Luis Mata Jr.
Appearances
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
About an hour into the interview is when I ask him about the needle pricking in her elbow crease. Joel, why is that there? I don't know. I asked him point blank that night. Joel, did you inject your wife with anesthesia? What? No, I love her. I love her.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So at that time, while he gave us the consent, we went to go interview him at the station so that we can get just some background information about his spouse, which is very routine.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I start off my interview with just the backstory of both of their relationship. And then I got the information as far as why they were separated. And he confessed to me that he had fallen in love with a co-worker of his. And she had found out about the affair back in April. And they had agreed to separate until he, quote, decided what he was going to do.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I asked him for the events that transpired that day that led up to the death. And that is when I realized that he could not account for his time period. The most simplest questions of them all, such as what time did you arrive? Well, I don't know. Okay. What did you do when you got there? Oh, I can't remember. I don't know. I go, did you shower?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
According to Joel, the couple had made up and had actually slept together before he supposedly took a shower and then discovered her unconscious body in their bed. And I asked, well, why, if she was on the bed, did she end up in the loft? And he thought about it and he's like, I needed a flat surface. Okay, well, why wasn't the carpet or the floor on your bedroom used?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Laredo, Texas is a city on the southwest U.S.-Mexico border. We are a large city with a small town atmosphere in the sense that for having half a million people, we still have a lot of people that know each other if you go to the grocery stores and things like that.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Oh, I wanted to give the paramedics easier access so they can go straight up.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I asked him, did you work? And he said, yeah, he worked. I go, what time did you get out? I don't know. Well, more or less, I think at four or five. Okay, where'd you go afterwards? I don't know. I don't know. Why are you asking me this? Like, my wife just died. And so he started becoming evasive and defensive.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
While I'm there interviewing Joel, I find out that there was a suspicious needle prick mark on Maria's elbow crease. One mark. One. Not indicative of someone that uses repeatedly. It looked like it was fresh. It looked like somebody had just drawn blood from her. That was suspicious. And we found out that the hair medics that responded did not start an IV.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So what in the hell is that mark doing there? Why is it fresh?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
About an hour into the interview is when I find, you know, I confirm, and I ask him about the needle pricking in her elbow crease. Joel, why is that there? I don't know. I asked him point blank that night. Joel... Did you inject your wife with anesthesia? What? No, I love her. I love her.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
At no point did he say, I need to go back to my children. They're without their mom. No. You know what his primary reason that wanting to leave was? He needed to go get to Janet. I need to go to Janet's house. Can you drop me off at Janet's house? Keep in mind their sons just lost their mom. But that was not his focus or his concern. His concern was to get back to his mistress.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He begged the officer to drop him off at Janet's, but the officer didn't. The officer took him back to his house. And while he's over there, I'm at Janet's house. So he was trying to beat me to Janet's.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So I arrived at Janet's at 6 in the morning. I ring the doorbell. She has a poodle or some type of schnauzer dog that was barking away, and she never answered the door. Apparently, she called the police on me, saying that there was a man outside ringing the doorbell repeatedly.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
And when the dispatcher told her, it's one of our detectives that's out there wanting to speak to you, it still took her roughly 10 minutes to come down. And then she came down and she agreed to be interviewed at the station. Initially, yes, she seemed adamant of wanting to know why, what's going on. And I go, well, we'll tell you at the station. She kept asking, what's it about?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
She initially was reluctant to say that she had a boyfriend. She finally incorporated that she had a boyfriend, Joel, and she was initially under the belief that he had gone to work.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I released Janet at roughly 7.30 in the morning, and she agrees to be cooperative. And I said, Janet, if needed, will I be able to get video from your home that just shows the ins and outs of that night? And in my mind, I wanted to make sure that if, because it was already getting suspicious, if this is a homicide, I want to find out
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
If Joel had been going back and forth or if Janet participated and they came back after the death to stage it together.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Says Janet's retained our services. She's not going to talk to you anymore. If you need anything, talk to me.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
We had suspected the possibility that Janet, whether directly or indirectly, was a participant in this. Whether it was by destroying the anesthesia, getting rid of the evidence... having knowledge, we suspected something that she knew that she wasn't telling us.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So she was going to confront them both to A, catch Joel in the act, catch him in his lie, and B, confront him with the news that she's getting a divorce. However... She never, neither Joel nor Janet answer the door. So Maria leaves.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
While Maria leaves, Janet calls the police department on Maria and says that there's the ex-wife. This is what she described, the ex-wife of her boyfriend harassing her and outside her door. So that prompts an officer to get dispatched there. So Joel's gone by the time the officer gets there.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
The officer talks to Janet, goes, okay, look, what I can do right now is give her what's called a criminal trespass warning. So when the officer calls Maria, hoping to talk to her, you can hear him in the background, hang up the goddamn phone, I'm talking to you. And he's in a rage and Maria hangs up the phone.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
