Houston — Eight-year-old William Wilson will spend Christmas in a hospital room fighting a blood disorder.
Surrounded by machines and tubes is not what a child dreams of for the holidays.
But at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital, there’s a magic beyond the medicine, as decorations help transform the hospital’s 16th floor into what looks more like a high-end holiday store.
Themed Christmas trees at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. December 2023.
CBS News
There’s a Barbie-themed tree, a railroad-themed tree, a Houston Astros-themed tree, a Yoda tree and sweet treats-themed tree.
“It’s so pretty,” patient Marixsa Elizondo said. “It’s so beautiful and colorful!”
CBS News
Each child can choose one special theme for their room, decorated by people who won’t even meet them.
CBS news
Wilson went with a Hot Wheels theme.
“I love it,” Wilson said.
Much more than a Christmas tree, it’s the stability of tradition at an uncertain time.
Janet Shamlian is a CBS News correspondent based in Houston, Texas. Shamlian’s reporting is featured on all CBS News broadcasts and platforms including “CBS Mornings,” the “CBS Evening News” and the CBS News Streaming Network, CBS News’ premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service.
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How many more times are we going to watch activist judges, activist prosecutors, and activist White House officials do everything in their power to keep Donald Trump out of the White, House only to watch Republicans simply threaten to take action?
Democrats do. Republicans talk. America loses.
America just watched one of the most blatantly naked attempts in the history of this country at illegally preventing somebody from being elected President by the people.
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled 4-3 that the former President should be removed from state ballots because his actions on January 6th, 2021 “constituted overt, voluntary and direct participation in the insurrection” by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Aside from the fact that Trump was not at the Capitol when the protests took place, meaning justices on the Colorado Supreme Court have no idea what the word “direct” means, the leading Republican candidate has never been charged with “insurrection” and was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial regarding the matter.
The ruling was such a legal abortion that people who don’t even like Trump were outraged and suggested that the Supreme Court must overturn the decision.
BREAKING: Ty Cobb, former Asst US Attorney, tells CNN the US Supreme Court will act quickly and overturn Colorado Supreme Court ruling 9-0
Republicans Respond To Trump Being Taken Off Colorado Ballot
Readers of The Political Insider know in-depth the extent to which Democrats will go to keep Trump out of the White House. If it isn’t rogue judges, it’s endless arrests on specious criminal charges. It’s the weaponization of the whole of federal government against conservatives. It’s the media and their perpetual lies or efforts to censor the truth.
And they’re not doing it because they hate Trump so much as they hate everything about those who support him. You are, after all, the deplorable that they turn their nose up from every time you walk into a room.
Does any of this sound funny to you? When you heard the news last night that Colorado would remove Trump from the ballot, did you feel like making jokes and idle threats? Or did you want to pick up your sword and actually fight back?
Think about that feeling. Harness it. Then realize that Republican officials think it’s all a big joke.
“Seeing what happened in Colorado makes me think — except we believe in democracy in Texas — maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been president,” Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said in a Fox News interview.
Texas Lt. Gov @DanPatrick flips script on Democrats after Trump gets barred from ballot in Colorado:
“Maybe we should take Joe Biden off the ballot in Texas for allowing 8 million people to cross the border since he’s been President.”
Really? Y’all are gonna just take him off the ballot when GOP lawmakers couldn’t even impeach him three years into the process that allowed those 8 million illegal aliens to invade our country?
Hell, you couldn’t even get enough Republicans to muster up the courage to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for violating the Constitution by failing to secure the border.
If you thought Patrick’s joke was good, here are a couple more knee-slappers you simply must see to believe.
“Could we just say that Biden can’t be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country, and violated the Constitution?” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a campaign rally.
We could. But we know you won’t. Biden has violated the Constitution exponentially more than Trump ever violated the 14th Amendment, yet here we are.
Democrats do. Republicans talk. America loses.
DeSantis reacts to Colorado Supreme Court power grab: “There was no trial on any of this. Could we just say that Biden can’t be on the ballot because he let in 8 million illegals into the country and violated the Constitution?” pic.twitter.com/4bQpcZjvPu
Conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley half-heartedly suggested that Texas and Florida should both follow through on these “threats.”
“If Colorado is taking Trump off the ballot, Florida and Texas should take Biden off the ballot. Allowing 8M+ illegal aliens into America is the greatest form of insurrection,” he posted to X. “See how slippery this slope gets?”
If Colorado is taking Trump off the ballot, Florida and Texas should take Biden off the ballot
Allowing 8M+ illegal aliens into America is the greatest form of insurrection
No, actually, we don’t. Because the slope never truly gets slippery.
“If you impeach Trump over frivolous allegations, it’ll create a slippery slope of impeachments.” Biden hasn’t been impeached.
“If you arrest and charge your political opponents and their supporters, it’ll create a slippery slope whereby Democrats are arrested and charged for the same actions.” They’re never charged with insurrection.
“If you remove Trump from the ballot, it’ll make it easier to remove Biden from that ballot.”
Narrator: They’re not going to do this now, they’re not going to do it in the future.
They rile you up with speeches and threats to finally – FINALLY – take action. But they never do.
Democrats do. Republicans talk. America loses.
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Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox News, Breitbart, and many more.
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Some social media users are criticizing Texas pediatric clinics over their purported vaccination policies for children.
A Dec. 13 Instagram post showed a screenshot of a headline reading, “Texas Children’s Hospital pediatric clinics announce they will no longer treat unvaccinated children.” In a second screenshot, the post shows a supposed announcement from Texas Children’s Hospital about this policy.
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
(Screengrab from Instagram)
The headline in the Instagram post comes from The Houston Comical, a newsletter that in its Dec. 6 issue shared screenshots of an X post and headlines about Texas Children’s Hospital.
The X post quotes the supposed announcement about Texas Children’s Hospital’s pediatric clinic vaccination policy: “We respect parents’ right to make medical decisions for their children. If you do not consent to having your child vaccinated against these diseases, we respectfully ask that you establish care with another provider who is comfortable caring for an unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated child within the next sixty (60) days.”
This post was shared Dec. 6 by Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose and throat specialist who Houston Methodist hospital officials said was suspended in 2021 from her job for spreading COVID-19 misinformation and refusing to treat vaccinated patients.
In April, the Texas Medical Board filed a formal complaint against Bowden for violating the standard of care and acting unprofessionally in 2021 when she prescribed medication to a hospitalized COVID-19 patient who was not under her care.
A Texas Children’s Hospital spokesperson told PolitiFact this claim about a vaccination policy is untrue.
The hospital’s website does not say patients must be vaccinated against certain diseases. Neither do news articles nor announcements about a vaccination policy at Texas Children’s Hospital’s pediatric clinics.
We found a Jan. 22, 2022, X post that claimed to show a Texas Children’s Hospital letter about a vaccination policy at two of its pediatric clinics in Houston. The letter appears to have been signed by physicians and nurse practitioners at the Humble-Atascocita and Humble-Kingwood pediatric clinics. (Bowden’s X post used language similar to what was written in this letter.)
Lead Stories reported that it asked Bowden about the email referred to in the X post. Bowden told the fact-checking organization that she had seen the email but she declined to provide evidence to corroborate it. PolitiFact also asked Bowden to verify her X post’s source, but did not hear back before publication.
When asked whether the letter is authentic, a Texas Children’s Hospital spokesperson said all Texas Children’s Pediatrics clinics accept patients regardless of vaccination status.
Texas lawmakers have recently restricted the scope of vaccine mandates in health care settings. As of September, Texas physicians who care for patients enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program are prohibited from refusing care based on the patient’s vaccination status. And in November, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a broad ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employees of private businesses, including hospitals, in Texas.
We rate the claim that Texas Children’s Hospital pediatric clinics announced “they will no longer treat unvaccinated children” False.
If you notice more sniffles and worsening allergy symptoms this time of year, you may suffer from “Christmas Tree Syndrome,” according to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
What You Need To Know
Pine pollen may cause sneezing inside your home
Mold spores are also a possible culprit
Artificial trees can also cause allergies to flare
Some types of live trees are better than others for allergies
If you notice more allergy and asthma symptoms with a live tree in the house, pine pollen is most likely the problem. Otherwise, experts warn that mold spores could grow on your Christmas tree.
In a 2011 study published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, researchers took samples from their own Christmas trees and discovered more than 50 kinds of molds.
(Pixabay)
Allergies and asthma symptoms aren’t just caused by real trees, either. Even those who opt for a fake Christmas tree could still feel ill.
