Inset: Javier Saenz (Martin County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The front of Tonya Sidebottom’s custom sewing shop, where she was allegedly shot and killed by her fiance, Javier Saenz (WPBF/YouTube).
A Florida man is facing multiple charges for allegedly killing his fiancee at a storage facility where she worked and lived — shooting the woman once in the chest and then waiting “at least” 10 minutes before calling 911, according to police.
“He just kept saying, ‘Just send them. Just send them,'” recounted Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek in an interview with local ABC affiliate WPBF about the 911 call made by Javier Saenz, 43, early Sunday at around 12:30 a.m. after he allegedly killed 55-year-old Tonya Sidebottom in Jensen Beach.
“Our fire rescue dispatchers could hear a lady screaming in the background, ‘Gunshot! Gunshot!'” Budensiek told WPBF. “She didn’t say that he shot her, but they could ascertain that there was a woman in dire distress.”
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the Tonya Sidebottom Custom Sewing unit at 3250 NE Candice Ave., where Sidebottom and Saenz — who is charged with second-degree murder — were also living, and found her suffering from a single gunshot wound, but alive.
“She told them that [Saenz] waited at least 10 minutes before he even called 911,” Budensiek said. “On our 911 call with fire rescue, fire rescue’s dispatch asked, ‘Where did you shoot the victim?’ And he said, ‘In the chest.’ … Those were his words that implicated him in this incident.”
Police confirmed Saenz’s arrest to Law&Crime on Monday and said Sidebottom was his fiancee. In addition to second-degree murder, Saenz was also charged with denying Sidebottom the ability to call 911.
According to Budensiek, he has at least one prior arrest on his record for aggravated assault in connection with an incident involving a handgun.
“He had just had a risk protection order placed on him last year up in Port St. Lucie,” Budensiek said. “Port St. Lucie police were called. They issued a risk protection, a temporary risk protection order on him, and they seized several firearms. Three of those firearms were found in the search warrant last night, one of which was the murder weapon.”
The risk protection order for the firearms expired in April 2025, court records show.
