Texas Woman Who Blamed Husband’s Drowning On Mystery Man Now Charged With Murder

A woman who allegedly told police that someone came and killed her husband is now charged with murder.

Dora Alvarez Maldonado, 44, was arrested Tuesday night and booked into the City of Denton Jail on charges of murder, according to the Denton Police Department in Texas. Police said she is responsible for the drowning death of her husband, whose name has not been released.

Police officers responded to reports of a drowning at around 2:57 p.m. on Tuesday in the 1700 block of Spencer Road in Denton, just north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Denton Fire and Rescue were also dispatched to the scene.

The person alerting authorities told 911 dispatchers that a woman was “holding a possibly deceased male” in a creek near the road and Shady Oaks Drive.

Responders arrived at 3:04 p.m. and reached the unresponsive man in less than a minute, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

Denton Fire personnel pronounced the man dead on the scene.

The circumstances around the alleged homicide remain murky, though police say Maldonado was not initially truthful with investigators.

“[Maldonado] initially told officers that an unknown male was involved in her husband’s drowning,” police stated in their release. “She later told detectives that this male did not exist, and she had drowned her husband.”

Officials say they will release the victim’s name following a formal identification by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and notification of the victim’s family.

A possible motive behind why Maldonado could have wanted her husband dead has not been revealed. According to the Record-Chronicle, Maldonado is a Guatemalan citizen who lived unhoused in the Denton, Texas, area.

Maldonado remains at the city jail, where bail is set at $500,000. Oxygen.com was unable to obtain information beyond the suspect’s arrest.