That was the most frustrating part. And to Maria's family's credit, they understood and they were so patient. We were waiting for the toxicology. Yeah, Joel's free. He's not charged.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So during that time, we're interviewing many, I want to say, character witnesses.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
What was going to rule everything was a toxicology, and it wasn't a standard toxicology that our medical examiner checks for. This toxicology was going to go more in depth.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
She was a very educated woman. She was actually a RN. However, she never got the chance to practice because right after she graduated, she became pregnant. And then that's when she basically became a stay-at-home mom.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I'm anticipating it's going to show high-potent anesthetics that are only found in a hospital setting. I was confident of that. The hardest part is proving that he injected her and that she wasn't a willing participant.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Poor Dr. Stern. I was being an annoying guy. I called her every day for almost a month straight.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
positive for propofol, Demerol, Versed, Narcan, lidocaine, and ketamine.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So he just kept saying she was very depressed. She was drinking every night. She was on a very hard depression. Okay, well, we find out during the toxicology that she had zero alcohol.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
We had interviewed several of Joel's co-workers who are actually CRNAs, same profession as Joel. And I remember asking one of Joel's supervisors, I said, do you guys have the ability to kill us if you wanted to? Without hesitation. Oh, hell yeah. Hypothetically, if you wanted to kill me, if you wanted to kill somebody, how would you do it? And he said, you know what I do?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
If you really want to do it, you get somebody on ketamine and then you just go to town with them. After that, that ketamine will put you to sleep. Ketamine. And I remember him saying that ketamine is the most important thing. Once you have them on ketamine, it's fair game. You can do whatever you want with them.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Without hesitation, our prosecutors and I, this is murder. This is cold-blooded murder at the highest degree.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
The toxicology report also showed us was that Maria had a high amount of caffeine. Maria was a big, avid fan of coffee. I believe that he spiked her coffee and then went to town, got her unresponsive, got her in a paralytic state. And once she was under the influence of ketamine and some Versed, that's all tasteless. He went to town and he killed her with propofol.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
The problem that Dr. Stern had was we needed to prove that Maria was not a willing participant. And that's when we just present our evidence, present our case before a jury.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
We had our ace in the hole and ended up being none other than Janet.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So our prosecutor, who we have a great relationship with, reached out to Janet's counsel and we made an agreement that if she, in exchange for her testimony, in exchange for her being a witness, she was kind of given an immunity.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So Janet took up that offer and became our witness. And once we got the toxicology back, she came in for an interview and she confessed to us that Joel had basically gone over there to talk to her and he injected her.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
His side of the story was that he went over there to tell Maria that it was over, that he chose Janet, that he's in love with Janet. And he told Janet that when he told Maria that, that Maria started having an anxiety attack and started screaming. So that he calmed her down and said, here, take some ketamine, relax. And that she just passed away accidentally.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I did ask her, I go, did you get rid of anything? And she said, I believe I did, but unbeknownst because when he came back, he brought a bag that he had hidden and I threw it away. What that bag contained, she's like, I believe it contained the medicine that he injected her with. But I didn't know that at the time.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
The defense was that Maria and Joel would do drugs together, that they would having marital problems, that they resorted to doing anesthetics recreationally. And that on that night, Joel administered Maria, but it was an accident that she passed away.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Right off the bat, I was ecstatic inside because just by me getting him to say that he injected her, I knew and I was confident with our prosecution team and our investigators. We were so certain that a jury would see right through this killer's eyes and find him guilty just by him even admitting that he injected her.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
50% of his assets. And... I can tell you this, that CRNA position is probably the highest, if not one of, if not the highest medical positions, salaries that you can have in Laredo because there's so much in high demand. that they give him so much bonuses. We believe that Joel was grossing maybe $600,000 a year. So imagine Maria taking half of that. Plus Joel had properties in San Antonio, Texas.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He had assets of properties here. He had land. So I believe that he came to the realization that Maria was going to take him to the house on the financial side. And I don't believe that he could accept that.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
45 minutes, we came back with a guilty verdict. The punishment took a little bit longer, about three hours, and we were able to secure a 99-year sentence.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Joel, throughout the trial, would pretend that he was crying. And I don't believe for one second that during the trial that those tears were real, because they were the same type of tears that were shared the night of the incident. However, when Maria's sister, Marisol, looked Joel in the eye and told him, I loved you like a brother. And this is how you repaid us. Maria loved you.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Maria loved you and would have taken a bullet for you. She died literally for you and for you to kill her. That is the only time in the investigation of me having this case for up to that point, three years, that Joel's tears were real because he broke down. For at least a moment, he realized what he'd done.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
People ask, well, how can you do this? How can you see what you see and then go home? And yeah, I'm not going to lie to you. It's sometimes it's tough and what you see.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
