Woman set to stand trial for murder, accused of killing Seattle woman who went missing in Dallas

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Testimony began Tuesday in the murder trial for one-third of the alleged love triangle accused of killing a Seattle woman who went missing in 2020 after a night out in Dallas.

Lisa Dykes, 60, is charged with murder and tampering with a corpse in connection with the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez. Her body was dumped near a country road in southern Dallas County. Dykes faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.

In opening statements, Dallas County prosecutors painted Dykes as a jealous, fed-up lover who killed Botello in twisted, passion-filled rage after her romantic partner, Charles Beltran, wooed Botello and brought her to their Mesquite home.

“To understand the whys,” prosecutor Robin Pittman said, “you have to understand the backstory.”

Dykes, a petite woman, ducked under a sheriff’s deputy’s extended arm as he held open the door and she walked out of the courtroom holding cell Tuesday morning. Her gray hair was tied into a low ponytail, smoothed by tortoise-shell eyeglasses perched on top of her head. She wore a rosy pink blouse, and colorful tattoos peeked out from the cuff. At times she appeared to smile at her attorneys.

Defense attorney Heath Harris shifted the blame onto Beltran, suggesting he’s a habitual liar. He also suggested that witnesses reported seeing Botello after she was deemed missing or that she may have fatally overdosed during a night of partying. In opening statements, he implied Dykes herself may testify during the trial.

Beltran and Nina Marano, Dykes’ wife, are also charged in the slaying. Both were indicted on murder and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence charges. Beltran was scheduled to enter a plea to tampering with or fabricating physical evidence Tuesday morning, according to court documents. It is unclear where his case stands, but he is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution.

A 12-person jury and two alternates — eight men and six women — who will decide Dykes’ fate were empaneled Monday inside the Dallas County courthouse near downtown Dallas.

Dykes supported Beltran’s budding rap career, while their relationship grew romantic and sexual; Dykes provided Beltran with money and a place to stay, while Beltran gave Dykes companionship, Pittman said. Later, Dykes married Marano, a recently widowed attorney, and the trio moved into a Mesquite home together. Beltran — portrayed by lawyers as a freeloading womanizer — continued to pursue other women.

Botello flew to Dallas for “a break from Seattle,” Pittman said. Her mother Ernestina Valadez said in Spanish that Botello was joyous and trusting — a young girl, who loved to travel and booked cheap, spontaneous tickets to visit an old friend in Dallas. Botello took an Uber to the airport early on Oct. 2, 2020, and seemed excited for her trip, her mother said.

Valadez’s face reddened and she sniffled throughout her testimony, seemingly holding back sobs. One juror, a woman, dabbed her eyes as the mother spoke.

“As a mother, you never want to lose your child,” Valadez said. “Somebody just cut her life short. … Not only that, they threw her away like she was trash.”

Botello stayed with Raul Ortiz, described at times as an ex-boyfriend or friend from Seattle, while in Dallas. Ortiz said they spent most of the long weekend sightseeing, eating and drinking. On Oct. 4, 2020, the pair went out in Deep Ellum before returning to Ortiz’s apartment; Ortiz passed out drunk, locked out of his apartment, while Botello decided to head back out to Deep Ellum. She was photographed in a metallic purple dress. That picture was later plastered across the entertainment district as a “Missing Person” poster.

Harris repeatedly questioned Ortiz about whether he and Botello took Percocet or other illicit drugs. Ortiz maintained that they did not, but Harris played an audio recording of a phone call with Ortiz who discussed getting the drugs from “a dude” that night.

Ortiz awoke and Botello was gone. “I figured something bad happened,” he told jurors.

Prosecutors said she met Beltran on the sidewalk, and surveillance footage showed them together. They went back to Mesquite in the early morning hours of Oct. 5, had sex and went to bed, according to opening statements.