If not properly stored in your basement or attic, dust and mold can accumulate or grow on the branches, aggravating symptoms.
Combating the issue
According to the American Christmas Tree Association, shaking out and hosing off real trees before bringing indoors can reduce allergy and asthma symptoms in some people. Although you’ll want to let the tree dry off before transferring indoors.
Since drying off can take a while, experts claim you can use a dry air compressor to speed up the process.
Using an air purifier and taking down the tree the day after Christmas can also reduce exposure to any mold spores that are still present on the tree.
Those who decide on an artificial tree should also thoroughly dust and wipe down its branches to remove any allergens before putting up and taking down. This can also apply to any other indoor decorations you decide to put up, too.
Once the holidays are over, place the tree and its components in an air-tight container and avoid storing it in a cardboard box. Cardboard is an ideal breeding ground for molds to grow on, which could spread to your tree.
(iStock)
Provided pollen is your biggest trigger, choosing a fake tree would probably be your best bet. However, if you are dead-set on putting up a live Christmas tree, experts recommend trying a fir, spruce, or cypress.
Two popular suggestions for those with allergies or who are sensitive to tree scents are the White Fir and Leyland Cypress.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
Former President Donald Trump—the current front-runner for the next Republican presidential nomination—has directed attacks at two prominent GOP Texas lawmakers during the past day, including recent ally Senator Ted Cruz.
In a message posted just after midnight on Truth Social, Trump resurfaced an old nickname for Cruz—”Lyin’ Ted”—that the former president used repeatedly during his 2016 campaign when the two went head-to-head in the GOP primaries. Trump’s jibe at Cruz followed his usual attacks at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the former president’s closest competitor for the 2024 Republican nomination, who recently lost a top strategist at his super PAC Never Back Down (NBD), Jeff Roe.
Tuesday’s attacks also followed closely after Trump took shots at Texas Representative Chip Roy, who has endorsed DeSantis for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination and went against Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. In a Truth Social message on late Monday, Trump asked if “any smart and energetic Republican” has decided to run against Roy, who Trump called “very beatable.”
Former President Donald Trump (left) and Texas Senator Ted Cruz listen to the national anthem before the start of the 2016 Presidential Primary Debate on the campus of the University of Miami on March 10, 2016 in Coral Gables, Florida. Trump resurfaced an old attack against Cruz on social media Tuesday. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
During his Tuesday post attacking Cruz, Trump wrote that “the Ron DeSanctimonious ‘team’ of misfits and grifters has largely quit his campaign to go on to greener pastures. It has been a terrible experience for them as they have watched their candidate fall violently from the sky like a wounded bird.”
“Jeff Roe, his ‘chief strategist’ and head of his PAC, ‘Always Back Down,’ after having done major surgery on Ron’s wallet, couldn’t get out of town fast enough,” Trump added. “Now Jeff can spend full time in Texas working with Ted Cruz, formerly known as Lyin’ Ted, who is working hard to get back the magic they had together in 2016!”
Newsweek reached out to Cruz’s office via email for comment.
Roe served as Cruz’s campaign manager during the 2016 presidential race, when the Texas lawmaker lost the Republican presidential nomination to Trump. Following the election, however, Trump and Cruz formed a close allyship in Washington, and Cruz was one of the leading voices behind the former president’s baseless claims of election fraud in 2020, and in 2018 Trump rebranded Cruz as “Beautiful Ted.”
But amid the 2024 race, a rift has formed again between Trump and Cruz, who has refused to endorse the former president’s reelection campaign over DeSantis.
Early in his campaign run in March, Trump kicked off his 2024 rally tour with an event in Waco, Texas, during which he took jabs at both Cruz and Texas Governor Greg Abbott for not endorsing his campaign at that time. Abbott has since endorsed Trump’s reelection bid.
According to the polling group FiveThirtyEight, Trump holds a healthy lead over the rest of the GOP candidates in preliminary polling in Texas. As of Tuesday, 67 percent of voters in the state support the former president on average across the polls reviewed by FiveThirtyEight in October and November. In comparison, DeSantis is polling at 11.8 percent on average.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Burl Ives sang the words “I don’t know if there’ll be snow, but have a cup of cheer”… you’re going to need the cup of cheer, because most of the country won’t wake up to a winter wonderland next Monday.
What You Need To Know
A mild pattern has kept winter storms at bay
Very few areas will have at least an inch of snow on the ground on Monday
This year’s snow coverage is relatively low compared to the long-term average
The recent mild pattern has been quite persistent and will stay that way right through the holiday. Here’s what temperatures compared to average look like through Monday.
The relative warmth is great news for travelers hoping snow and ice won’t snarl their pre-holiday trip. But for those who like seeing a white Christmas, it’s a disappointment. Here’s where one of our reliable computer models predicts at least an inch of snow will be on the ground Christmas morning (which is the definition of a white Christmas).
Snow will definitely be in short supply this year. For example, those who average three out of four Christmases being white… well, this year is that one-out-of-four.
Travel weather next week likely involves a couple of weather systems in the central and eastern U.S. that’ll produce both rain and snow. Keep up with your local forecast to see what conditions may be like in your area–rain, snow or shine.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
4. ‘It’s a Freaking Bow Tie’: Child’s artwork at center of debate at Michigan school
An 11-year-old girl’s artwork is at the center of a debate at a Michigan school after the child’s mother said her daughter was unjustly targeted due to a misinterpretation of the drawing.
5. Mom responds after photo of her hugging her son raises eyebrows
Born and raised in Texas, Sarah Jarosz started playing music at age 9, and writing songs at 16. At 18, she won her first Grammy Award, followed by three more across six albums. Now, she is about to embark on her biggest North American tour yet. From her album “Polaroid Lovers,” here is Sarah Jarosz with “When the Lights Go Out.”
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Three people were wounded, one critically, and the suspect is dead after a shooting involving police on the crowded 6th Street in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night, police said.
Austin police said the officers called to the scene discharged their weapons, and the suspected gunman was struck by the officers’ gunfire and later pronounced dead. No officers were injured. It was unclear whether the other three people were shot by the suspect or police.
Police responded to the incident at a downtown bar shortly before midnight. They had received a report that someone was trying to enter the establishment with a gun, in violation of a section of the Texas Penal Code related to unlawfully carrying weapons, said Austin Police Department Interim Chief Robin Henderson at a news briefing early Sunday morning. At the time, Henderson told reporters that any information they could share about the timeline of the shooting and what happened was preliminary and could change because their investigation was still in such early stages.
An employee at the bar identified the suspect when officers arrived at the scene, and they approached him, Henderson said. At that point, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it in the direction of the responding officers as well as bystanders. When he did, three officers fired their weapons at the suspect, who was hit multiple times and eventually pronounced dead.
Three other people were shot and wounded in the incident, all of whom were hospitalized, according to the interim police chief. One of them suffered critical injuries, Henderson said, while the others’ injuries were not considered life-threatening.
The officers who discharged their weapons have been placed on administrative duty while the Austin Police Department conducts an internal administrative investigation into the shooting, as well as a criminal investigation in coordination with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. The officers have worked at the police department for nine, 11 and 13 years, the interim chief said, and the weapons they used were approved by the department. The shooting was recorded on officers’ body-worn cameras, and the department will release the footage within 10 business days, in keeping with its policies for officer-involved shootings.
Police have asked anyone with information about the shooting to report what they know to the Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, or to Capitol Area Crime Stoppers.
Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.
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In the early morning hours of Sept. 22, 2020, when Laredo, Texas, police officer Gregorio De La Cruz walked inside the home on Canyon Oak Drive, his body camera was recording the emergency unfolding in front of him.
At the top of the stairs, near the main bedroom, Joel Pellot dressed in teal surgical scrubs, was performing CPR on his wife Maria Muñoz. De La Cruz soon took over.
Erin Moriarty: What kind of shape was she in when you started giving her CPR?
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: She was warm. She was still warm to the touch.
While De La Cruz desperately tried to revive Maria, he asked her husband about the drugs. Pellot had told the 911 operator his wife may have taken some pills.
Officer Gregorio De la Cruz: He stands up, he goes to the restroom. … He opens a medicine cabinet. I can — I can tell all this because I hear it.
JOEL PELLOT (police bodycam video): I’m not really sure if she took them or she dropped them …
Upon his return, he hands De La Cruz a pill container.
JOEL PELLOT (police bodycam video): It’s clonazepam.
Clonazepam is a drug that is often used to treat anxiety. It had been prescribed to Pellot, not to his wife Maria.
De La Cruz quickly tossed the pill container aside to continue CPR.
