Court records say the teenager heard her mother plead for her life before gunshots rang out in a garage.

WADDELL, Ariz. — An Arizona man is accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife after their teenage daughter heard her mother plead, “Please don’t kill me,” then opened a garage door and found a bloody scene, according to court records in a case that quickly led to a murder charge and a $2 million bond.

What makes the case stand out is not only the killing itself, but the daughter’s detailed account of the minutes before and after it. Investigators say that account helps place Robert Marin, 60, at the center of a fatal confrontation with Heather Marin, 50, on March 16 at his home near Olive Avenue and Perryville Road. Authorities have described the shooting as part of a domestic violence case unfolding during a separation and divorce.

The night, according to the probable cause affidavit, began with a fight between father and daughter inside the house. The teen told deputies the argument grew tense as Robert Marin spoke with anger about Heather Marin, from whom he was informally separated. She said she later overheard him make an angry phone call telling Heather he could not deal with their daughter anymore and did not want her staying there. The daughter then went to her bedroom and called her boyfriend. Court records say her mother phoned twice, at about 8:39 p.m. and again at 9:09 p.m., but the girl did not answer because she feared doing so would upset her father further.

After the second missed call, the daughter told investigators she heard screaming from the garage area. As she walked toward the interior door, she said she distinctly heard her mother pleading, “Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,” followed by about four gunshots. When she opened the door, the affidavit says, she saw Heather Marin bleeding on the ground and Robert Marin standing near or over her while holding a gun. The girl shouted, “Why would you do this?” according to the affidavit. Investigators wrote that he shrugged his shoulders, walked away and later returned to smoke a cigar while the daughter tried CPR and called 911.

Deputies responding to a shots-fired call at about 9:30 p.m. said they found Robert Marin in the garage with blood on his clothing and shoes. The affidavit says a firearm, a holster and spent shell casings were recovered there. Deputies reported that he dropped to his knees when they made contact and was taken into custody without making statements. They also noted a strong odor of alcohol during transport for questioning and processing. Those physical details matter because investigators used them, together with the daughter’s statement and the victim’s alleged pleas for mercy, to argue that the shooting was not a sudden mystery but a documented act with a clear sequence of events.

The records also point backward, not just to the garage, but to weeks of strain inside the family. The daughter told investigators about an earlier, unreported domestic violence incident in early February in which her father allegedly held a gun and threatened to shoot Heather Marin in the head before killing himself. She also described screenshots of text exchanges that investigators said contained hateful and threatening language. The affidavit says the daughter described Robert Marin as an avid gun owner and said multiple unsecured firearms, including pistols and hunting rifles, were kept throughout the home, with more weapons and ammunition in a safe. Those allegations have not been tested in court, but they give prosecutors a broader timeline for motive and risk.

The case moved quickly into court after the arrest. News reports on Marin’s first appearance said prosecutors sought and obtained a $2 million cash bond while citing prior domestic violence concerns. Early reporting described the case as a first-degree murder prosecution. A later report, citing a direct complaint from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors filed second-degree murder and two disorderly conduct counts. Public court-access systems in Arizona show that case information can change as charging documents are filed and updated, so the exact charging posture is likely to be tracked through later court entries, hearings and any preliminary litigation over evidence, statements and bond.

The daughter’s role as the central witness also shapes what comes next. She is not described as seeing the entire confrontation begin, but her account fills in critical moments: the argument, the calls, the plea for life, the gunshots, the sight of her father over her mother’s body and the emergency response that followed. Her statement is likely to be measured against dispatch records, phone logs, forensic evidence from the garage and the medical findings on how many times Heather Marin was shot. For now, the public record leaves key questions unanswered, including exactly when Heather arrived at the house, whether any surveillance exists and how prosecutors will frame intent as the case develops.

Marin’s case stands, at this stage, as a domestic killing investigation built around a teenager’s timeline and the physical evidence found in a garage. The next milestone is the court record that confirms the operative counts and schedules the next hearing in Maricopa County.

Author note: Last updated April 9, 2026.