Court and jail records show that Mayra Velasquez posted a $450k bond.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Mayra Velasquez posted bond and was released from the Lon Evans Corrections Center in Tarrant County Wednesday.
Velasquez, 42, was arrested last week in connection with the 2012 killing of 32-year-old Irasema Chavez, who was found stabbed more than 100 times inside her Arlington apartment.
Days after her July 20 arrest, attorneys for Velasquez filed a motion challenging the order for no bond. In the court filing, her attorneys stated that she has zero criminal history and in the 14 years since Chavez’s death, she has been “a benefit, not a danger, to her community.” It goes on to say, “she is not a flight risk because she is adamantly innocent and determined to clear her good name.”
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According to an arrest affidavit for Velasquez, investigators identified her through forensic genetic genealogy after reexamining evidence collected from the crime scene. The affidavit says investigators recovered a fresh drop of blood from a TV stand after the television had been taken from the apartment. According to an arrest affidavit, Chavez’s surveillance footage DVR device was set on the tv stand, and Chavez often watched surveillance video on her television.
Police say DNA collected from Velasquez from a plastic fork she used during a meal in a restaurant matched the blood found at the scene.
This week, defense attorneys challenged that DNA evidence and surveillance video.
“They only find one single miracle drop of blood that they say solves the entire case?” Hoffman said. “Don’t you think someone would drip more blood than just one drop of blood if they’re violently using their hand when they’re stabbing somebody?”
This week, a judge set Velasquez’s bond at $450,000 and Wednesday morning it was posted and she was released.
There are currently no hearings set in the case.