A Texas woman who eluded authorities for more than seven years after allegedly killing her husband has finally been arrested, prosecutors said.
Maria Leonor Montalvo, 48, of DeSoto, was taken into custody on May 19 while trying to enter San Diego from Mexico and was booked into jail on murder charges Thursday, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office told the Dallas Morning News.
Montalvo’s 44-year-old husband, Simon, was reported missing by his brother in April 2013. Weeks later, the brother told cops he found a body at the family’s home when he went to install a camera there, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
After noticing a strong odor and a pile of rocks along a backyard fence, Montalvo’s brother spotted a black bag “in the shape of a body” before touching what appeared to be a human hand, according to the affidavit.
Montalvo’s body was later found inside the bag beneath the rocks. He had been shot six times, including twice in the back of the head, authorities said.
Three bullet holes were found inside the home’s master bedroom and “large amounts of blood” covered the bedroom and hallway, according to the affidavit.
The couple’s two children, who were sleeping at the time of the shooting, were later found with relatives in Anderson, Indiana, the newspaper reports.
One of the young boys told detectives he heard his parents arguing one night before being awoken by three “claps,” the affidavit states.
The boy asked Montalvo about the noise, but she insisted a falling cabinet made the startling sound. The child was then told he had to go to Indiana with his brother, according to the report.
The slain husband’s brother said he suspected Montalvo in the slaying due to the couple’s tumultuous past.
In 2012, she was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly throwing a metal pot holder at her husband’s head. The case was later dismissed after she took a domestic violence intervention program, the Morning News reports.
DeSoto Police Chief Joe Costa confirmed Montalvo’s arrest in a statement issued Monday, some seven years after she was charged with murder in absentia in June 2013.
“Our agency has never stopped looking for Montalvo and now that she is in jail where she belongs, we can pursue justice for the victim and his family,” Costa said.
Montalvo remained held on $1 million bond at the Dallas County Jail Tuesday, online records show.