DALLAS, Texas — Lisa Dykes, 60, is facing a murder charge in connection to the stabbing death of 23-year-old Marisela Botello-Valadez.
On Tuesday, Dykes stared down the Dallas County jury that will decide her fate from the witness stand -- telling them she didn't even know Botello-Valadez and that her cellphone was pinged near the location where Botello-Valadez's body was discarded because she was picking up a package at a nearby FedEx distribution center.
Prosecutors allege that Dykes stabbed Botello-Valadez to death in October of 2020 in a jealous rage after she found Botello-Valadez in bed with Charles Beltran after the pair met following a night out in Deep Ellum.
Authorities say that Dykes and her partner Nina Marano were in a three-way relationship with the 'rapper.' However, Dykes said on the stand Tuesday that Beltran was only a business interest that went sideways.
Botello-Valadez was visiting Dallas from Seattle and went missing after meeting Beltran. Her remains were found months later, in March of 2021, in a wooded area in Wilmer.
Cell phone data linked both Marano and Dykes to that location. Still, Dykes told the jury she and Marano went to a nearby FedEx Distribution Center because Marano is an attorney and was expecting a package.
"Did you ever go there to drop off a body?" Dykes' attorney asked. "No," she replied from the stand.
Marano and Beltran were charged with murder alongside Dykes too, but those charges have since been dropped. Beltran has already testified against Dykes in her murder trial, while Dykes shifted most of the blame onto him Tuesday.
"Did you go into that room and stab Marisela?" her attorney asked.
"No," Dykes replied.
"Had you ever met Marisela?" he asked.
"No," Dykes again replied.
Both Dykes and Marano cut off their ankle monitors on Christmas Day in 2021 and fled the country. They were later caught in Cambodia.
From the stand, Dykes told the jury that the pair left because they felt wrongfully persecuted by the charges.
"This case has destroyed us," Dykes said. "The fact they've brought this charge against us has ruined our lives."
Dykes will retake the stand on Wednesday.
Watch Lisa Dykes' full testimony here: