Lisa Dykes sentenced to prison after being found guilty of murder in the death of Marisela Botello

A Dallas County jury found Lisa Dykes guilty of murder in the death of 23-year-old Marisela Botello Wednesday and sentenced her to life in prison.

Dykes was also found guilty of a second charge, tampering with a corpse. For that charge, she was sentenced to 20 years.

For both verdicts, the jury also imposed a fine of $10,000 on each charge.

After finding Dykes guilty, the defense asked during the sentencing phase of the trial that the jury consider Charles Beltran's testimony in the punishment phase and that Dykes's act was an act of sudden passion. Beltran testified that Dykes began stabbing Botello as they slept and that he'd never seen her act that way before.

Day 7 of the trial began Wednesday morning with Dykes back on the stand in her defense. The defense rested mid-morning and after closing arguments, the jury was handed the case shortly before noon. After deliberating for about two hours, they announced they'd reached a unanimous verdict.

Before being taken away, Dykes faced Botello’s brother, Luis Botello-Valadez, during victim impact statements.

“I hope you get what you deserve in that prison,” he said. “Me and my family will have to go through family get-togethers that my sister will no longer be a part of all because of you.”

He said, on the part of his family, mercy is off the table.

“All I gotta say is may God forgive you because me and my parents we cannot do that,” said Botello-Valadez.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5, Dallas Police said Botello traveled to Dallas from Seattle to visit a friend in October 2020. Botello's family said she was last seen leaving a Deep Ellum bar on Oct. 5, 2020. Her body was found about six months later in a wooded area near Wilmer.

Defense attorney Heath Harris spoke to reporters outside of the courtroom following sentencing.

"We’ve already submitted a notice of appeal. We do believe that there are appealable issues that hopefully will get her another trial and maybe another jury will see things differently," said Harris.

Three people, Lisa Dykes, Nina Marano and Charles Beltran were originally charged with murder in Botello's death. Dykes was indicted in June 2021 by a Dallas County grand jury along with Marano and Beltran, who was a person of interest in the case early on. Marano and Dykes were arrested in Florida and Beltran was taken into custody in Utah.

On Friday, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office filed motions to dismiss prosecution against Nina Marano and Charles Beltran "in the interest of justice," dropping the murder charges against them. Those documents were released Monday morning. The Dallas County DA's Office has not said why they asked for the charges to be dropped.

Both Beltran and Marano testified during Dykes murder trial.

This story will be updated with details of the verdict and sentencing as the trial progresses on Wednesday.