Pellot told De la Cruz that Maria had been struggling lately.
JOEL PELLOT (police bodycam video): Yeah, she’s been super depressed.
Pellot told the officers, the couple’s two young sons were still in separate bedrooms nearby — seemingly unaware of what was happening to their mother Maria.
OFFICER DE LA CRUZ (performing CPR on Maria): They are asleep?
JOEL PELLOT: Yeah.
Maria Muñoz
Facebook
Yazmin Martinez says her friend Maria adored her boys, 5-year-old Alejandro and Valentino, who was turning 2.
Yazmin Martinez: She would like to take her children to the park … she read to them before they went to bed. … just a really dedicated mother.
Maria enjoyed being a stay at home mom. She was learning to play the piano and planning to resume her career.
Yazmin Martinez: I asked her if she had gone to school, and she said yes that … she was a nurse in Puerto Rico and she’s like I’m actually studying to take my test so I can work here.
It was in Puerto Rico where Maria met Joel Pellot. He was 11 years older and a nursing student.
A few years after they married, the couple moved to Laredo, Texas. Pellot had landed a lucrative job as a nurse anesthetist, known in the medical profession as a CRNA.
Tina Dores: A nurse anesthetist, or a CRNA, certified registered nurse anesthetist and a physician anesthesiologist use the same medication, same techniques to provide anesthesia for people of all ages.
Tina Dores, also a CRNA, worked with Joel Pellot at Doctors Hospital in Laredo.
Erin Moriarty: Did he seem dedicated to his work?
Tina Dores: Yes, very much so. … he always wanted to be better.
Tina Dores: When I first met him … he was very family orientated … a hard worker, smart guy … he would always talk about … Maria and Alejandro … and showing pictures of his son and just talking about family life in general.
And now at the Pellot home, paramedics and police were struggling to save the life of the young wife and mother.
When more help arrived, De La Cruz sent Pellot downstairs to the kitchen. And that’s when De La Cruz realized that the pill container he had tossed to the side earlier was now missing.
OFFICER DE LA CRUZ (police bodycam video): He had a prescription drug, where is it?
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: I was like, he has to have them. So that’s when I asked, “Hey, does he have pills?” He comes up to the first landing of the stairs and he tosses them to me.
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: So, he had taken them. So, now I’m thinking now you’re trying to hide something.
At 3:58 a.m. less than three hours after Joel Pellot had called 911, his wife, 31-year-old Maria Muñoz, was declared dead inside their home.
Police began asking Joel what had happened to his wife.
JOEL PELLOT (bodycam video): We had sex, I took a shower. Then I thought she was, like, knocked out … And then I go back upstairs and she’s just – oh God (covers his face with his hand and begins to cry).
By now, things just didn’t feel right to the investigators. And there was something about Pellot’s appearance that seemed suspicious.
Joel Pellot talks to police in his Laredo, Texas, kitchen. Officer Gregorio De La Cruz observed Pellot sweating profusely through his scrubs and said Pellot seemed like he may have been under the influence of drugs.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: He was really sweaty … I’m wearing a vest, I’m wearing a gun, I’m wearing almost 20 pounds of gear, right, and I’m not sweating as bad as he was.
Erin Moriarty: So, what went through your mind when you saw how sweaty he was?
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: He’s using drugs. He may be under the influence of drugs.
SGT. MATA (to the couple’s sons): You wanna see a fire truck? Come on let’s go outside.
The couple’s children, now in the care of law enforcement, were escorted outside. Authorities immediately launched a death investigation.
Sgt. Luis Mata: When I get there, I meet with Officer De La Cruz. … He runs the information by me.
Lead investigator Sergeant Luis Mata didn’t know if Maria had died by suicide, an accidental overdose, or if her husband was somehow involved. Mata knew he needed to search the house, but to do it he would have to get Pellot’s permission.
Sgt. Luis Mata: And he said, “Well, I don’t want you going through my stuff because I’m a very private man.” … Then I said, “look Joel, I’m not going to force you to, this is your right, but … I’m going to have to go and get with my DA and apply for a search warrant.
Pellot eventually gave consent for the search. Still, Mata had a lot of questions. To get some answers, he directed authorities to put Pellot in a police cruiser to take him to the station.
Erin Moriarty: Could you see him before you went in?
Sgt. Luis Mata: I could see him … through my camera.
Cameras recorded Joel Pellot in the police interview room. While he was alone, “he’s hitting walls, he’s moving furniture … It was scaring some of the people down the hall in the dispatch room,” said Sgt. Luis Mata.
Laredo Police Department
Sgt. Luis Mata: Everything there is recorded … he’s hitting walls, he’s moving furniture … It was scaring some of the people down the hall in the dispatch room … so that’s how loud it was …
SGT. MATA (to Joel Pellot): Holding up OK man?
Around 4 a.m., Mata begins his interview with Pellot, who claims he had given Maria that container of clonazepam prescribed to him.
SGT. MATA: Is it possible that she swallowed them all?
JOEL PELLOT: I don’t know man, I don’t know.
SGT. MATA: How many pills were there before?
JOEL PELLOT: I don’t know.
SGT. MATA: Mas o menos? (More or less?)
JOEL PELLOT: I really don’t know.
Sgt. Luis Mata: He couldn’t remember the minorest things … I don’t know how many times I asked him – “play back to me the minute you got there – what did you do?” … and he, well, “What did I do? What did I do? What did I do?” … Well, you know what, if you remember the truth, you don’t have to think about it.
ANOTHER WOMAN
SGT. MATA (police interview): What was the time period between the time you got out of the shower … until when you noticed she’s not really responding anymore?
JOEL PELLOT: Uh, 10 minutes? … I’m not 100 percent sure.
The sudden death of a healthy 31-year-old woman like Maria Muñoz didn’t make sense to Mata. And neither did her husband’s explanation.
Sgt. Luis Mata: His initial statement was that he went in and took a shower … he thought she was asleep. … and then 10 minutes later … He realizes that she’s unresponsive.
Sgt. Luis Mata: When a common person showers … what’s going to be in the bathroom? Steam, condensation, the smell of soap or shampoo … that master bedroom shower, which is the one he alleged he used, was as dry as a desert.
First responders also found syringes and IV equipment in a medical bag at the home — the types of supplies normally found in a medical setting.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Investigators had also discovered a syringe wrapper on the floor and a needle catheter on the stairs. Syringes and IV equipment in a medical bag were found inside the home.
SGT. MATA (police interview): Why would there be syringes in the home?
JOEL PELLOT: So, like, I don’t know.
Then, Pellot makes a hand gesture and taps his bicep.
SGT. MATA: Steroids?
JOEL PELLOT: Yeah, for, that’s me.
With Pellot at the police station, Maria’s close friend Angela Montoya and her husband Luis Ayala rushed over to the house to take care of the kids. Ayala, a coworker of Pellot, says he had begun to see changes in Pellot’s physique and personality two years before Maria’s death.
Joel Pellot
Facebook
Luis Ayala: He lose a lot of weight and then started gaining muscle.
Erin Moriarty: Did you suspect that maybe he was taking steroids?
Luis Ayala: Maybe, but … I mean he was changing like … more friendly with girls …
Erin Moriarty: Flirting more.
Luis Ayala: Yeah.
The family man who once had bragged to friends and colleagues about his wife and kids began changing his social media posts, too.
Angela Montoya: He deleted the pictures of Maria, or he just started posting … everything by himself … not with his kids.
Pellot, in demand as a nurse anesthetist, was making a lot of money, and according to Montoya, he enjoyed showing off his wealth.
Angela Montoya: He has this new sporty car … “I bought Maria that one and I bought myself this one,” bragging about it.
But friends say the changes they saw in Pellot went much deeper. In 2018, around the same time Maria gave birth to the couple’s second son, Joel began pursuing a woman named Janet Arredondo, a surgical nurse, he met at work.
Angela Montoya: Joel took Janet to like a vacation spree in Europe. I don’t recall which countries … he told me.
Erin Moriarty: Well, there was one trip— there was Spain, and the next trip was France and Greece.
Angela Montoya: There you go. There you go. So, Maria found out about that while he was there with Janet.
According to Montoya, Maria confirmed her suspicion about her husband’s infidelity when she found a plane ticket for one of his European trips. When her disappointment turned into a deep depression, she was prescribed medication.
An excerpt from one of Maria Muñoz’s journals.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
But perhaps the best medicine for Maria turned out to be her daily journals, discovered in her home by investigators:
I don’t want to be sad anymore.
