Curtis Holliday, left, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife Chi Thi Lien Le at their Houston home in April 2020. He is represented by famed defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, right. (KHOU/YouTube)
A man pleaded guilty to murdering his wife before wrapping her body in plastic and stuffing her body in an industrial-sized freezer in Texas.
Curtis Allen Holliday, 62, pleaded guilty to murdering his wife Chi Thi Lien Le, 29, in April 2020, at their Harris County home in the Houston area.
“Given the uncertainties of a trial, even though I believe we had some compelling evidence that this was a suicide, we decided to go with the certainty of the outcome rather than risk a life sentence,” his defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said, according to KHOU.
Prosecutors said the plea results in justice for the victim and her family.
“We are pleased that we were able to get that accountability and he took responsibility for what he did in this case,” prosecutor Lindsey Bondurant said.
A probable cause arrest affidavit says a victim’s advocate at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office contacted deputies on April 30, 2020, after Le’s aunt called her to say she hadn’t heard from her niece in at least two weeks.
The case worker described Le as a “high-risk domestic violence victim” based on Holliday’s arrest for allegedly assaulting her three months prior. Le told deputies she was the victim of “on-going domestic violence and physical abuse over a span of approximately 3 years” at the hands of her husband. She accused him of choking her and holding her against her will. Holliday was charged with continuous violence against the family. However, Le later asked for prosecutors to drop the charges, saying that Holliday was good to her for the most part and had apologized to her. Holliday was released from jail after posting bond.
Le’s aunt told the caseworker that she typically talked on the phone to her niece on a daily basis but those calls stopped around the beginning of April. The aunt also said she found that her niece posted a message on Facebook that identified herself, her husband and their daughter and gave her address.
“If suddenly nobody can find me, or find me dead. Please check my husband,” the post reportedly said. “He many times tell me that he will murder me.”
She went on to say the couple were “on the way to get divorce.”
Le’s aunt contacted the Pearland Police Department in Sugarland, Texas. Cops searched a home tied to Holliday and found his ex-wife and his and Le’s 3-year-old daughter there. Le’s aunt said that didn’t make sense because her niece would never allow her daughter to stay with someone she didn’t know, the affidavit said.
Harris County deputies went to Le and Holliday’s home in the 5800 block of W. Sam Houston Tollway North to interview the husband on April 30. Holliday said he met Le, a U.S. permanent resident originally from Vietnam, on the website WeChat in October 2019. Holliday claimed he had not seen his wife since April 3, 2020, the affidavit said. He said Le left their home, which was also their place of business, with her “boyfriend,” according to the affidavit.
Detectives contacted the boyfriend who allegedly told them he began a “sexual relationship” with Le in December 2019. He said Le informed him that she and Holliday had an “open relationship.” Le and the boyfriend had sex and Holliday sometimes “participated” in the encounters, the affidavit said.
The boyfriend said he picked up Le at her home on April 3, 2020, and they went to his home where they had sex, according to the affidavit. After their encounter, the boyfriend and Le noticed Holliday had sent them several text messages asking if they were having sex and “demanding” that he bring her back home, the affidavit said. He reportedly drove her back to her house and said he saw her walk back inside.
Deputies returned to Le and Holliday’s home with a search warrant to obtain video from surveillance cameras. As cops were clearing the house a detective noticed a “large freezer that appeared to be brand new in the middle of a room,” the affidavit said. The freezer also appeared “out of place” and large enough to fit someone inside, deputies noted. The deputy opened the freezer and found a body later to be confirmed to be Le.
An autopsy determined she died of “homicidal violence.” Cops arrested Holliday for murder on May 4. He has pleaded not guilty.
Holliday had a well-known defense attorney in DeGuerin, who is best known for representing real estate heir Robert Durst. DeGuerin earned Durst, the subject of HBO documentary “The Jinx,” an acquittal on murder charges in the death and dismemberment of Morris Black in Galveston, Texas. DeGuerin also represented Durst in the Los Angeles murder trial in the death of his client’s business associate Susan Berman. A jury found Durst guilty, and he died in prison in 2022.
DeGuerin rose to fame in the early 90s when he entered the compound of David Koresh, the Branch Davidian cult leader, during the standoff with the FBI.
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