A Texas man who was allegedly having sex with his own Sister is accused of beating her to death with a baseball bat after finding out she slept with another man in their home while he was asleep.
Jose Manuel Guzman, 32, is being held on $1 million bond and facing murder charges after allegedly killing his sister on February 2 in their Canutillo home in a jealous rage, the El Paso County District Attorney Office said.
Prosecutors say Guzman, who is from Guatemala but a legal US resident, has lived in El Paso since he was three-years-old and recently learned he had a sister born in Guatemala, El Paso Times reported.
Jose Manuel Guzman, 32, (pictured) is being held on $1 million bond and facing murder charges after he allegedly killing his sister on February 2 in their Canutillo home
The siblings moved in together and started a sexual relationship, Assistant District Attorney John Briggs said at a teleconference bond hearing Wednesday.
Prosecutors said on February 1, Guzman and his sister got into an an argument and the 32-year-old punched her and knocked out one of her teeth.
The next day, Guzman told detectives he woke up and felt like someone had been in his home and found out that his sister had sex with a friend while he was asleep, leading to a violent attack.
Guzman allegedly killed his sister by hitting her with on the forehead with a ‘massage instrument’ and a baseball bat, prosecutors said.
Guzman then called his mother, who contacted the authorities.
Guzman was attempting to mop up the blood when he heard police sirens and fled.
Deputies who arrived at the scene found the baseball bat, massager and clothing in a laundry basket as well as a backpack that had a Pringles can that contained packs of cocaine and methamphetamine, prosecutors said.
After he was booked on February 3, Guzman confessed to the murder in a three-hour video-recorded interview in English and Spanish with sheriff’s detectives, Briggs said.
In the interview, Guzman confessed to smoking marijuana and methamphetamines every day, prosecutors said.
During a bond hearing on Wednesday, Guzman’s public defender Frank Chelly asked a judge to lower the $1 million bond he said was ‘unreasonable and oppressive’ and ‘unconstitutional’ for Guzman who works in landscaping.
‘I don’t know he does landscaping so much… his employment is dealing drugs,’ Briggs responded.
Prosecutors said Guzman, a suspected drug dealer out on bond awaiting trial on other cases, was a potential flight risk.
His other charges include allegedly breaking a man’s arm with a baseball bat and smashing his car’s windows in 2017, family violence and drug possession cases.
In 2018, Guzman didn’t appear for trial in one case but was later released on bond, Briggs said.
Magistrate Judge Ruben Nuñez kept the bond at $1 million, citing the nature of the crime and Guzman’s criminal record.