I don’t want my heart to hurt.
I don’t want my mind to be in torture.
Yet, at times she seemed hopeful, believing her faith could mend the couple’s 10-year marriage:
Lord this is a lot for me,
All I really want to do is see change in him.
And it seemed to be working. Just months after her husband had taken his mistress on those European vacations, Pellot treated Maria to a lavish getaway in Las Vegas.
Maria Muñoz and Joel Pellot on their trip to Las Vegas in 2020.
Facebook
Angela Montoya: And she showed me a couple of Louis Vuitton … he purchased for her.
But what seemed like a second chance for her marriage didn’t last. Pellot could never quite leave Janet.
SGT. MATA (police interview): How long have you been with Janet?
JOEL PELLOT: About two years.
SGT. MATA: Out of those two years, how long has Maria known about it?
JOEL PELLOT: (sighs) For a while. For a long while.
In fact, Pellot told Mata that he no longer lived with his family and that he had moved in with Janet Arredondo five months before Maria’s death. Mata wondered how much the other woman knew and asked her to come to the police station to talk.
Janet Arredondo
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
SGT. MATA (police interview): What is your relationship with him? I wouldn’t have called you at 6:30 in the morning if it was just for, for being nosy. It’s not that I’m trying to be nosy, but I’ll get to where I’m going.
JANET ARREDONDO: Um, he’s — he’s my boyfriend.
Mata continued pressing Arredondo about Pellot – and then told her about Maria.
SGT. MATA (police interview): The reason that I’m here is because … last night Joel’s wife passed away. … There doesn’t appear to be any, right now, type of foul play … We’re still pending an autopsy. … So let’s get with, how did you, and Joel even start dating.
JANET ARREDONDO: Um, I’m sorry.
SGT. MATA: Um, I understand. Take your time. I know it’s all kind of thrown at you, so, you know, I, I told you at the very beginning, I’m gonna be honest with you. So I am, uh, our main thing now is obviously what happened.
JANET ARREDONDO (holds her head in her hands): Um, I’m sorry, what was your question?
SGT. MATA: How, when did — how long have you and Joel been dating?
JANET ARREDONDO: Uh … Um, almost two years now.
SGT. MATA: OK … Did Maria, his wife, did she do drugs?
JANET ARREDONDO: Not that I’m … aware of. … he just told me that he, she was very depressed.
When Sergeant Mata mentioned Maria may have overdosed, Arredondo seemed surprised.
JANET ARREDONDO: Wait minute, are, are you saying she overdosed?
SGT. MATA: We don’t know yet. … the main thing is this, Janet, is when we tell her family …They’re gonna think that either Joel … killed her or that you had something to do with it, that’s all we have to rule you out. OK. … Has Joel ever confided in you that he was, that he wanted to do something to his wife?
JANET ARREDONDO: No.
Pellot had told police Maria may have overdosed on the drug clonazepam, but when the autopsy was conducted — eight hours after Maria was declared dead — the medical examiner found no pill residue in her stomach. There was something on Maria’s body at the scene that puzzled both the medical examiner and investigators: a tiny mark on Maria’s right arm.
What investigators found particularly suspicious was a pinprick mark on Maria Muñoz’s right elbow crease, the type someone would get after getting an IV.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Sgt. Luis Mata: It was a little, little prick — kind of like whenever you, the common person … has their blood checked when they go to the doctor. One little dot.
Erin Moriarty: That’s it.
Sgt. Luis Mata: On her right elbow crease.
Erin Moriarty: No other signs of drug use or anything like that?
Sgt. Luis Mata: Nothing, Nothing.
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: Nothing.
The autopsy report states Maria died from a mixed drug intoxication. While the medical examiner couldn’t say how the drugs got in her system, she did rule out suicide after talking to Maria’s friends and reading her journal.
On the day before she died, Maria wrote:
What is it that I want?
#1 Move Forward!!
So, could Maria’s death have been an accidental overdose? Or was it murder? When Dr. John Huntsinger, an anesthesiologist and Pellot’s former boss, heard the autopsy results, he immediately became suspicious.
Dr. John Huntsinger: I called Detective Mata, and I told him my concerns.
He urged Mata to order a detailed toxicology screening to determine which drugs had killed Maria and how they got there.
SGT. MATA (police interview): Did you inject her … tonight?
JOEL PELLOT: No.
SGT. MATA: With anything?
JOEL PELLOT: No.
Authorities would have to wait nearly four months to get the answers they needed.
SUSPICIONS CONTINUE TO GROW AGAINST JOEL PELLOT
On a Sunday afternoon at the First Baptist Church in Laredo, a large crowd of family and friends came to mourn Maria Muñoz, including her estranged husband, Joel Pellot.
CHURCH SERVICE: The victorious life is — is also a life of service. … All of our lives were impacted by the precious life of Maria.
Yazmin Martinez: Her funeral was really sad … Joel was there and he was crying. He seemed very upset, very sad.
To Maria’s friend Yazmin Martinez, he seemed a little too upset, too sad.
Yazmin Martinez: What made me feel angry … was him near the casket … crying over her, giving her kisses. Like why now? You have made her suffer and cry so much and you’re doing this now?
Joel Pellot’s display of grief did nothing to deter the investigation into his wife’s death.
Sergeant Luis Mata and Officer Gregorio De La Cruz say that footage captured by the bodycam on the morning Maria died shows something curious. Remember the pills in a container that Pellot said his wife had taken? De La Cruz tossed it aside when he was giving Maria CPR.
OFFICER DE LA CRUZ (bodycam video): He had a prescription drug, where is it?
At some point it disappeared.
Erin Moriarty (watching the bodycam video): I see it’s still here right now.
Sgt. Luis Mata: It’s still there exactly.
And here’s how it happened. They say Pellot grabs the pill container and puts it in his pocket.
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz (watching the bodycam video): He just reached over and … put it right back in the shirt.
Officer Gregorio De La Cruz: If that’s really what she took, why would you want to hide that?
A needle catheter, the kind used for IVs, was discovered on the staircase.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
They were also suspicious of that needle catheter, the kind used for IVs, discovered at the scene. Remember, Maria had a tiny mark on her right arm. Mata shared his concerns with the Webb County District Attorney’s Office.
Marisela Jacaman: We have a 24/7 phone … and law enforcement can contact us with any questions.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Marisela Jacaman and District Attorney Isidro Alaniz knew the case would be tough to prove since even the medical examiner wasn’t sure exactly how Maria died.
Erin Moriarty: The medical examiner is saying, I can’t say for a fact this is homicide.
Isidro Alaniz: I remember having this conversation with the medical examiner early on … and I remember her saying look, I wasn’t there, and neither were you. All we know is that she has this combination of dangerous drugs in her bloodstream … we don’t know who gave them to her, if she had some in her system already, if she took some later on.
Erin Moriarty: Either accident or murder.
Isidro Alaniz: Accident or murder.
Investigators began to question Maria’s friends and discovered that the Saturday before Maria died, there was a confrontation at Janet Arredondo’s house when Maria saw Pellot’s car there.
Doorbell camera video of Maria Muñoz outside Janet Arredondo’s house.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Angela Montoya: So, that’s when she stepped out of the car and then she rang the doorbell.
According to Montoya, Maria, seen on Janet’s doorbell camera, gave Pellot an ultimatum.
Angela Montoya: “Do you choose her, or you choose me?: And then he says … “I choose Janet.”
Arredondo called police, and when a responding officer arrived at her home, he called Maria who had by then had left with Pellot. When Maria answered her cellphone, the officer’s bodycam recorded the sound of Joel berating her in the background:
JOEL PELLOT (cellphone video with Maria in the car): Hey, I’m f—— talking to you right now. Hang up the f—— phone.
RESPONDING POLICE OFFICER: I guess that’s your boyfriend.
JANET ARREDONDO: Yeah.
According to Montoya, Maria told her that Pellot became violent.
Angela Montoya: And he got so frustrated with everything that he punched the windshield.
Erin Moriarty: He broke it —-didn’t he?
Angela Montoya: He broke it, yes, he broke it.
On Sunday morning, Maria texted her husband about hiring a divorce lawyer, and he replied:
JOEL PELLOT TEXT: We can do this with minimal lawyer intervention. It’s too much money.
Pellot then seems to have had a change of heart, and sends Maria this email:
JOEL PELLOT EMAIL: I am so sad I am hurting inside…
I want to sit down with you to talk, w/o arguing. A heart to heart.
