DALLAS — Three people have been indicted in the death of 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez, a Seattle woman found in Dallas after having been reported missing. According to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, a Dallas County grand jury handed down the indictment on June 16.


What You Need To Know

  • A Dallas County grand jury indicted three people in the death of 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez

  • Botello-Valadez, of Seattle, was visiting a friend in Dallas when she went missing, police say

  • Authorities found her body on March 24 in a wooded area near Wilmer in Dallas County

Charles Anthony Beltran, Nina Tamar Marano and Lisa Jo Dykes each face a murder charge in connection with the death of Botello-Valadez. Marano, 49, and Dykes, 58, were arrested in Florida. Marano was arrested in Miami and taken to the Miami-Dade County Jail on March 25. Two days later, on March 27, Dykes was booked into the Orange County Jail. Beltran, 32, was arrested in Utah on April 2. He was taken into custody without incident in West Jordan, about 1,200 miles from Dallas.

In a previous interview, police said Beltran, Dykes and Marano left their jobs and homes and refused to talk to authorities showing a “pattern of avoidance and attempted concealment of evidence.”

On a trip from Seattle to Dallas, Botello-Valadez visited a friend on Oct. 2 and was last seen on Oct. 5, leaving Select Bar in Deep Ellum with Beltran. It wasn’t until March 24, about five months after her disappearance, that authorities discovered her body. She was located in a wooded area in Dallas County near Wilmer, close to East Belt Line and Post Oak roads.

According to an arrest affidavit, cellphone records placed all three suspects at a home in Mesquite, shared by Beltran and Dykes on the day of Botello-Valadez’s disappearance. According to the affidavit, phone records showed that Dykes and Marano left the home the same day, heading to a wooded area near Hutchins, an area close to multiple bodies of water, and returned to the home.

During a search of the home, police discovered that blood was cleaned from the carpet. However, stains of red and brown found underneath were later determined to be a DNA match for Valadez, police said.