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Just days after their wedding anniversary, Yvonne Sanchez, the widow of Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Moises Sanchez, took the stand and testified Tuesday afternoon in the trial of her husband’s accused killer, Victor Godinez.
During her emotional testimony, Yvonne described how she went to Sam’s Club to make her husband dinner that night but she had forgotten her Sam’s Club card.
So he went out of his way to give her his card.
Trooper Sanchez helped her put the groceries away and he asked her to call him once dinner was done so he could go eat and that was the last time she saw him before the shooting that prosecutors say eventually claimed his life.
When she got home, she was receiving text messages in a group chat with other spouses of law enforcement officers asking if everything was OK.
Yvonne had no clue what they were talking about.
It was then that she knew something was wrong.
So she used her Life360 application to go see where he was and she began to drive there and left her groceries behind.
Yvonne said she started heading in his direction and found that 10th Street and Trenton Street had been closed off.
It was at that intersection where police officers tried to stop her from proceeding as she was telling them she was his wife.
But they couldn’t stop her.
And Yvonne proceeded to his location and made it as far as Freddy Gonzalez where police stopped her.
Then, law enforcement told her that a Texas Ranger would speak to her.
Instead of waiting for the Texas Ranger, she learned her husband had been transported to the hospital and she got back in her vehicle and tried to make her way there.
However, she couldn’t find the hospital.
“I went in circles. I couldn’t tell where it was,” she said of the hospital. “I lived my whole life. I couldn’t tell where it was.”
It wasn’t until a trooper called and helped her get there.
Godinez is charged with capital murder of a police officer for the April 6, 2019 shooting. Trooper Sanchez died several months later following a surgery in Houston.
He is also charged with two counts of attempted capital murder for shooting at two Edinburg police officers following a manhunt.
If convicted, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The trial is in its second day.
Here’s the latest update:
Witness describes second shooting in Edinburg man’s trial over trooper’s killing
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
‘Hold on, Sanchez’: Body cam footage shows life-saving attempts for trooper
Sister of off-duty cop recalls frantic Edinburg scene where DPS trooper was shot