They agreed to meet Monday night. Before Pellot arrived, Maria messaged her friend Yazmin Martinez to pray for her:
… I just ask if you can pray for me … tonight we are going to talk …
Yazmin Martinez: And then I answered her … And I told her that I would pray for her.
Maria’s request for prayers that night would be her final message to Martinez. Maria died early Tuesday morning.
Nearly four months after Maria’s death – Sergeant Mata and Officer De La Cruz finally get the toxicology test results they had been waiting for.
Sgt. Luis Mata: Zero clonazepam.
Joel Pellot had told police Maria Muñoz may have overdosed on the drug clonazepam, but when the autopsy was conducted — eight hours after she was declared dead — the medical examiner found no pill residue in her stomach.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Zero clonazepam — the drug Pellot claimed Maria had taken. Instead, the toxicology report revealed seven other drugs in Maria’s system.
Sgt. Luis Mata: So, positive for morphine, Demerol, Versed, propofol — ketamine, lidocaine, Narcan.
Most of these medications are typically used during surgery and one of them can only be administered with an IV.
Erin Moriarty: What was your reaction?
Sgt. Luis Mata: He killed her. This guy killed his wife.
Authorities got a warrant, Officer De La Cruz, who had tried to save Maria’s life, returned to Pellot’s home to make the arrest.
Officer Gregorio De Laz Cruz: He knew why we were there.
Sgt. Luis Mata: By the time we knock on the door, and we announce our presence … just like the way you do in the movies, he comes out. “I’m here. I’m here.” Put’s his hands behind his back. Let us cuff him. Doesn’t put up a fight.
JOEL PELLOT: You can call my, uh, my attorney.
OFFICER De La Cruz: Oh, you can call them.
Pellot was taken to the police station and booked. Prosecutors believe he was the one who gave his wife the deadly mixture — but can they prove he wanted her to die?
DEATH BY PROPOFOL?
When Joel Pellot’s former boss, anesthesiologist Dr. John Huntsinger saw the list of drugs found in Maria Muñoz – seven different medications — he was surprised by one drug in particular.
Dr. John Huntsinger: I was very shocked to see propofol.
Erin Moriarty: Where would he get that propofol? You can’t just go to the drug store to get propofol?
Dr. John Huntsinger: You have to get it from a hospital.
While most of the drugs found in Maria’s system could be consumed by mouth, Propofol is usually injected by someone else with an IV.
John Huntsinger: One of the things about propofol … it relaxes you greatly … but it doesn’t last very long. … it makes you stop breathing if you have too much.
Erin Moriarty: I think most of us, when we hear about Propofol, we think of Michael Jackson.
Dr. John Huntsinger: Correct.
Singer Michael Jackson’s death in June 2009 was blamed, in part, on an accidental overdose of Propofol. And after Maria Muñoz’s death, a highly elevated level of the drug was found in her system.
Dr. John Huntsinger: Hers was the highest level I’ve seen.
Erin Moriarty: And what does that say to you?
Dr. John Huntsinger: I believe this was death by Propofol.
With Joel Pellot now under arrest, authorities were convinced that Pellot’s girlfriend Janet Arredondo knew more than what she shared in that first interview.
Arredondo agreed to a second police interview and, accompanied by attorneys, she now seemed ready to talk.
SGT. MATA (second police interview): Did Joel ever bring home any medical drugs?
JANET ARREDONDO: Yes.
Arredondo told police that Pellot had often brought drugs to her home – some for his own recreational use — including ketamine, morphine, lidocaine, fentanyl and more.
JANET ARREDONDO: Versed
LUIS MATA: OK.
JANET ARREDONDO: Propofol.
SGT. MATA: Propofol?
Arredondo’s information about propofol kicked the case into high gear. District Attorney Isidro Alaniz selected a team of attorneys – Katrina Rios, Ana Karen Garza, Cristal Calderon and led by Marisela Jacaman.
From left, prosecutors Karina Rios, Ana Karen Garza, Marisela Jacaman and Cristal Calderon.
CBS News
Marisela Jacaman: We are Maria’s team.
So, they got a search warrant for her home. Then, they offered her a deal. In exchange for more information, Arredondo would get immunity from prosecution.
All four prosecutors were convinced that Maria’s husband had methodically planned her murder, and that the devoted mother and wife had suffered in the months before her death.
Marisela Jacaman: I’ve heard of emotional abuse, I’ve seen it, I’ve worked around it …
Marisela Jacaman: … but I never realized how prevalent it is even in our lives where you can relate to some of the things that Maria was experiencing.
Erin Moriarty: On the face of it, this is a couple having problems, he’s having an affair, but to you, this is domestic violence, how?
Karina Rios: Well, I think … it goes so much further than just being a spouse … you could see the power struggle that existed or the — the lack thereof.
Assistant District Attorney Karina Rios.
Karina Rios: Maria had no power in this relationship.
And the evidence of that, prosecutors say, is found in Maria’s own journals. Prosecutor Jacaman read one of those entries:
Life is so unfair.
My husband the man I love so much is causing me so much pain
Maria also left evidence on her cellphone that she secretly recorded approximately four months before her death:
MARIA MUÑOZ (cellphone video in the car with Joel Pellot): I want to know, what is it that you want me to do?
MARIA MUÑOZ (cellphone video in the car with Joel Pellot): What are the expectations you have on this — this marriage?
Cellphone video secretly recorded by Maria Muñoz shows her and Joel Pellot arguing in the car.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Marisela Jacaman:She gave us this very powerful video.
MARIA MUÑOZ (cellphone video in the car with Joel Pellot): You walk out that door, we’re getting a divorce.
JOEL PELLOT: Alright fine, you got it (slams car door)
Marisela Jacaman: She was having a discussion … with him … and that was so painful to watch.
But prosecutors would need much more than that video and Maria’s journal entries. How did they believe that Joel Pellot dosed his wife with all those drugs?
Marisela Jacaman: That was the million-dollar question. We kept saying, how did he get her to submit to this?
During Janet Arredondo’s second police interview, she said Pellot had told her about the night Maria died: he had gone there, he said, to have that heart-to-heart talk and then injected her — not to kill her, Pellot said, but to calm her down.
During her second interview with police, Janet Arredondo told Laredo Police Sgt. Luis Mata that Joel Pellot had often brought drugs to her home – some for his own recreational use — including ketamine, morphine, lidocaine, fentanyl and more.
Laredo Police Department
SGT. LUIS MATA (second police interview): Why did he tell you that he injected her? Because she was erratic?
JANET ARREDONDO: Right, he wanted to uh, just calm her down, so he did it with medication.
But Investigators believe the sedatives were part of Pellot’s plan to kill Maria — that before Pellot put an IV needle in Maria’s arm, he could have slipped several sedative drugs into her favorite drink: coffee.
Marisela Jacaman: Ketamine, Versed, morphine and Demerol. Those four could have been put in her coffee, she then passes out.
After that, they say, Pellot injected Maria with a deadly dose of propofol. Then-Chief Assistant District Attorney Ana Karen Garza Gutierrez says Pellot deliberately waited to call for help.
Ana Karen Garza: I believe he waited until she was dead to call 911 to make sure that no one can bring her back.
SGT MATA (second police interview): Did you play any role in Maria’s death at all? You?
JANET ARREDONDO: No.
Arredondosaid Pellot did admit to her that he got rid of some of the medical equipment he used to inject Maria before first responders arrived.
JANET ARREDONDO: He just told me he got rid of them.
Pellot was out on bail, so prosecutors had him rearrested and along with murder, he was charged with tampering with evidence. Again, he made bail and would wear an ankle monitor.
In March 2023, two-and-a-half years after Maria Muñoz’s death, her husband went on trial for her murder.
“48 Hours” made several interview requests to Joel Pellot’s defense team, but never received a response. Joel Pellot declined our request for an interview.
MARISELA JACAMAN (opening statement in court): The evidence will show that Joel Pellot had the motive, he had the intent, and he had the means to kill Maria.
Prosecutors presented 15 witnesses to prove to a jury that Pellot had carefully and intentionally selected the drugs to kill Maria. Their star witness, Janet Arredondo, told the jury what she had shared with police.
MARISELA JACAMAN (in court): Did Mr. Pellot indicate to you that he dumped or discarded the IV catheter and the vials?
JANET ARREDONDO: Yes.
When the defense case begins, Pellot’s lawyers admit their client injected his wife, but they say he wasn’t trying to kill her, he was trying to save her.
ACCIDENT OR MURDER?
Joel Pellot, wearing a blue suit and a dark grey tie, listened carefully as his defense team presented his case.
