Maria Munoz’s murder: How cops first suspected her anesthetist husband Joel Pellot over her death despite his claims she killed herself before he was finally convicted by her own evidence from beyond the grave
The behavior of the husband of an apparently healthy Texas mother, who died mysteriously in 2020 at the age of 31, was noticed by the police officers who went to the couple's home after he called 911 and claimed that she had overdosed had taken.
Joel Pellott, a nurse anesthetist, was later found guilty of murdering Maria Munoz, the mother of his two children. Munoz died in the early hours of September 22 after a “heart-to-heart” with her estranged husband.
A key piece of evidence in the trial was Munoz's diary in which she described her husband's infidelity. Pellot wanted to avoid an expensive divorce, prosecutors argued in court.
Police bodycam footage is broadcast CBS' 48 Hours, shows the moment officers arrived at the house in Laredo, where they were met by Pellot, who was already sweating profusely through his work clothes.
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz told the show that Pellot immediately started acting suspiciously. The officer also said that when he asked Pellot to show him the pill bottle containing the medication his wife had taken, he went to their medicine cabinet.
Maria had given up her own medical career to support her husband after they married in 2011
Pellot was dressed in medical scrubs and “sweating profusely” when police arrived at the home he had shared with Maria, where they found her dead
A responding officer said it was strange that the drugs were not found close to Munoz's body, which is common in overdose deaths
In overdose deaths, drugs are typically found close to the body. During the video, Pellot can be seen taking the pills, clonazepam, from a table and putting them in his pocket. De La Cruz noted that this was also suspicious.
The officer began to suspect that Pellot was under the influence of something. During their search, officers also found a needle catheter.
The nurse was found guilty of injecting a poison into his wife.
Other items found included scrubs, gloves and syringes.
When Pellott was taken into custody, his strange behavior continued. While alone in the interrogation room, he moved the furniture, cried and screamed, to the extent that he frightened people who were nearby.
During the interview, the killer explained that he was separated from his wife and living with his girlfriend. He went to his former home to discuss his marriage to Munoz.
He claimed she took the fatal overdose after he left.
Cheating husband Joel Pellot killed his wife with a lethal injection of drugs in their Laredo home for hours after learning she was preparing to divorce him
The mother-of-two had kept a detailed diary documenting her tempestuous marriage
The couple had made previous attempts at reconciliation, including a vacation in Nevada
Pellot was taken to the police station for an interview, where surveillance cameras caught him crying, screaming and pushing furniture around when left alone
In her diary entries, Munoz wrote that she was heartbroken when Pellot left their home in Laredo, leaving her to care for their two young sons.
Maria's diary and cellphone recordings helped investigators uncover her husband's abuse and track her journey through grief to recovery and renewed faith in the future.
'What is it that I want?' she wrote the day before she died, β#1 Move Forward!!β
Munoz had met her husband when she was a young nurse in Puerto Rico and he was an ambitious medical student eleven years her senior.
They married in 2011 and settled in the Texas border town, where she gave up her career to support her husband.
But in 2020, Munoz discovered her husband was cheating on her when she found a plane ticket with a colleague from his hospital for a European vacation he was planning to take.
Pellot claimed that Maria had overdosed on her prescription for the sedative clonazepam, but a toxicology report ultimately found nothing in her system.
Things came to a head on September 19, the Saturday before her death, when Munoz spotted his car outside the home of his lover Janet Arredondo.
Arredondo called the police, who in turn called Munoz while she was traveling home with her husband.
βHey, I'm fucking talking to you right now,β they heard Pellot say to her when she answered, βHang up the damn phone.β
He smashed the windshield before they got home, and she texted him the next morning to tell him she was hiring a lawyer.
βWe can do this with minimal attorney involvement. It's too much money,β he shot back.
Hours later there was a change in tone.
βI'm so sad I'm hurting inside,β he emailed her.
'I want to sit down with you and talk, without arguing. From heart to heart.'
Maria was nervous as she prepared for what would be their final meeting.
“I'm just asking if you can pray for me,” she sent a message to her friend Yazmin Martnez on Monday, “we'll talk tonight.”