A 37-year-old San Antonio man has pleaded guilty for his role in the murder-for-hire plot that resulted in the death of a Brownsville woman in late 2020.
Charly Angel Carrillo Torres pleaded guilty last Friday to burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit another felony. He has pleaded not guilty to capital murder for remuneration.
He reached a plea deal and has agreed to testify against his co-defendants, Jose Arnoldo Rodriguez, 40, and Jonathan Xavier Roman Martinez, 36. In exchange for truthful testimony, prosecutors will recommend a 25-year sentence with credit for time served.
Torres and Martinez, of San Antonio, are accused of being hired by Rodriguez to kill his ex-wife Adela Gonzalez Martinez, 39.
She was found dead on Nov. 2, 2020 on Dana Avenue in Brownsville between 2 and 3 a.m. The trio, however, weren’t arrested until March 2021.
A Brownsville Police Department incident report said that Rodriguez arrived at his ex-wife’s home late that night to drop off their two children and told police that he tried calling her several times, but that she never answered.
He called police for a welfare concern and officers found her in her bedroom.
“Officer Silva then removed the pillow from her face, and I (Officer Goodrich) observed that Adela had swelling and bruising on the right side of her face. I observed the pillow to have a circular blood stain. I also observed that Adela had a cranial caving in the center top portion of her head,” that report stated.
Another police report said Rodriguez tried to recruit two other men in 2018 to kill his ex-wife.
In that case, Rodriguez told the man he wanted her to kill his ex-wife because he owed her $10,000 in child support. Those men did not attempt to murder the woman.
Investigators later learned that the Texas Attorney General’s Office had garnished $10,000 from Rodriguez for child support back pay, according to the report.
Authorities also learned that on Nov. 4, 2020 — two days after the murder — Rodriguez, through his wife at the time, sent $3,200 via Money Gram to Martinez’s girlfriend, according to the report.
That report also says that Torres was the driver and later told police that Martinez went into the apartment where Rodriguez’s ex-wife was later found dead with a gun.
All three men remain held in the Cameron County Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center.
