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Couple Charged With Murdering Seattle Woman In Dallas Take Off While Free On Bond

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Two women charged with murder and evidence tampering in the 2020 stabbing death of a Seattle woman in Dallas, have cut off their ankle monitors and fled while free on bond, a court filing said.

Nina Marano, 50, and her wife, Lisa Dykes, 58, were free on their $500,000 bonds when they removed their GPS trackers on Christmas Day within moments of each other and at the same location, according to court documents filed this week in Dallas.

The pair are charged with fatally stabbing Marisela Botello-Valadez.

Marisela Botello Valadez
Marisela Botello Valadez (Source: Dallas Police Department)

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

Botello-Valadez, 23, never returned to his home and missed her flight back to Seattle. She remained missing until her body was found almost six months later, on March 24, 2021, in a wooded area in Wilmer, about 20 miles southeast of Dallas.

Marano and Dykes were arrested shortly after in Florida.

Co-defendant Charles Beltran was arrested in April 2021 in Utah.

The 32-year-old suspect remained in the Dallas County Jail Thursday, Jan. 6 on a murder charge and with a bond also set at $500,000.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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