pockets. She also dons a leather choker (which she leaves opened), a gold earring, and a camera around her neck.

She is shown to be fearless and thorough, but she is known to not trust anything and/or question what she hears at times. She is a fan of "The Ringed Lord" book and film septology, and of rally driving races. It is known that she speaks Spanish and has a sister who likes Bollywood cinema.

Height 5'6"
Age 40
Weight 145 lbs
Eyes brown
Blood A+

Events of Criminal Case

Meeting Carmen

Chief Ripley informed the player that they will be teaming up with Carmen in France while Jack patrolled England for the time being. Ripley had to caution the player that Carmen is tough and untrusting, but should be given a chance. Carmen admitted to the player that she prefers to work alone, but she would be willing to make an exception at the behest of the Bureau.

Bad Medicine

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Carmen hit by a drawer.

In the middle of Donna Sandover's murder investigation, an aftershock hit the Bureau’s headquarters, causing a drawer to fall and hit Carmen in the head, prompting Ingrid and the player to take her to an improvised hospital in the Lotus Temple. Jack joined the player to continue the investigation and replace Carmen, despite the latter pleading to rejoin.

Later, when Jack and the player were talking about their findings about the investigation, Ingrid informed the team that the lack of medicine caused the patients in the Lotus Temple to grow impatient and start a riot. Carmen, now recovered, calmed things down and rejoined the player to solve Donna's murder.

The Murder Games

After returning a locket of the Tsukada siblings to Chieko and returning a plush elephant to Sanjay, Angela offered to use the Spring Angels Foundation to give the two orphans adoptive families. Although Chieko was thrilled to hear this, Sanjay did not want to be adopted, as his image of adults had already been stained by Obaasan and Ronin Ozawa; he believed that it was futile to be taken away by strangers. After Sanjay ran off, Carmen claimed to have an idea of how to change his mind.

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Carmen high-fived Sanjay after his adoption, signifying his new life.

Carmen found Sanjay back at the murder scene, where Sanjay reiterated that he had been living on his own for a long time and that he could fare well in the streets. Carmen firmly believed that Sanjay deserved better than going back to his lifestyle before SOMBRA. Sanjay told that he wanted to join the Bureau and help the player fight crime, but Carmen refuted his claim by pointing out he was too young for that. The detective then struck Sanjay a deal: he could lead a normal life, but be adopted by Carmen rather than strangers. After some thought, Sanjay agreed and the two high fived, representing the change in their lives.

In Plain Sight

After reporting that Lavinia De Brills was found murdered in her cell, Carmen became a suspect in her murder after the player and Michelle found her ID card torn up in Lavinia's cell. She confirmed she was alone in the cell with her since she escorted her there after her trial, and believed she lost it when she locked her up. However, she did not notice anything unusual after performing standard safety checks. Michelle was skeptical since she seemed unfazed and speculated it was because she had experience on the other end of the table, but Carmen just wanted to show her cooperation and knew that the player wanted cooperation.


Aristide was shot in the forehead by Jonah in an act of defense after he attempted to kill the player and make Carmen hostage.

Some time later, Michelle received a call from Carmen, suspiciously saying it was over. There was then debate over if Carmen was the mole or not. To investigate this, the player, Michelle and Jonah went to the source of the call, Nigeria at the victim's hotel room. When they got there, they found Aristide Akintola (who the team arrested for murder back in Madagascar) holding Carmen at gunpoint. However, Jonah managed to get a shot in, and shot Aristide in the head killing him. According to Carmen, he ambushed her outside headquarters and brought her to the hotel, with hopes of luring out the player. Michelle had her doubts, saying that Carmen set the whole scenario up to avoid suspicion, but all Carmen could say was that she was not the mole.

Carmen was found to be innocent after the team incarcerated Angela for Lavinia's murder and betraying the Bureau. Carmen, along with Sanjay, helped the player in assisting Chief Ripley in finding a new coroner to replace Angela. The three found a photo of an applicant in her handbag, which the player used to identify Grace Delaney, previously of the Grimsborough Police Department, as the new coroner Ripley wanted.


The player may choose Carmen to join the investigation of each crime scene (in any World Edition case she teams up with the player) and provide hint bonuses. She is available as a 1-hint, level-10 partner.


  • Carmen is one of the characters who animate (or move) during at least one cutscene in the game.
  • Carmen draws her back to hug Elliot after he is rescued in A Stab in the Dark, making her one of the few characters to do such at one point in a cutscene.
  • Carmen is one of the main characters to be flagged as a suspect for plausible reasons.
  • Carmen is the only member of the Bureau to never appear as a quasi-suspect.

Case appearances



Promotional images

