Day 5 in the murder trial for Lisa Dykes, the woman accused of killing 23-year-old Marisela Botello, continues Monday.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5, Dallas police said Botello had flown 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.
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.
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DAY 5 OF THE TRIAL - MOTIONS FILED TO DISMISS
On Friday, Beltran was called as a witness and testified for hours. Dykes’ attorney, Heath Harris questioned Beltran about his charge of tampering with Botello’s corpse.
“You plead guilty to tampering with evidence, didn't you,” Heath Harris said. Harris represents Dykes.
“Yes, sir,” Beltran said.
“Hoping they're going to dismiss the murder case, right,” Harris said. “My question to you is that you know they're going to dismiss the murder case.”
Beltran did plead guilty to tampering with evidence on Dec. 5 however, as of Monday afternoon, no court documents have been published.
In the case of Marano, her charge of tampering with a corpse remains open.
Prosecutors could wrap up its case Monday afternoon as testimony winds down.
It was expected for the defense to call Marano however, with murder charges dropped against her, it’s not clear if that will happen.
Pending any plea deals, Marano's trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 20, 2024, and Beltran's on April 15, 2024.
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.
