It’s day two of the trial for the woman accused in the death of Marisela Botello. Lisa Dykes is charged with capital murder along with her wife, Nina Merano, and Charles Beltran. NBC 5’s Alicia Barrera reports from the courthouse, where we learned more about how the victim met her killers.
Day 2 in the murder trial for Lisa Dykes began on Wednesday.
Dykes is one of three people accused of killing Marisela Botello, a 23-year-old Seattle woman who went missing in Dallas in October 2020.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by NBC 5, Dallas police said Botello had flown to Dallas from Seattle to visit a friend. Botello's family said she was last seen leaving a Deep Ellum bar early on Oct. 5, 2020. Her body was found nearly six months later, on March 24, 2021, in a wooded area in Wilmer.
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. Marano and Dykes were arrested in Florida and Beltran was taken into custody in Utah.
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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.
DAY 2 OF THE TRIAL
On Day 2 of the trial, the jury learned more about how Marisela Botello met her accused killers.
A hairdresser and confidant, Kathy DeLeon told the jury about how her client, Lisa Dykes, slowly became someone she didn't recognize.
"There were a lot of stories, a lot of intimate stories Lisa told me," DeLeon said. "I don't know. It's just so bizarre."
DeLeon said when Dykes met Charles "Chuck" Beltran, she started changing. Beltran is one of two others charged in Botello's murder.
DeLeon testified about the items Dykes bought Beltran and jealousy Dykes sometimes displayed. However, Dykes's attorneys challenged DeLeon's account saying their client was investing in Beltran's rap career and was aware that he was a "womanizer."
Prosecutors also called in Dakston Stevens, a friend of Beltran familiar with his relationship with Dykes and who was present on the night they met Botello.
Stevens said Botello and Beltran giggled and talked for 3-5 minutes but that he wasn't paying close attention.
The next day Beltran allegedly told Stevens he dropped her off near Baylor after drinks and a sexual encounter inside his car.
Dykes's attorney used Stevens's testimony to build a case to refute where the crime is alleged to have taken place.
Investigators said Wednesday they believed Botello was stabbed inside Dykes's home in Mesquite and that they detected blood in the bathroom.
