Houston man pleads guilty to murdering wife, accepts 10-year prison sentence – Houston Public Media

Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media

A Houston man accused of murdering his wife pleaded guilty Monday, accepting a plea deal tied to a 10-year prison sentence.

Curtis Allen Holliday, 62, was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Chi Le, whose body was discovered in a freezer. A medical examiner determined the woman’s death was caused by homicidal violence, according to court documents.

Jury selection for the case was set to begin Monday, but Holliday accepted the plea deal. Dick DeGuerin, one of Holliday’s defense attorneys, told KTRK the deal was in his best interest to avoid facing a life sentence.

DeGuerin, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday, told KTRK he suspected Le had killed himself, but Holliday panicked after finding her, stuffed her body in a freezer and didn’t did not call the police.

Le was reported missing in April 2020. According to court documents, her relatives showed investigators one of Le’s Facebook posts in which she warned that her husband had threatened to kill her multiple times.

“If suddenly no one can find me, or find me dead, please check on my husband,” she wrote in the message.

A month after her disappearance, Harris County Sheriff’s Office investigators conducted a search of Holliday’s Houston office in the 5800 block of North Sam Houston Pkwy. W., where they discovered her body wrapped in plastic inside a commercial freezer.

Holliday was out on bail for an ongoing domestic violence charge at the time of her death and was charged with murder months after investigators discovered Le’s body.

Previous court documents claim Holliday committed at least two acts of violence against Le in the year before his death, which constitutes misdemeanor assault.

Holliday will be sentenced in July.