Husband exposed as killer by dead wife’s diary

When they were first married, Joel Pellot would often boast proudly to colleagues about his wife, Maria Muñoz. The couple had met in Maria’s home country, Puerto Rico, when Pellot was an ambitious nursing student. He was 11 years older than Maria, who was also a nurse. They married in 2011 and moved to Laredo, Texas, where Pellot got a job as a highly paid nurse anaesthetist at a local hospital. It gave them a life of luxury cars and expensive holidays.

In 2018, the couple had just had their second son. Maria was keen to work again and wanted to study for the qualifications that would allow her to work in the US. But while Maria was planning her future, Pellot seemed more interested in his appearance. He was losing weight and building muscle – and flirting more. Then he started an affair with a work colleague, Janet Arredondo.

THE PAIN OF INFIDELITY

Pellot took Janet on trips until, in 2020, Maria finally found a plane ticket for a Europe trip and realised her husband was being unfaithful. She wrote in her diary how painful it was and how her heart and head were in battle over what to do.

“I don’t want to be sad any more,” she wrote. “I don’t want my heart to hurt. I don’t want my mind to be in torture.”

But Maria wasn’t willing to walk away from her relationship. She also wrote in her diary how much she wanted their 10-year marriage to work.

For a while, it seemed that Pellot’s attention was back on his wife. He took her to Las Vegas and bought her two designer handbags. But on their return, Pellot was still seeing Janet. Maria’s pictures were deleted from Pellot’s social media and he appeared to spend more time than ever at Janet’s home.

In the early hours of 22 September, 2020, a 911 call was made by Pellot from his family home. Pellot said he’d found Maria, then 31, unresponsive and believed that she’d overdosed on drugs. When the police arrived, they found Pellot at the top of the stairs, dressed in teal surgical scrubs. He was performing CPR on an unconscious Maria.

An officer took over and asked what sort of drugs Maria might have taken. Pellot showed him a pot containing clonazepam – a drug used to treat anxiety. It was prescribed to Pellot but he said Maria had been struggling. “She’s been super depressed,” he said. Then he quickly put the pot in his pocket.