Lisa Dykes found guilty in murder of 23-year-old Dallas tourist Marisela Botello-Valadez

A married lesbian who killed the woman found in bed with a man the wedded couple was in a ménage a trois with will head to prison after being convicted of murder.  

Lisa Dykes, 60, was found guilty by a Texas jury of fatally stabbing Marisela Botello-Valadez. The killer showed no emotion as the judge read the verdict aloud and she was sentenced to life in prison with an additional 20 years for the tampering charge, according to KDFW-TV.

Dykes killed Botello-Valadez in October 2020 after Dykes found the victim in bed with Charles Beltran. Beltran and Dykes were in a three-way affair with Nina Marano, Dykes' wife. 

Investigators say Marano then helped Dykes dispose of the victim. 

The victim's remains were found in the woods near Wilmer, about 20 miles southeast of Dallas, in March 2021, almost six months after she went missing.

Both Dykes and Marano fled the country after cutting their GPS monitors while awaiting trail.   

The jury convicted Dykes of murder and evidence tampering after deliberating for an hour and a half.

'May God have mercy on your soul,' the judge said after reading the sentence. 

Dykes' lawyer Heath Harris said his client maintains her innocence and has already filed paperwork to appeal the verdict. 

Dykes testified on Tuesday and Wednesday that she did not know Botello-Valadez.

She said her cellphone pinged near the location where the victim's body was discarded because she was picking up a package at a FedEx distribution center nearby. 

Dykes also claimed she was not in a relationship with Beltran but that they were only business associates. 

She was accused of stabbing Botello-Valadez to death when she saw her in bed with Beltran, after the pair met following a night out in Deep Ellum. 

Her conviction comes days after prosecutors had dropped murder charges against  Beltran and Marano who they’d previously accused of Botello-Valadez’s killing. But the pair still face trial on charges of tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss the murder charges soon after Beltran took the witness stand.

The 34-year-old testified last week that he lived with Marano and Dykes. He said he met Botello-Valadez at a nightclub and the two went to his house, where they had sex.

Beltran said he fell asleep and awoke to screaming as Dykes stabbed Botello-Valadez. 

Under questioning by Harris, he acknowledged that he initially lied to investigators about what had happened.

The trio was arrested soon after Botello-Valadez was reported missing. 

A police affidavit said that Botello-Valadez flew from Seattle to Dallas on October 2, 2020, to visit a friend. That friend said she left his apartment on October 4 to meet some friends at a nightclub, and a Lyft driver picked her up.

Botello-Valadez was last seen on video leaving the club with Beltran, at 1.15am.

She never returned to her friend's home and missed her flight back to Seattle.

The case drew international attention last year when Dykes and Marano, 52, cut off their ankle monitors while free on $500,000 bonds.

They removed their GPS trackers on Christmas Day in 2021 within moments of each other and at the same location. On Christmas Day, the signal to both their monitors was lost. Two days later, police emailed and texted the fugitives, but received no response.

Then, ten days after the couple's GPS monitors stopped emitting signals,  authorities in Dallas County were finally notified of their fugitive status.

Officials blamed the delay on being understaffed over the winter holidays.

Authorities said they eventually turned up in Cambodia, where they were arrested by local police with help from the FBI.