Beltran has told detectives he woke up and saw Dykes on top of Botello, grasping a knife and making a stabbing motion with one hand while holding Botello’s neck with her other hand. He said he pushed Dykes, knocking her and Botello to the floor, an arrest-warrant affidavit says. Marano then came into the room and shoved him out of the way, he said. Beltran said he left the room and fled the home, according to the affidavit.

When he returned, the bedroom was cleaned and the women told him everything had been taken care of, the affidavit says.

Dykes’ and Marano’s phone records show they traveled to an area close to several bodies of water near Hutchins, just south of Dallas, that night before heading back to Mesquite, authorities wrote.

Botello’s family grew worried when she missed her return flight to Washington state. They traced her rideshare receipts and bank activity to pinpoint her last known locations, according to testimony from family. There was no activity on her cellphone, bank account or social media accounts after she disappeared.

“She completely fell off the face of the Earth,” relative Dennesly Castillo said from the witness stand. Botello’s father and brother were seated in the courtroom gallery throughout testimony. Castillo and Botello’s father went to Dallas shortly after her disappearance to look for her; they returned with her abandoned suitcase full of clothes. Botello left a backpack — stuffed with a Delta Air Lines napkin, snacks, a book, fake eyelashes and a tourist magnet from Seattle — in Ortiz’s car.

Police honed in on Beltran as a person of interest early in the case, alleging neither he nor his car had been seen since the night Botello went missing. According to a coworker, Dykes’ behavior seemed erratic after an FBI agent called her. She later abruptly resigned from the personal injury law firm where she worked

The coworker, Olivia Martinez, described Dykes as commanding and convincing, saying, “she could persuade anyone to do anything.” Dykes shared the dynamics of her personal life with Martinez.

“He made her feel young,” Martinez said of Dykes and Beltran’s open relationship.

Martinez testified that Dykes’ marriage to Marano wasn’t about love, but “it was more about an opportunity … because of finances.”

Botello’s body was found March 24, 2021, in a farmed and wooded area in Wilmer. Pittman said her body was “unceremoniously dumped.”

A person setting up traps for feral cats stumbled upon the bones and called authorities. Crime scene photos and videos showed bones in a muddy field just off the road. A skull and femur bone jutted out from the soil. A forensic anthropologist testified that the bones showed no signs of trauma but did appear to be weathered from the elements and scavenged by animals.

Prosecutor Zack Brown implied that someone could suffer a life-threatening injury that does not affect bones, while Harris questioned whether the anthropologist could tell how long the bones had been in the field and if they’d been moved.

Marano and Dykes were arrested separately in Florida in late March 2021; Beltran was taken into custody in Utah in early April that year.

Beltran has remained jailed since his arrest and extradition to Texas.

Marano and Dykes posted bond in May 2021. They removed their court-mandated ankle monitors on Christmas of that year and went on the lam before being caught in a coastal town in Cambodia by local law enforcement. Their bail was reset to $4 million, and they’ve remained in Dallas County jail since their return from overseas. The pair’s attempted escape was the first in a slew of notable crimes involving parolees or people with ankle monitors.

The murder trial against Marano has also served as a flashpoint for Dallas police’s digital storage issues. A three-day hearing earlier this year revealed that the lead detective on the case failed to turn over hundreds of pieces of evidence until just before the initial trial date. Police have said 18 videos or photos were permanently deleted because Detective Christine Ramirez did not save them correctly.

Harris asked prosecutors to ensure that Ramirez was available to be called as a witness by the defense; the state said they did not intend to call Ramirez as a witness.

Marano’s trial was delayed — and put in limbo — because of the failure to turn over evidence. It is unknown if the evidence affected Dykes’ case or whether it will be brought up at her trial.

During the hearings in Marano’s case, state District Judge Amber Givens admonished prosecutors for not ensuring all the evidence was turned over to defense attorneys well ahead of the trial. Dallas County prosecutors then asked to remove Givens from overseeing the trio’s cases. A visiting judge granted the request, further delaying all three trials.

Testimony is expected to continue Wednesday morning.