Two arrested in homicide of Marisela Botello Valadez

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Dallas police have arrested Nina Marano and Lisa Dykes in the homicide of Marisela Botello Valadez. 

Marano and Dykes were taken into custody on Wednesday, May 25 and were charged with insufficient bond for tampering with physical evidence and the murder of Botello Valadez, according to Dallas police. 

Botello Valdez, who was visiting a friend in Dallas from Seattle in October 2020, went missing after a night out in Deep Ellum. A Lyft driver picked her up and she never returned.

Botello Valadez was last seen by that friend when she left his apartment to on October 4 to meet friends at a nightclub, according to Marano’s arrest affidavit. 

Investigators determined that Botello Valdez was stabbed by Dykes the night before she was set to return to Washington.

Botello Valdez’s remains were found in an empty field in Wilmer, Texas, on March 23, 2021. On March 24, 2021, Marano was arrested in Miami and on March 26, 2021, Dykes was arrested in Orlando. On April 2, 2021, third suspect Charles Beltran was arrested in West Jordan, Florida.  

Marano and Dykes were out on bond on December 25, 2021, when they discarded their electronic leg monitor and fled the country, Dallas police said. 

The couple was located in January 2022 in Cambodia, then arrested on February 24, 2022, for an immigration violation. The couple was brought back to Dallas on May 24, 2022.