Julia Martin spent last moments texting dad after being stabbed by ex-boyfriend

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Six months ago, Julia Martin had broken things off with her boyfriend of three years, but she knew it was only right that she return the engagement ring he gave her.

So, on Friday, her ex-boyfriend arrived at her place, supposedly to collect the ring. Instead, he stabbed her repeatedly and then killed himself by jumping out of his apartment.

Julia called for help, phoning both 911 and her friends and family, including her father, who she also texted, “Call me ASAP.”

“Not only did she call me, she texted me while she was going through all this,” Derrick Martin said Monday. “She was calling everybody, saying that she wanted help. She called another friend and she was panting over the phone, trying to get her breath. He thought it was a prank and he hung up on her. He feels so bad.”

Derrick doesn’t check his phone often either, and so he didn’t see the message until much later.

Julia was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead from her injuries.

Derrick said that he was surprised things were that bad with her ex-boyfriend, because there were no indications that he was violent.

“There was no indication he was dangerous … I never would’ve thought that in a million years,” he said. He also recalled meeting with his daughter to catch up, noting that she didn’t tell him how bad things were: “She never went into that much detail about how bad it was, she was just telling me that they had broke it off and that she was planning on giving the ring back.”

Derrick, who has also recently buried his father, mother and brother, is now left only with Julia’s little sister Jasmin and her son, Cameron.

“I just pray, I just ask God to give me strength,” he said. “It’s like he keeps taking people that’s close to me and I don’t know why. You can’t question God, you just figure there’s a plan. And you pray.”