Accused jealous mastermind of murder-for-hire slaying of Dallas dentist goes on trial
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The murder-for-hire saga that's captivated a Texas city for nearly four years will soon come to an end, as the woman called the “mastermind” of the plot that killed a local dentist finally faces a jury Monday.
Brenda Delgado faces life in prison if convicted in the 2015 slaying of Kendra Hatcher, a Dallas-area dentist found shot in the head in the parking garage of her apartment building.
The 36-year-old Delgado allegedly hired two people – Crystal Cortes and Kristopher Love – to kill Hatcher, who was dating her ex-boyfriend, Richard Paniagua. The crime was supposed to appear to be a botched robbery, according to prosecutors.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DALLAS DENTIST MURDER GETAWAY DRIVER TESTIFIES AGAINST GUNMAN, SAYS MASTERMIND WAS JEALOUS
A few days later, a witness told police he had loaned Delgado his Jeep Cherokee – the getaway vehicle in the crime.
Surveillance video shows the jeep in a parking lot across the street from Hatcher’s apartment and then Love walking inside the parking garage.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“He exits the vehicle and then I hear Kendra scream, ‘Help, help. Help me!’ And then I heard the shot fired,” Cortes testified. “And I back up out of the parking space that I was in, and he enters the vehicle.”
After the crime, Delgado fled to Mexico, where she was arrested by local authorities in 2016. She was extradited back to Dallas.
If convicted, Delgado won’t face the death penalty because of an extradition agreement with Mexico.
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Meanwhile, Cortes, 27, was charged with capital murder after police said she drove the getaway car. She pleaded guilty to a lesser murder charge in exchange for a 35-year sentence. Her testimony against Love and Delgado have strengthened the prosecutors’ case.
“It was planned to be a murder and to look like a robbery gone bad,” she testified last fall at Love’s trial.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cortes, who got $500 for her part in the killing, said Delgado was obsessed with Hatcher and was angry she was dating her ex-boyfriend.
“Probably two weeks after I med Brenda, we started planning this murder,” she claimed, according to WFAA.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Love, who prosecutors said pulled the trigger, was found guilty this past October and sentenced to death.