Texas man accepts 10-year sentence for killing wife, hiding her body in a freezer
A Houston man has pleaded guilty to murdering his wife in 2020 in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.
Curtis Allen Holliday, 62, took a plea deal just before jury selection was set to begin Monday morning. Holliday was convicted of murdering his wife and hiding her body in a freezer.
The plea deal grants Holliday a 10-year prison sentence, including credit for the two years Holliday spent in the Harris County Jail before he posted bond.
"Curtis decided it was in his best interest, instead of risking a life sentence if the jury didn't agree with us, to take what was offered," Holliday's defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, told ABC13. "He'll be out in time to continue to raise his daughter."
Holliday had assaulted now-deceased wife, records show
On May 5, 2020, Curtis Allen Holliday was arrested on charges of violating a bond on a protective order and committing continuous violence against a family member.
Court records reveal Holliday had assaulted his wife, 29-year-old Chi Thi Lien Le, on Nov. 28 and Dec. 25, 2019. He'd been arrested for the assault and was given a no-contact order in January 2020.
'Please check my husband,' alleged letter from victim reads
Family members reported Le missing in late April 2020 after several days without contact from her, according to the Harris County sheriff's office. A witness told investigators Le had last been seen on April 3.
In May, law enforcement searched Holliday's business in the 5800 block of North Sam Houston Parkway West. Le's body, which had been wrapped in plastic, was recovered from a commercial freezer on the property. The autopsy report described the body as "frozen with frost on the skin."
Investigators also found a letter, believed to have been typed by Le, which reads, "If suddenly nobody can find me, or find me dead, please check my husband." The letter also explained Holliday had threatened Le "many times" and said "he will murder (Le)." This fear had escalated amid the process of a divorce.
After Le's death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, Holliday was charged for her murder. Prosecutors believe Holliday violated his no-contact order, choked Le to death and stuffed her body in the freezer. Investigators have photographed evidence of Holliday purchasing the freezer, according to PEOPLE magazine.
However, defense attorney DeGuerin told ABC13 the plea was "guilty with an asterisk," claiming his team had evidence suggesting Le had taken her own life.
"We believe this was actually suicide, but he panicked after he found her. Instead of calling police, he put her in a freezer and that's bizarre," DeGuerin said. "And I don't know if a jury would have liked that too much."
Holliday is scheduled to be formally sentenced on July 19.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas man pleads guilty to wife's murder, hiding body in freezer
