By SHARON ROWEN
NEWKIRK – Luis Octavio Frias pleaded guilty Friday to the August 2013 murder of his ex-wife Jannett Reyna. He was then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Frias, 34, was on the lam and living in Mexico until his capture earlier this year. He was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals last month.
With a dozen or more guards surrounding the courtroom, Frias took the stand and waived his right to a preliminary hearing and a jury trial before accepting a plea deal that will keep him in prison for life. Frias appeared in Kay County Dist. Court with his attorney, Gretchen Mosley.
Judge Lee Turner presided over the proceeding.
Frias pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of his wife, who was a former Blackwell Police officer. She was 29. He pleaded no contest to a conspiracy charge.
District Attorney Brian Hermanson, who was seeking the death penalty, told the court that he discussed the sentence recommendation with Reyna’s parents.
“In speaking to them it was clear they wanted to avoid a trial and wanted life without parole. They asked me to accept life without parole without the possibility of parole,” said Hermanson.
Judge Turner handed down the sentence and said “personally I think life without parole is far worse than death in a case like this.”
Before sentencing, Frias took the stand and cried as he read from a prepared statement.
“On Aug. 8, 2013, I met my wife and and I wanted to talk to her. I told my mother that I wanted to be there when she came so I could speak to her. When she came to the apartment, I pulled her inside. I lost control of my emotions and grabbed a knife and stabbed her. I don’t remember how many times. My mom tried to stop me, I lost control and I fled. I wish I could go back in time and change what I did. I loved her more than anyone she was my best friend and the mother of my children. I know sorry isn’t good enough. But I’m sorry. I would trade places with Janett if I could. The pain is unbearable I have to live with what I did, she meant the world to me, there is no one like her.”
Hermanson questioned Frias about the events of that morning.
Frias said he remembered Reyna asking a friend to call the police, we were talking and things escalated.
He told Hermanson he took a bus to Mexico.
“I switched buses in El Paso, got to Mexico and didn’t use a name the first year. Then I worked under a different name.”
Monique Guevara Hudson, a friend and co-worker who was with Reyna the morning of the murder, took the stand and gave a victim impact statement.
“I wish we were not here today,” she said. “I wish Janett was still here. She had a beautiful soul and was loving. She liked to laugh and make others laugh and was fun to be around. She cared about people and was an amazing mother. She loved her babies so much, they were her life. She was also a survivor.”
Hudson said Frias haunts her dreams.
“Luis has taken more from me than I ever thought he could. There is nothing we can do to bring Janett back but we can celebrate her life. You have stolen so much from me at night when you come for me in my dreams and I wake up in tears looking for my husband to hold me like a man is supposed to. I pray to God to help me forgive you because to say I have forgiven you would be a lie. I don’t want to be scared of you anymore and I want you to know that what you did was not love. You being jealous of her the way you were was not love. All the times you hit her was not love. One day I will forgive you but that is not today.”
Reyna’s sister-in-law, Lindsey Casique, read impact statements for the family.
“Before she died she was able to pursue her dream of being a police officer. She was a strong woman and wanted to do things right and fair. When she was finally able to get out of the years of abuse by you Luis, you couldn’t stand it, if you couldn’t have her than no one could. We never thought something this brutal could happen to her. The kids are traumatized forever. They lost both parents and their innocence. How does stabbing her to death solve anything? I could barely recognize her when I saw her laying in the casket. Writing an obituary was heartbreaking. We will never be the same because of what you did.
I hope that you will never get the sounds of her screams out of her head. I know she is truly resting in peace because you can no longer hurt and threaten her anymore.”
Casique then read a statement form Reyna’s mother, Tricia McIntyre.
“A big part of my life ended when my daughter was taken away from me. I hate myself for not being there to save her from you Luis. She tried to be civil with you but you only cared for you. You are a coward. You don’t have love for anyone you don’t have a soul and are evil. Luis, your kids will never have their mother or father to hold them. My life is not the same. I feel like there is a big hole my heart. She will never get to see her kids grow up. What you did to my daughter has impacted everyone who loved her.”
After the sentencing, Blackwell Police Chief Dewayne Wood said he is excited for Reyna’s family.
“I’m just so excited and more excited that it is over and that her family knows he is in jail and serving a sentence for the crime. For so long they had to live without that. For over five years we were wondering if we would ever get him. (This) is a good day.”
Frias was convicted of stabbing Reyna at least 41 times in front of their children on Aug. 8, 2013, in a Blackwell apartment. He fled the scene and remained on the lam until Feb. 6, 2019.
A tip received by the television show “In Pursuit With John Walsh” led the U.S. Marshals Service to his location in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
After his arrest he was flown from Mexico to Dallas. There he was placed in custody and handcuffed with Reyna’s police-issued cuffs.
“In so many ways, those handcuffs represented poetic justice not only for the victim, but for her children, her brothers and sisters in blue, and her community,” said U.S. Marshal Johnny Lee Kuhlman.
On Feb. 8, Frias appeared in federal court in Oklahoma City where substantive charges were dropped and he was driven back to Kay County by Wood and booked in the Kay County Detention Center where he has remained in isolation.
Frias killed Reyna when she arrived at his mother’s apartment to drop off the children. She had filed a protective order against him two days before. He reportedly attacked Reyna as she entered the apartment.
His mother Atocha Maria Beltran, 56, was charged on Aug. 15, 2013, with accessory after the fact after she gave police false information about the crime.
On May 28, 2014, a jury found her guilty and she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Tonkawa resident Neshia Sherree Niemeyer, 31, was also charged with accessory to murder.
She worked with Frias at the Marland’s Children Home in Ponca City.
Authorities report she drove Frias to his aunt’s house, Dora Beltran, in Enid after the murder.
On July 14, 2014, Niemeyer plead guilty to the charge and was sentenced to a 10 year suspended sentence.
Dora reportedly told Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent Richard Brown that Frias and a female arrived at her home around noon on Aug. 8, 2013.
Dora admitted to driving Frias to a Wichita, Kan., bus station where he planned to catch a bus to Los Paisanos.
On Aug. 12, 2013, OSBI obtained information from Topeka, Kan., resident Jessica Rodriguez, Frias cousin, that arrangements were made for Frias to spend the night with her before boarding the bus the next day.
Rodriguez reportedly drove Frias to the bus station the next day and purchased him a ticket to Juarez, Mexico under the name Romero Rodriguez.
Frias is shown above entering court Friday morning. (Video by Sharon Rowen)