But when you get justice and you put a lot of hard work into a simple case that starts out as a overdose suicide death and it leads you to this and you see the satisfaction of bringing justice for your victim, you know, it makes it all worth the while.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I got a call. I got woken up at roughly just before 2 a.m. The initial information that my sergeant at the time told me was that we have a death and it was initially indicative of a suicide.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Contrary to popular belief, Laredo averages roughly 10 to 15 homicides a year. So people think, oh, well, you only had 15 homicides a year. You don't have to, you know, really, how much can you do? The problem is we also investigate shootings, stabbings, and deaths that we deem have to be ruled out of foul play.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So a young person in her early 30s passing away in her home without being ill, that automatically sparks an investigation. Now, More times than not, it's undiagnosed medical conditions. It is suicide, but we always have to go and do the death investigation.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I made contact with Officer De La Cruz, but Officer De La Cruz told me that the spouse, which is Joel Peyote, he had said that Maria and him had had sex. He went in to take a shower. He came out. He thought she was asleep. And then he got dressed. Ten minutes later, he goes and checks on her and she's unresponsive. And he sees a bottle of prescription pills that belonged to him.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So that he initially said that he believed that she had overdosed on those pills and she had died.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
The clonazepam was of Joelle's. But the clonazepam bottle still had two pills. When somebody overdoses, they're not going to leave two pills behind. They're going to take the whole damn thing.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
On top of that, the officer de la Cruz found a needle on the stairwell, and he found a wrapper, kind of like what you find syringes at a hospital facility.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He was punching walls. He was kicking furniture. And he was screaming. We were afraid he was going to scare neighbors. And then once we found that syringe, we were like, hey, relax. Have a seat here. Detectives are going to talk to you. We can't have you all over the place either. It's still a crime scene. But we emphasize that, obviously, and I go there. He wasn't detained at any point.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He was initially told that, hey, this, you know, we are completely sympathetic and understanding, but we still have a job to do.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
What threw a curveball was I couldn't exactly do a walkthrough of the home. And the reason is because, remember, as much of a death investigation consists of the first thing that we have to do as investigators is we have to obtain that we have legal authority to be in that home. So when I arrived, Joel was already outside in the back of a squad car. So my first thing was I went up to him.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I introduced myself. I expressed my condolences. And then I asked the routine question was, do we have legal authority to be in your home?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He says, why do you need legal consent? What are you going to do? Can't you just pick up the body and go on your way? I said, no, it doesn't work like that. And I explained to him, for example, if she overdosed, she has pills next to her. We need your permission to be in there and get the pills because it is your home. You have a right to your home.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
And then I asked him why, what the issue was, is if he was scared. And he said, no, I live a very private life. All I need you to do is just, you know, get her body and get out of here. So that's fine. I said, that is absolutely right. Nobody's going to go inside. We're going to secure the crime scene while we apply for a search warrant.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
I had been doing that by that time almost three and a half, four years. And obviously at that time, I had been in law enforcement 15 years. I completely understand most of the time it's a grieving spouse. And I'm respectful of that. But there's a difference between a grieving spouse and someone that has something to hide.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
So I told the officer, let's get the kids out. Nobody goes in. Put yellow tape around it. It is now a crime scene. And he said, well, what happens if the sun comes up? And I go, well, if the sun comes up, Joel, well, the sun comes up. He goes, well, are neighbors going to see everything? And I said, yes, because this is going to put a delay in it. I mean, you're delaying it. That's fine.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
But if we have to hold the crime scene for a couple of hours and your neighbors see, I mean, we can't control that. No, no, no, no. I live a very private life. I don't want as much attention on this. I'll sign it. I'll sign. I'll give you the consent. So he changed his mind and he signed the written consent.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
For starters, Maria was a very organized and clean person. I say that because my wife is a clean freak and she reminded me of my wife in the sense that it was everything was so organized, very clean home.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Joel's first statement was that he was in the shower. and when all this happened. So what happens when you take a shower? For example, what are you going to notice in the restroom? Condensation, steam, mirrors sometimes smeared for whatever reason with water, a soaked towel, a damp towel, the smell of soap, the smell of shampoo. That restroom was dry. Absolutely dry.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
Looked like it hadn't been used and it looked like it had been cleaned at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and hadn't been moved since. There was no restroom that had any evidence of a shower being used.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He had already told me he arrived in scrubs, which is understandable. He's a CRNA. He just got out of work. I go, if you just took a shower, why did you change back into scrubs if it's your home? And he thought about it and he said, well, it's because I'm not supposed to be here. And I said, well, this is your house. What do you mean you're not supposed to be here?
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
My name is Luis Mata Jr. I am a sergeant of the Laredo Police Department's Crimes Against Persons Robbery and Homicide Bureau here in the Laredo Police Department in Laredo, Texas.
Anatomy of Murder
Non-Responsive (Maria Muñoz)
He goes, oh, it's because I have a girlfriend somewhere else and she doesn't know that I'm back visiting my wife. My wife and I were separated.