ROBERTO BALLI (in court): Now, Maria died and there’s no question that Joel was there.
Defense attorney Roberto Balli claims Maria was terribly depressed and had been drinking and abusing drugs for months.
ROBERTO BALLI (in court): When Joel arrived Maria was already on something…
Joel Pellot during his trial for the murder of his wife.
KYLX Laredo
According to the defense, Pellot didn’t intend to kill his wife and the proof, his attorneys say, is in that toxicology report. They admit Pellot gave his wife medication to calm her down, and then when he found her unconscious they say, he gave her Narcan, a drug used to reverse an opioid overdose.
ROBERTO BALLI (in court): Someone tried to bring her back to life, and it wasn’t the paramedics, it wasn’t the police. It was Joel. So he did not want her dead. This was a terrible accident.
A terrible accident, the defense argues, that was caused by a combination of whatever Maria had taken and the medication Pellot used to inject her.
Erin Moriarty: How do you know that Narcan wasn’t there because he tried to save her, that he went too far, realized that he had gone too far.
Ana Karen Garza Guiterrez: Narcan is not a reversal agent for Propofol and Propofol was what stopped her heart at the end.
The defense never explained to the jury how the propofol got into Maria’s system, but prosecutors say that the level of drugs discovered in Maria’s body could not have been accidental.
Marisela Jacaman: It was enough medication to survive two major surgeries. It was so much.
Erin Moriarty: And why do you think he gave her so much?
Marisela Jacaman: To be sure.
While Pellot himself didn’t testify, his emotional mother did. Miriam Carrasquillo told prosecutors, during cross examination, that Maria had talked about how sad she was about her marriage.
MARISELA JACAMAN (in court): Were you aware that Joel Pellot was seeing Janet, weren’t you?
MIRIAM CARRASQUILLO: Yes, she told me.
MARISELA JACAMAN: Who told you?
MIRIAM CARRASQUILLO: Maria.
MARISELA JACAMAN: And did you encourage her to stay in the marriage?
MIRIAM CARRASQUILLO: I told her that everybody have a limit and she have a limit. When she decide that she don’t want to be no more with him I have a house open for her.
But prosecutors insist as sad as Maria may have been about her marriage, there is no evidence that she abused either drugs or alcohol.
They believe Pellot’s motive was money and that he murdered Maria because he didn’t want to pay for a divorce and split his assets.
After eight days of testimony, the jury got the case. It took them less than an hour to decide Joel Pellot’s fate: guilty of murdering his wife Maria and tampering with the evidence.
Many members of the medical community attended the trial, including Pellot’s former colleague, Tina Dores.
Tina Dores: He’s not dumb, I mean he’s a smart guy … so I don’t know if he just got caught up with his God complex that he thought he was smarter than everyone and that he was going to outsmart them.
Just hours after the guilty verdict, Pellot was sentenced to life in prison, cuffed and escorted out of the courtroom.
Maria’s friend Angela Montoya.
Angela Montoya: She loved him, and she adored him. She just loved him too much.
Prosecutors got justice for Maria, but it’s a tragic ending for the family she loved and fought so hard to keep together.
Karina Rios: I think sometimes the worst injuries don’t even leave a mark … the injuries on your heart, on your mind. We could never see those on Maria, but she told us about them … but she carried a lot of scars with her from this relationship.
Maria’s team say the most important witness at trial ended up being Maria herself, and that her journals showed those scars were healing.
” I want a life that’s mine, different and unique. A life that’s balanced with every emotion, but a happy fulfilling life,” Maria Muñoz wrote in one of her journals.
Rosalinda Villarreal Photography
Ana Karen Garza: She was a wonderful soul.
Marisela Jacaman: And she was a great mother. She was just an amazing person. And that energy? We felt it.
The couple’s children are living with Joel Pellot’s mother.
Produced by Marcelena Spencer. Iris Carreras is the field producer. Marlon Disla, Michael Vele and Phil Tangel are the editors. Elizabeth Caholo is the development producer. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
Born and raised in Texas, Sarah Jarosz started playing music at age 9, and writing songs at 16. At 18, she won her first Grammy Award, followed by three more across six albums. Now, she is about to embark on her biggest North American tour yet. From her album “Polaroid Lovers,” here is Sarah Jarosz with “When the Light Goes Out.”
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Maria Muñoz, a young and healthy Texas mother, died unexpectedly. A toxicology report later revealed seven different surgical drugs were found in her system. Was it murder or a terrible accident? The evidence presented at Joel Pellot’s trial for the murder of his wife tells a different story from what he told police happened the day Muñoz died.
Sept. 22, 2020
Maria Muñoz
Facebook
Muñoz, 31, a stay-at-home mother, lived in Laredo, Texas, with her two young sons and her husband, Pellot. On Sept. 22, 2020, Pellot called 911 saying Muñoz may have taken some prescription pills and was not breathing. First responders tried to save her but after failed attempts, Muñoz was declared dead at 3:58 a.m. that day. The first officer on the scene, Gregorio De La Cruz, told “48 Hours” that Pellot’s behavior seemed suspicious and certain aspects about the scene didn’t quite make sense.
Police bodycam video
Joel Pellot as seen on Laredo, Texas, police bodycam video on Sept. 22, 2020 after calling 911.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
When Officer De La Cruz from the Laredo Police Department responded to the 911 call, his bodycam was recording. Pellot, a nurse anesthetist, is seen dressed in teal surgical scrubs. The video captured some key moments that made De La Cruz suspect that Pellot may have had something to do with his wife’s death.
The pill container
Joel Pellot had told police Maria Muñoz may have overdosed on the drug clonazepam, but when the autopsy was conducted — eight hours after she was declared dead — the medical examiner found no pill residue in her stomach.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
One of those key moments was when De La Cruz asked for the pills Pellot said Muñoz had taken. Pellot went to the bathroom and De La Cruz says he heard him pull a container from the medicine cabinet. De La Cruz thought it was odd because in his experience when someone overdoses on drugs, they are usually found near the person. In this case, the clonazepam pills prescribed to Pellot, were in another room.
Later, Pellot is seen on camera grabbing the pill container from the floor and putting it in his pocket. De La Cruz wondered, why would he take the pills back? Was he hiding something?
Suspicious behavior
Joel Pellot talks to police in his Laredo, Texas, kitchen.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
In addition to Pellot putting the pills in his pocket, there was something about his appearance that De La Cruz said seemed suspicious. De La Cruz observed Pellot sweating profusely through his scrubs, and De La Cruz said he seemed like he may have been under the influence of drugs.
Evidence at the scene
A needle catheter, the kind used for IVs, was discovered on the carpeted staircase.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
De La Cruz also found a needle catheter on the stairs at the couple’s home. This didn’t make much sense to him. Pellot and Muñoz had two young children — why would there be a needle on the stairs?
A medical bag
Syringes and IV equipment were found in a medical bag inside the home.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
In addition to the needle, first responders also found syringes and IV equipment in a medical bag at the home. Although Pellot was a nurse anesthetist who worked in operating rooms, these types of supplies are normally found in a medical setting.
Police interview Joel Pellot
Cameras recorded Joel Pellot in the police interview room. While he was alone, “he’s hitting walls, he’s moving furniture … It was scaring some of the people down the hall in the dispatch room,” said Sgt. Luis Mata.
Laredo Police Department
Authorities put Pellot in the back of a cruiser and drove him to the police station for an interview. The cameras captured him crying, screaming, and pushing furniture around in the interview room.
During this interview, Pellot told lead investigator Sgt. Luis Mata that he had moved out of the house and was living with his girlfriend and that he went to see Muñoz to talk about their marriage. Pellot told Mata that his wife took the clonazepam pills at some point after they talked, and the medical supplies found at the home were his. Pellot said he was taking steroids.
An unexplained pinprick mark
What investigators found particularly suspicious was a pinprick mark on Maria Muñoz’s right elbow crease, the type someone would get after getting an IV.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
What Pellot couldn’t explain was a red mark on Muñoz’s right elbow crease. This mark, along with phone calls from concerned friends, family, and colleagues of Pellot telling Mata that Pellot may have killed Maria, is what led him to request a toxicology screening.
Maria Muñoz’s own words
Maria Muñoz’s journal
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Investigators found a series of journals Muñoz used to write about what was happening in her life. Through her writings, they discovered Muñoz loved her husband and wanted to keep her family together, but accepted that he wanted to be with someone else.
The medical examiner also looked at the journals and determined Muñoz’s death was not a suicide.
