Texas Urban Music Star Charged With Murdering Wife

Texas Urban Music Star Charged With Murdering Wife

HOUSTON, Texas–Back in the early 1990’s, two major events put Waco, Texas on the national map.

The first was a complete tragedy: a cult leader named David Koresh clashed with the ATF, causing 54 adults and 28 children to die in a fire.

The second was Hi-Five: a Waco based American R&B quintet who had a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 charts when their song “I Like The Way (Kissing Game)” swept the nation’s radio airwaves with what some might call overnight. success 

Until this past week, Waco residents could at least claim that, unlike Koresh, Hi-Five didn’t became more famous after allegedly murdering someone. Unfortunately, they can no longer make that claim.

Russel Neal, Hi-Five’s lead singer, has been arrested and charged with the murder of his wife after she was found dead on Thursday in their west Houston apartment, according to a recent report by KHOU.

The report states that Neal walked into a Harris County Sherrif office station on Wednesday of last week and declared that his wife was dead inside their apartment located near 3700 Tanglewilde. He told the police that he and his wife had became involved in an argument, but he refused to answer any further questions.

The victim’s name was Catherine Martinez. When investigators discovered her body, they reported that she had suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma.

Neal is 40 years old and his wife, Martinez, was 24. Their two young children are currently staying with family members. Although they were incredibly popular when they first debuted, Hi-Five disbanded just a few years later in 1994.  Before spitting up they worked with R-Kelly and contributed music to the soundtracks of controversial films like Menace II Society and Boyz N The Hood.

Neal is not the first urban music star from Texas to be accused of a felonious crime. Dallas area rapper Big Lurch is currently serving a life sentence for murdering his 21-year-old roommate, Tynisha Ysais, and eating her body parts while he was high on PCP in April of 2002. 

In 2007 Twisted Black, another rapper from the Dallas area, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on federal drug charges.

In 2002 Carlos Coy, a rap recording “artist” and founder of Dope House Records, was sentenced to 45 years at the Allred Unit in Wichita Falls, Texas, for aggravated sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl.   Despite his incarceration, he has continued to write and record new music while behind bars.

Follow Kenneth Webster on Twitter @ProducerKen

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.