Lisa Dykes, the Dallas woman who is currently on trial for the murder of Marisela Botello, a lady from Seattle, stated before the jury that she had never met the 23-year-old and that she did not kill her.
Dykes, who is accused of killing Botello, released herself from the protections afforded to her by the Fifth Amendment on Tuesday afternoon and answered questions from both the prosecution and defendant.
As a result of Dykes discovering Botello in bed with her lover, Charles Beltran, in October of 2020, the prosecution claims that Dykes stabbed Botello for the purpose of expressing her jealousy.
Dykes claims that Beltran, a rapper, was an investment and that the two were never intimate. He makes this claim while he is on the stand.
[ATTORNEY: “Was it something to do with a romantic interest?”]
“Chuck was and always continued to be a business interest that went sideways,” according to her.
Beltran presented the jurors with an alternative account. Last week, he testified for the prosecution, alleging that he, Dykes, and her wife, Nina Marano, were engaging in an intimate three-way relationship. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of tampering with evidence and testified for the prosecution about this matter.
