Jury selection is underway Monday in the murder trial of Marisela Botello, a 23-year-old Seattle woman who went missing in October 2020 while visiting Dallas.
The trial for Lisa Dykes, who is one of three people accused of killing Botello, is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. A live stream of the trial is expected to be carried online.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5, Dallas police said Botello had flown to Dallas from Seattle to visit a friend. The friend said she left his apartment on Oct. 4 to meet up with friends at a nightclub.
Botello's family said she was last seen leaving a Deep Ellum bar early on Oct. 5, 2020. Her body was found five months later, on March 24, 2021, in a wooded area in Wilmer.
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Dykes was indicted in June 2021 by a Dallas County grand jury along with Nina Tamar Marano and Charles Anthony Beltran, who was a person of interest in the case early on.
Investigators said mobile phone records placed Botello at the same home as Dykes, an affidavit stated. Phone records also showed Dykes and Marano traveling south of Dallas, near Hutchins, to a densely wooded area near a concrete plant.
When officials searched their residence, they found streaks of brown and red on the carpet, which had been cleaned. An analysis of DNA found on one of the carpets matched Botello's blood, according to the affidavit.
In December 2020, New York State Police searched a black 2014 Audi that had previously been registered to Dykes and Beltran and had been transported to the state. They also found concrete material that matched the type and color that was being used at the concrete plant, where Dykes and Marano are thought to have traveled, the affidavit stated.
Marano and Dykes were arrested in Florida and Beltran was taken into custody in Utah.
Dykes's trial was originally expected to begin in January 2023 but was delayed after Judge Amber Givens was recused after the prosecution claimed she displayed bias toward them.
The trials for Marano and Beltran are scheduled for Feb. 20, 2024, and April 15, 2024, respectively.