Maria Muñoz’s cellphone recordings
Cellphone video secretly recorded by Maria Muñoz shows her and her husband Joel Pellot arguing in the car.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
Muñoz secretly recorded a conversation on her cellphone that provided a glimpse on how Pellot was treating her. In the cellphone video, Muñoz is heard asking her husband what he wanted out of their marriage. She was trying to keep her family together, but Pellot didn’t seem interested in having that conversation.
“Pray for me”
The day before Maria Muñoz died, she planned to meet with Joel Pellot to discuss their future. She texted a friend: “I just ask if you can pray for me … Tonight we are going to talk …”
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
The day before she died, Muñoz told her friend, Yazmin Martinez, that she and Pellot were going to have a “heart to heart” conversation that night. Muñoz asked Martinez to pray for her, but not because she suspected her husband was capable of killing her. Martinez said all Muñoz was hoping for was an honest conversation with him.
A bombshell toxicology report
The toxicology report showed no clonazepam — the drug Joel Pellot claimed Maria Muñoz had taken — in her system. It revealed seven other drugs in her system, most of them typically used during surgery and one of them can only be administered with an IV.
Webb County District Attorney’s Office
In January 2021, Mata and De La Cruz finally got the toxicology test results they had been waiting for. There was no clonazepam, the drug Pellot claimed Muñoz had taken. But there were seven other drugs in Muñoz’s system: morphine, Demerol, Versed, Propofol, ketamine, lidocaine, and Narcan. Most of them are typically used during surgery.
“Maria’s Team”
From left, Karina Rios, Ana Karen Garza, Marisela Jacaman and Cristal Calderon.
CBS News
District Attorney Isidro Alaniz selected a team of attorneys to represent Muñoz: Karina Rios, Ana Karen Garza Gutierrez, Marisela Jacaman, and Cristal Calderon. Based on the evidence collected at the scene, the extensive writings in Muñoz’s journals, interviews with friends, and expert accounts, they were convinced Pellot killed his wife.
A guilty verdict
Joel Pellot at his trial for the murder of Maria Muñoz.
KYLX, Laredo, Texas
The all-women prosecution team built a strong case against Joel Pellot, and showed the jury the type of wife and mother Maria Muñoz was. The prosecutors told “48 Hours” that Muñoz’s journals helped them understand what she was going through and motivated them to fight for justice in her case.
On March 30, 2023, after nine days of trial, a jury found Joel Pellot guilty of murdering his wife Maria
Maria’s journals were her testimony
Maria Muñoz
Rosalinda Villarreal Photography
“Maria’s team” says the most important witness at trial ended up being Muñoz herself. Prosecutors shared with “48 Hours” that they could feel Maria’s energy through her journals. They describe her as a great mother, loving and bright.
Born and raised in Texas, Sarah Jarosz started playing music at age 9, and writing songs at 16. At 18, she won her first Grammy Award, followed by three more across six albums. Now, she is about to embark on her biggest North American tour yet. From her album “Polaroid Lovers,” here is Sarah Jarosz with “Columbus & 89th.”
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Born and raised in Texas, Sarah Jarosz started playing music at age 9 and writing songs at 16. At 18, she won her first Grammy Award, followed by three more across six albums. Now, she is about to embark on her biggest North American tour yet. From her album “Polaroid Lovers,” here is Sarah Jarosz with “Jealous Moon.”
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While at Harvard Law School, Cruz was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and founder of the Harvard Latino Law Review.
First Hispanic US Senator from Texas.
Was a dual citizen of Canada and the United States until he renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.
1996-1997 – Clerks for US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
1997-1999 – Attorney with the Washington, DC-based law firm Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal.
1999-2000 – Domestic policy adviser during George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign.
2001 – Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice.
2001-2003 – Director of the Office of Policy Planning, with the Federal Trade Commission.
2003-2008 – Solicitor General of Texas. He is the first Hispanic to hold the position. He is also the longest serving solicitor general in Texas’ history.
2004-2009 – Adjunct law professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
2008-2012 – Attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Houston.
May 29, 2012 – Wins enough votes in the Texas GOP senatorial primary to force a runoff.
July 31, 2012 – Defeats Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the runoff election for the Republican Senate nomination, by a vote of 57% to 43%.
November 6, 2012 – Elected US senator from Texas by defeating Democrat Paul Sadler, 56% to 41%.
November 14, 2012 – Named vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
January 3, 2013 – Sworn in as the 34th US senator from Texas.
April 27, 2016 – Cruz formally names Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate – a last-ditch move to regain momentum after being mathematically eliminated from winning the GOP presidential nomination outright.
September 23, 2016 –Cruz endorses Donald Trump for the presidency, surprising many after a contentious primary filled with nasty personal attacks and Cruz’s dramatic snub of Trump at the Republican National Convention, where he pointedly refused to endorse the nominee.
November 6, 2018 –Cruz defeats Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke 50.9% to 48.3% in the race for Senate in Texas, holding off the progressive online fundraising sensation.
February 17, 2021 – Cruz travels to Cancun, Mexico, for vacation as a winter disaster in his home state leaves millions without power or water. He later says the trip “was obviously a mistake” and that “in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it.”
September 30, 2021 – The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case concerning Cruz’s 2018 campaign and consider regulations that limit money that committees can raise after the election to reimburse loans made before the election. On May 16, 2022, the Supreme Court rules in favor of Cruz. The court says that a federal cap on candidates using political contributions after an election to recoup personal loans made to their campaign is unconstitutional.
The legendary singer Willie Nelson, who celebrated his 90th birthday earlier this year, is speaking out this week to reveal why he believes he’ll be reincarnated after he eventually passes away.
Nelson Believes In Reincarnation
“I think we probably come back as ourselves, pretty much,” Nelson told CBS News. “I don’t believe life ends, ever.”
When asked if fans will always have him and his songs, Nelson smiled as he replied, “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Despite believing in reincarnation, Nelson is still very much focused on this life, and he’s just as active as he ever was. Nelson holds a fifth-degree black belt, and he practices martial arts daily, saying that he “started out in kung fu, went over to jiu jitsu, judo and taekwondo.”
Nelson explained that it was his childhood in Texas that inspired him to take up this practice.
“We had a saying in Abbot, Texas, where I come from. You only do three things down here: fight, f— and throw rocks. So, that’s what I grew up [with],” he said. “So, we fought everything and everybody, each other, we fought bumblebees on the weekend.”
Nelson went on to say that martial arts gives him “confidence.”
When Nelson celebrated his 90th birthday back in April, he admitted that he “never thought” that he’d make it to such an advanced age.
“I never thought I’d get here,” Nelson told People Magazine at the time, though he was quick to shrug off any fuss over this birthday by adding, “This ain’t nothing. It’s another day.”
After 60 years of performing, Nelson still loves performing onstage for his fans.
“I get a lot of fun out of playing for an audience,” he said. “There’s a great energy exchange there. It’s what keeps me going.”
While Nelson admits that his hearing is “not the best,” he still feels young at heart.
“As they say, laughter’s the best medicine,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed a good joke.”
Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 is out now! Order the 2CD+Blu-ray or 2xLP OR stream all 52 tracks now. Don’t forget to tune in THIS Sunday at 8:30pm ET on CBS/Paramount+ to relive this special event that took place LIVE at Hollywood Bowl!https://t.co/WLprJOJkhqpic.twitter.com/qSxJ1bdzYg
Nelson also has no intention of giving up on songwriting and performing anytime soon.
“I haven’t quit … I’m 90,” he said in his latest interview. “Maybe I should, but … after every tour. I said, this is it. And then get the urge again to go back”
Nelson made similar comments to AARP earlier this year, saying, “Jokingly, I retire after every tour.”
“But I’m always ready to go back again,” he continued. “I like the bus. I have everything I need on the bus. I never have to go into a hotel room anywhere. It’s not that bad.”
Earlier this year, Nelson scored a major honor when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“Naturally, it was a great honor, you know,” Nelson said. “I know the difference between the Rolling Stones and Hank Williams, but still it’s all rock and roll.”
Nelson is a true living legend, and there will never be another one like him. What do you think about his comments on reincarnation? Let us know in the comments section.
