Pair accused of killing man at northwest Dallas hotel were still there when detectives showed up, police say

A man and woman accused of killing a man at a hotel in northwest Dallas last week were still there when detectives arrived at the scene hours after the victim’s body was dropped off at an urgent-care clinic, police say.

One of the detectives detained 35-year-old Brian Lamont Crowder and 38-year-old Tiffany Tarena Watts, who each face a murder charge in the slaying of 41-year-old Vladimir Cala Bolivar.

Officers were called about 9:15 a.m. Oct. 12 to an urgent-care clinic in the 2900 block of North Stemmons Freeway, where witnesses had found a man dead in the backseat of a Toyota Corolla. Surveillance footage showed another man park the car at the entrance to the clinic, then flee, police wrote in an arrest-warrant affidavit.

Police notified the owner of the car, who said she’d let her friend — Cala — borrow it about 6 a.m. so he could buy cigarettes.

She started calling him when he didn’t return, she said, and shortly before 8 a.m. a man answered and said he’d found Cala’s cellphone. She met the man at a Wendy’s to retrieve the phone, the affidavit says, and he told her it had been in a plant with blood on it outside the OYO Townhouse in the 2300 block of Stemmons Trail — about 5 miles from the urgent-care clinic.

When a pair of detectives went to the hotel, they learned that an employee had called 911 that afternoon after finding blood and smelling bleach in a second-floor room.

One of the detectives headed toward that room and saw Crowder and Watts walking out of it. As she took them into custody, she saw Crowder throw a towel into the trash, the affidavit says; the towel, which was collected as evidence, smelled like bleach.

Security footage from the hotel showed Crowder and Watts carrying the victim down the stairs, and a palm print in the Toyota was matched to Crowder, police wrote in the affidavit.

The pair remained in custody at the Dallas County jail Monday, and their attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment. Bail was set at $500,000 for Crowder and $200,000 for Watts.