Joel Pellot: Cheating husband arrested for injecting wife Maria Munoz with lethal mix of drugs

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

LAREDA, TEXAS: Joel Pellot, the cheating husband, killed his 31-year-old wife, Maria Munoz by injecting her with a lethal cocktail of drugs over an extended period at their home. 

Initially, he deceived everyone by making them believe that she had taken some pills. However, he eventually confessed to feeling guilty about her murder. 

Following his admission, he was arrested and charged with the crime.

Officers arrived at Joel Pellot’s home

Joel Pellot called 911, his voice breaking as he urgently asked the operator, "Is anybody coming?" while his unconscious wife lay in their home. He conveyed his belief that she had ingested some pills and mentioned administering CPR.

Upon Officer Gregorio De La Cruz's arrival at the scene, he discovered Pellot kneeling over his wife's unconscious body, diligently performing CPR. The police officer observed from a distance as Pellot, a nurse's anesthetist, appeared to be urgently trying to resuscitate his wife.

Body cam footage from the police revealed the moment an officer entered the home, capturing Pellot, who was noticeably sweating through his work scrubs. Cruz, during a press conference, described Pellot's behavior as immediately raising suspicions.

Officers find behavior of Joel Pellot ‘suspicious’

After reviewing the video footage, the police officer mentioned that when they requested Pellot to show them the pill bottle containing the drugs his wife had consumed, he proceeded to their medicine cabinet. In typical overdose cases, drugs are usually found near the body.

The video also captured Pellot picking up clonazepam pills from a table and placing them in his pocket, a behavior noted as suspicious by Officer Cruz.

Subsequently, the officer began to suspect that Pellot might be under the influence of something.

During their search, the officers discovered a needle catheter. Pellot, a nurse, was later found guilty of injecting his wife with a toxic substance.

Additionally, the officers found more scrubs, gloves, syringes, and other items during their investigation.

Soon after, Pellot was taken into custody, and his peculiar behavior continued.

In the interrogation room, he rearranged furniture, cried, and yelled to the extent that it disturbed people nearby, as per the Daily Mail.

Why did Joel Pellot kill his wife?

During an interview, Joel Pellot disclosed that he was separated from his wife and currently living with his girlfriend. He visited his former home to discuss the state of his marriage with Munoz, maintaining that she took a fatal overdose after he left.

Munoz, as revealed in her journal entries, expressed heartbreak when Pellot walked out of their Laredo home, leaving her to care for their two young sons. Maria's diary and cellphone recordings assisted investigators in uncovering her journey from grief to recovery and a renewed faith in the future.

Munoz had met her husband when she was a young nurse in Puerto Rico, and he was an ambitious medical student eleven years her senior. They married in 2011, establishing their home in Texas, where she gave up her career to support her husband.

In 2020, Munoz discovered Pellot's infidelity when she found an airline ticket for a European vacation he had planned with a colleague from his hospital. The situation reached a critical point on September 19, the Saturday before her death, when Munoz saw Pellot's car outside the home of his lover, Janet Arredondo.

Arredondo contacted the police, leading to Munoz receiving a call as she traveled home with her husband.

During the call, officers heard Pellot say, "Hey, I'm talking to you right now. Hang up the phone," and he had already broken the windshield with a punch before they arrived home. The next morning, Munoz texted him to inform him that she was hiring a lawyer for divorce.

In response, he initially suggested handling it with minimal lawyer intervention, citing cost concerns. However, his tone shifted hours later, expressing sadness and a desire for a heart-to-heart conversation. Maria, feeling nervous, prepared for what would ultimately be their final meeting.

In a tragic turn of events, Munoz was murdered by her husband after he pleaded to meet, administering a lethal injection of drugs at their home upon learning that she was preparing to divorce him.