Alleged killers of young woman skip bail and disappear

Texas couple cut off electronic monitoring tags and absconded on Christmas Day, police say

A married couple accused in the murder of a young woman allegedly skipped bail and have gone on the run, according to officials.

Texas authorities say Nina Marano, 50, and her wife Lisa Dykes, 58, removed their electronic trackers on Christmas Day.

Monitoring officers say that the tags were both removed within four minutes of each other and their last known location was by an expressway in the city.

New warrants are not out for their arrest.

The couple and a male suspect were arrested in June 2021 in Dallas over the stabbing death of 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez.

The Seattle native was last seen alive in October 2020, and her body was discovered in a wooded area in Wilmer Texas in March 2021.

Ms Marano and Ms Dykes were both under house arrest after posting $500,000 bonds, which officials say they have now skipped.

Police unsuccessfully attempted to contact the couple on 27 December but never got a response.

Charles Anthony Beltran, 32, is also charged in Botello-Valadez’s killing, and remains in custody on $500,000 bond.

Botello-Valadez was last seen leaving a bar with a man believed to be Mr Betran in the early hours of 5 October 2020.

A police affidavit states that detectives used phone records to determine that all three suspects had been with the victim at the home of Dykes and Beltran in Mesquite, Texas.

A search of the property allegedly found that the carpet had been cleaned and that there were blood stains beneath it that were a match for Botello-Valadez.

Police have not released a motive for the killing.