By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A woman charged with murder in the July 2022 shooting death of her lover’s wife will go on trial June 27, District Attorney Suzanne West has confirmed.
Eliza Wesley Alvarez, 56, will be tried on a murder charge stemming from an alleged murder-for-hire plot that arose from the extramarital affair.
Alvarez and Jose Ignacio Solis, 33, a man she had hired to do construction work around her south Del Rio home, were arrested and charged with murder in the death of Mirosalva Martinez, 48.
Martinez was shot in the head and chest outside her home at 142 Fir St. in the Cienegas Terrace area of the county and later died at Val Verde Regional Medical Center.
In the complaint filed in the case, Val Verde Sheriff’s Office Investigator Marcos Hernandez wrote VVSO investigators were dispatched to 142 Fir St. at 8:50 a.m. on July 25, 2022, after the sheriff’s office received a call that a woman had been shot there.
Hernandez said Martinez’s 14-year-old daughter “was present and partially witnessed the shooting” and identified Martinez to first responders. The girl told them she and Martinez were the only persons at the home when the shooting occurred, though she also told officials she “was not able to see the shooting as it happened.”
Hernandez wrote the girl told investigators she heard a car drive up to the residence and blow its horn several times. The girl described the vehicle as a brown passenger car and said it was identical to a Buick owned by a relative.
“VVSO investigators proceeded to obtain footage from several residences and businesses located around the neighborhood area of the shooting. . . A compilation of footage obtained and studied revealed a silver 4-door Buick Lacrosse passing by a local Laundromat and a convenience store approximately ten minutes before the incident occurred heading into Cienegas Terrace. In that video, a single male subject wears a red t-shirt while operating a silver Buick Lacrosse,” Hernandez wrote in the complaint.
The investigator wrote that less than a minute after gunshots are heard on the video footage, additional video footage showed the silver Buick Lacrosse, being driven by a man in a red t-shirt, leaving the Cienegas Terrace area via Milagro Lane.
Hernandez wrote he went to the city of Del Rio’s toll plaza and reviewed footage from video taken there. The investigator said he saw the man in the red t-shirt driving the silver Lacrosse across the international bridge into Ciudad Acuña, Coah., Mexico at 9:27 a.m. on July 25.
“During the investigation, investigators identified the vehicle as a silver in color 2011 Buick Lacrosse registered to Elisa Wesley Alvarez at 705 Spring St., Del Rio, Texas,” Hernandez wrote.
Two days later, Hernandez wrote, investigators interviewed Martinez’s husband, Jose Maximo Martinez, 50, who “admitted to VVSO investigators that he was having an affair with Alvarez. Jose Martinez stated the affair has been going on for about a year, unbeknownst to the victim.”
On July 30, Hernandez wrote, investigators met with Alvarez at her residence, and she agreed to be interviewed.
Hernandez wrote during the interview, Alvarez said Solis arrived at her residence at 8 a.m. on July 25 to borrow her car, the Buick Lacrosse, to look for work. Alvarez told investigators she had originally hired Solis, a U.S. citizen who lives in Acuña, to do construction work at her residence.
Alvarez during the interview also admitted she and Jose Martinez had been “romantically involved” for more than a year, Hernandez wrote.
Alvarez told investigators she had last spoken to Jose Martinez about 9 a.m. on July 25, when he called her and told her, “Acaban de balascar a mi ruca.” (“They just shot my wife/girlfriend/woman.”)
“Alvarez denied to investigators having any involvement with the murder,” Hernandez wrote.
Alvarez at the time also told investigators she did not know the victim and said she had run into Mirosalva and Jose Martinez at Dirt Cheap, a local store, several months before the shooting.
Hernandez in his complaint said Solis was arrested by Mexican authorities on an unrelated charge on July 27. He said Mexican authorities also impounded the Buick Lacrosse, as it had been involved in a motor vehicle collision in Ciudad Acuña.
Hernandez wrote Mexican authorities turned Solis over to U.S. Marshal’s Service deputies at the Del Rio Port of Entry, and Solis was brought to the county detention center.
Hernandez wrote he obtained a search warrant for the Buick Lacrosse and inside the trunk, he found a red t-shirt he believed Solis had been wearing on the morning of the murder.
Solis, in an interview with Hernandez at the end of August 2022, “confessed to Investigator Hernandez that Alvarez hired him to kill Mirosalva Martinez.”
Hernandez wrote Solis told him “Alvarez was upset at the fact that Mirosalva Martinez was keeping her from having Jose Martinez.”
Hernandez wrote Solis also talked about the interaction between the Martinezes and Alvarez at the Dirt Cheap store. Solis claimed Alvarez became angry that “Mirosalva Martinez gave her a dirty look and did not acknowledge her when Jose Martinez introduced them to each other.”
Hernandez wrote Solis claimed that after the interaction, Alvarez told him, “I’m going to kill her (Mirosalva Martinez).”
Hernandez reported Solis also confessed to being the man wearing the red shirt and driving the Buick Lacrosse.
“Solis stated a male subject known as ‘El Diablo’ was the shooter. Solis informed Investigator Hernandez ‘El Diablo’ was concealed in the trunk of the Buick, which is why he was never seen on the surveillance footage,” Hernandez wrote.
Solis claimed he never saw the gun that killed Martinez.
Solis told Hernandez after the shooting, he and “El Diablo” went to Alvarez’s house, where he heard her speak on the phone to Jose Martinez.
“Solis stated after she hung up the phone, she instructed them to leave for Ciudad Acuña, Mexico. . . Solis stated ‘El Diablo’ got in the trunk so that cameras wouldn’t see him inside the vehicle on the way to Mexico. Once in Ciudad Acuña, Solis stated he dropped off ‘El Diablo’ at a mechanic shop. Solis stated he did not receive any U.S. currency, but Alvarez told him he would be receiving a new lot with a home in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, as payment for the murder of Mirosalva Martinez,” Hernandez wrote.
West told the 830 Times Wednesday that the Alvarez trial has been set to begin on June 27.
West said the case against Solis, who is also charged with murder, has not been scheduled for trial.
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