Maryann Demetro charged in husband’s murder and also in $exual relationship with the shooter
Maryann Demetro charged in husband’s murder and also in $exual relationship with the shooter
Maryann Demetro was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of altering, destroying, or concealing a human corpse, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to the San Antonio Police Department, Demetro was “involved” in the murder of her 50-year-old husband, Nick Hallam, who was allegedly shot dead by 50-year-old Jose Carlos Alvarez on Sunday at a home located in the 4000 block of Medical Drive.
SAPD spokesperson Officer Ricardo Guzman said that Demetro placed the initial 911 call at about 9 a.m. on Sunday and reported to the emergency dispatcher that her husband had been “shot to death.” She also reportedly indicated that she was being kidnapped.
“She claimed that her husband was a victim who got shot inside of an apartment and the suspect who shot her the victim was also inside of the apartment holding her against her will at gunpoint,” Guzman said during a Monday news conference. “She was able to escape and call the police, and so police arrived and apprehended the suspect (Alvarez) involved in that shooting. So he was arrested that morning.”
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Hallam was pronounced dead on the scene from a gunshot wound to the neck.
Court records show that Alvarez has been charged with one count of murder and one count of altering, destroying, or concealing a corpse and is being held on a combined bond of $225,000.
However, investigators say that they soon discovered evidence indicating that Demetro was not a victim, but in fact helped her husband’s alleged killer in his efforts to cover up the slaying.
“She actually assisted the suspect in attempting to remove the body from the apartment,” Guzman said. “She was found trying to clean up evidence inside of the apartment. So, with that information, homicide detectives got a warrant for altering, destroying, or concealing a human corpse. After they walked that warrant, the homicide detectives located her at the San Antonio Airport about to flee the city, so they were able to apprehend her before she got on the plane.”
Investigators said they obtained surveillance footage of the alleged attempt to remove Hallam’s body and clean up forensic evidence and that in the video it did not appear as though Demetro was assisting Alvarez against her will.
Officer Guzman also said that investigators “know” Demetro and Alvarez “have some sort of relationship,” but said they were not sure as to the exact nature of it.
When asked whether the fatal shooting could have been prompted by “some kind of domestic love triangle,” Guzman replied that “it could be.”
Demetro told first responders that she, her husband, and Alvarez were all at Alvarez’s home drinking alcohol when Alvarez “suddenly shot and killed” Hallam, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.
But when Alvarez was taken into custody, he reportedly told police that he was acting in self-defense when he shot Hallam and claimed that Demetro had tried to help him move the body, but Hallam was too heavy for the duo. Footage from a neighbor’s doorbell camera reportedly showed them failing to move the body in the apartment complex hallway then returning the body to the apartment. Demetro can then be seen outside the apartment by herself trying to clean up blood, police said.
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Additionally, Alvarez claimed that he had been in a $exual relationship with Demetro for several months prior to shooting Hallam, per the News-Express. Demetro reportedly told investigators that after shooting her husband, Alvarez confessed to her that he only did it because he was in love with her and wanted them to be together.
Demetro is currently being held in the Bexar County Jail on $45,000 bond, jail records show.
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