Houston man gets 10-year sentence for killing wife and stuffing her body in freezer, records show

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A 62-year-old man accused of killing his wife and placing her body in a freezer has taken a last-minute plea deal.

Curtis Allen Holliday was scheduled for jury selection on Monday morning. Instead, he pleaded guilty to his wife’s murder in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence, as stated by his attorneys. The plea deal includes credit for the two years he spent in the Harris County Jail before posting bond.

“Curtis decided it was in his best interest to accept the offer rather than risk a life sentence if the jury didn’t agree with us,” said Holliday’s defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, to . “He’ll be out in time to continue raising his daughter.”

The case dates back to 2020. Holliday was arrested on May 5, 2020, on charges of violating a bond on a protective order and continuous violence against a family member.

According to court documents, Holliday assaulted his wife, 29-year-old Chi Thi Lien Le, on November 28 and December 25, 2019, leading to assault charges.

Harris County Sheriff’s deputies said Le was reported missing in late April 2020 when her family couldn’t reach her for several days. A witness last saw her on April 3, 2020.

A month later, deputies searched Holliday’s business in the 5800 block of North Sam Houston Parkway West and found Le’s body wrapped in plastic in a commercial freezer on the property. Holliday was charged with murder after the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.

DeGuerin described the plea as “guilty with an asterisk,” claiming his team found evidence suggesting Le had taken her own life.

“We believe this was actually suicide, but he panicked after finding her and put her in a freezer instead of calling the police,” DeGuerin said. “It’s bizarre, and I don’t know if a jury would have accepted that explanation.”

Holliday will be formally sentenced in July.