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The Fort Worth City Council has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Zion Carr, who witnessed a police officer fatally shoot his aunt four years ago when he was 8 years old. Atatiana Jefferson was watching her nephew at home when a neighbor noticed that her doors were open and the lights turned on. The neighbor called 911 to ask that someone conduct a welfare check. But when Officer Aaron Dean and another officer arrived, they treated it as a potential burglary in progress. Without announcing themselves as officers, they went to the back yard looking for signs of a forced entry. That’s where Dean shot Jefferson through a window. Dean was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
From Barbie to Bud Light influencers to a bizarre fantasy of his own making involving “Mickey and Pluto going at it,” Ted Cruz rarely misses an opportunity to weigh in on an issue he thinks will score him some air time on Fox News and ingratiate him to the right. But apparently, even Senator “Gelatinous Tubeworm” doesn’t want to be associated with Texas’s appalling treatment of Kate Cox, the woman who had to flee the state to get a medically necessary abortion because a barbaric law and a state supreme court believes pregnant people should be subject to cruel and unusual punishment.
Cruz was asked three separate times on Tuesday to weigh in on the matter but refused to do so, telling NBC News to speak to his press office, which didn’t respond to a request for comment. When asked again on Wednesday, the Texas lawmaker again refused.
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Cruz has never previously been shy about discussing reproductive matters. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, he was the lead sponsor of a bill that would have banned the procedure after 20 weeks nationwide. Weeks before Roe was gutted, responding to a leaked draft decision indicating the Supreme Court would reverse nearly 50 years of precedent, he wrote, “If this report is true, this is nothing short of a massive victory.” After it became official, Cruz called the Dobbs v. Jackson decision a “momentous moment” and a “vindication for the rule of law.”
It’s not clear why Cruz has chosen not to wade into the Cox matter, but it likely has to do with the fact that even he realizes how bad it makes Texas look and that it could impact his chance of reelection next November. Last week, a judge granted Cox’s request for an abortion, siding with her lawyers’ argument that the procedure was necessary to preserve future fertility and protect her from undergoing a potentially dangerous birth and tragic outcome. (Cox’s doctors had diagnosed her fetus with a genetic condition that almost always leads to miscarriage, stillbirth, or the child dying within one year.) Shortly thereafter, state attorney general Ken Paxton appealed the ruling to the Texas Supreme Court, which blocked the lower court’s order. Cox has left the state to undergo the procedure elsewhere, with the group representing her saying, “This past week of legal limbo has been hellish for Kate. Her health is on the line. She’s been in and out of the emergency room, and she couldn’t wait any longer.”
Like Cruz—a certified weasel and a coward—Texas’s other senator, John Cornyn, has refused to weigh in on the matter, telling NBC News, “I’m not a state official, so I’m not going to comment on what state officials are doing. I’m happy to comment on anything that I’m responsible for.”
Fox anchors once againforced to admitJoe Biden’s economy is not in the toilet
Texas’ medical exemption law gets tested: Kate Cox is a 31-year-old mother of two who is 20 weeks pregnant with her third child and seeking an abortion.
The baby has trisomy 18, which means it will most likely either be stillborn or die early in infancy. Cox has been to the emergency room several times during this pregnancy, and is arguing in court that continuing the pregnancy will risk her health, thus falling under the exception to the Texas abortion law, which does not generally permit abortions but allows them if the mother’s life is in danger or if an abortion would prevent the “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Last week, a trial judge ruled that Cox could receive an abortion in the state, but Texas’ Supreme Court put a hold on the trial judge’s ruling this past Friday.
Then yesterday, the state Supreme Court ruled that Damla Karsan, Cox’s doctor, hadn’t sufficiently made the case that the medical exemption applied to her patient.
“Our ruling today does not block a life-saving abortion in this very case if a physician determines that one is needed under the appropriate legal standard, using reasonable medical judgment,” wrote the high court. “But when she sued seeking a court’s pre-authorization, Dr. Karsan did not assert that Ms. Cox has a ‘life-threatening physical condition’ or that, in Dr. Karsan’s reasonable medical judgment, an abortion is necessary because Ms. Cox has the type of condition the exception requires.”
“Some difficulties in pregnancy, however, even serious ones, do not pose the heightened risks to the mother the exception encompasses,” continued the ruling. Now, Cox says she will go out of state to get the abortion immediately.
Cox is one of the first who has sought a court-ordered exception since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade and allows states to dictate their own abortion laws. Her case is unique, too, because she is doing so in advance of getting the abortion. Another suit, which attempts to clarify the legal limits surrounding what qualifies as a medical exemption, is being brought before the state of Texas right now as well. And, in three other states, abortion is coming before Supreme Courts this week, as plaintiffs continue to challenge laws to suss out what each state’s new abortion regime permits.
Prior to abortion being made illegal in Texas, there were roughly 50,000 performed annually, down from an almost 80,000 high in 2006. In 2023, there have been 34. University of Texas at Austin researchers note that the vast majority of Texas abortion-seekers choose to get abortions out-of-state (or via securing pills from Mexico), but that Texas’ restrictive laws are associated with a roughly 10 percent reduction in the number of abortions performed.
Zelenskyy’s fundraising drive: Today, President Joe Biden will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has traveled to the U.S. to hold out his hands for some funds for his country’s war against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. “A bipartisan group of senators is struggling to finalize an agreement to tighten border security in exchange for more Ukraine funding,” reportsPolitico, “and the chamber is scheduled to go into recess at the end of this week.” It’s likely that, if such a bill is drafted up at all, Biden will have to acquiesce to restrictions on asylum seekers as a condition for doling out more aid to Ukraine.
The New York Times characterizes Zelenskyy’s visit as a “last-ditch pitch,” which seems about right. A CNN poll from August shows how Americans have soured on supporting funding Ukraine’s war effort, with roughly 55 percent saying that Congress should not authorize any additional spending and 51 percent saying the U.S. has done enough as-is. Contrast this with the 62 percent, right after Putin’s invasion, who supported the U.S. doing more to help Zelenskyy.
“We refuse to allow our tuition dollars to fund apartheid.” Columbia students are holding a tuition strike for the spring 2024 semester in an attempt to get their school to “refuse to invest in ethnic cleansing and genocide abroad” and for “divestment from companies profiting from or otherwise supporting Israeli apartheid and Columbia’s academic ties to Israel.”
They also want the school to “immediately remove Board of Trustees members whose personal investments, financial commitments, employment, or other forms of business involvement entail profit from or support for Israeli apartheid” and changes to campus policing.
They say “it’s highly unlikely that students participating in the tuition strike would face disciplinary action of any kind,” and that “it would be absurd for the university to suspend, expel, or punish a student for this lateness.” Therein lies the problem: Students at elite universities seem to think they’re untouchable, and administrators have set a mighty dangerous precedent by spending the last decade communicating to students that their every need for psychological safety from political beliefs with which they disagree can be accommodated. (More from Reason‘s Jacob Sullum.)
Scenes from New York: This past Friday, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of New York’s restrictive gun law, which denies people the right to carry in certain public places (like parks) and allows local authorities broad discretion in denying gun rights to people they deem dangerous, only permitting licenses to people “of good moral character.” What this actually does is create hoops for law-abiding gun owners to jump through, while doing very little to prevent violence from criminals who own and use guns. (I wrote about Times Square’s silly gun-free zone last year.)
QUICK HITS
Harvard President Claudine Gay has come under fire for repeatedly plagiarizing and improperly attributing written passages over the course of her academic career.
The Biden administration’s “latest salvo” in the war against pro-lifers, writes Mike Pence at National Review, “is a proposed rule that would cut off Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to pro-life pregnancy resource centers.” Cutting government funding for organizations that can surely operate privately is fine, but doing so in a way that attempts to punish politically disfavored groups is not.
Every member of the K-pop band BTS is now doing mandatory military service.
Google loses its antitrust battle against Epic Games.
The government could have simply not cracked down on single room occupancy units in the first place, instead of now coughing up a bunch of money to try to incentivize landlords to fix ’em up.
To be fair, stoned boomers would pose a threat to the economics of the all-you-can-eat buffets on cruise ships, so I can see why cruise lines are cracking down on pot.
Lawyers for Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny say he has disappeared from prison and cannot be found.
Ugh, no:
This is of course self-serving of me as a generalist political pundit, but I think it would probably be better for the world if we had a reasonably strong norm against beat reporters & college professors doing hot takes outside their domain of specialization.
Austin, Texas — A Texas woman who had sought a legal medical exemption for an abortion has left the state after the Texas Supreme Court paused a lower court decision that would allow her to have the procedure, lawyers for the Center for Reproductive Rights said Monday.
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble last week had ruled that Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from Dallas, could terminate her pregnancy. According to court documents, Cox’s doctors told her her baby suffered from the chromosomal disorder trisomy 18, which usually results in either stillbirth or an early death of an infant.
In response to Gamble’s decision, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned a Texas medical center that it would face legal consequences if an abortion were performed.
