Defendant claiming self defense in McAllen man’s murder trial retraces events leading to his death
EDINBURG — The jury in the murder trial for a 71-year-old McAllen man who was allegedly killed by his former housemaid heard testimony of the events that led to his death before state prosecutors and her defense attorney rested.
On Friday, defense attorney Rick Salinas called on his defendant, 44-year-old Adriana Aleman, who recounted an assault that was the precursor to the event that resulted in the death of 71-year-old Homero Arturo “La Chuga” Longoria.
Through tears, Aleman said on Nov. 28, 2021, she was folding clothes in Longoria’s bedroom after he had stated he would leave his residence as per her request because she had progressively become less comfortable with Longoria around.
According to Aleman, Longoria told her that he had a “kissing disease” due to the number of women he had been with before and would make comments regarding that topic.
Then, on that day, as Aleman was folding his clothes that were on his bed, she testified that he grabbed her from behind and tried assaulting her.
“It’s hard to talk about that,” Aleman said in Spanish through tears. “It’s very shameful.”
She then used her body to push herself back and he fell to the floor and sat down. Longoria then begged for forgiveness, but when Aleman threatened to call police, he began to say that he had power and that the police wouldn’t believe her.
Longoria added that he would get her deported and said he had a son in the U.S. Marshals Service.
Aleman then left through the garage door and confided in her daughter about what happened, but admitted she couldn’t tell her husband.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Longoria began harassing her through phone calls and would follow her by vehicle, which is corroborated by a voice message heard earlier this week, where he’s heard offering her money and said he was at an HEB parking lot next to her work.
Aleman said she believed he was concerned she would accuse him of sexual assault which was why he kept reaching out to meet and talk. She planned on going to the police but never called, not until Jan. 28, 2022.
After roughly two months of him reaching out and her telling him to leave her alone, Aleman decided to confront Longoria due to one of his final messages telling her that he came out positive for a certain disease he wouldn’t tell her about over the phone.
In that voice message, Longoria said he contacted the health department and said they needed to know who the second person was, which confused Aleman.
During testimony from Longoria’s doctor of 13 years, Dr. Jesus Zavaleta, it was found that Longoria tested negative for HIV, gonorrhea, herpes and chlamydia, and that Longoria was the one to tell the doctor that he had a history of genital herpes
Zavaleta explained that to test positive for herpes, one would have to be experiencing an outbreak and have lesions on their genitals.
On that fateful Friday, Aleman said she went to H-E-B for groceries and spoke to her sister and daughter before heading to Longoria’s home in McAllen. He had invited her to discuss the disease in question.
At that time, Aleman believed Longoria had a contagious illness and believed that HIV and AIDS to be fatal. She also believed he was sincere in his apologies because he said he asked God for forgiveness, and she deeply believes in Jesus Christ.
Once there, Aleman said Longoria offered her a bottle of water as he drank hot chocolate from a mug.
She said she ended up getting frustrated because Longoria was only making small talk.
As she began to leave, Longoria asked her to clean the window he would sit at to smoke cigarettes, she said.
When she reached for the rag he had in his hand, he tossed it on the table, grabbed her arm, pulled her waist and began kissing her on the face and neck.
“He was hugging me with a lot of force,” Aleman said.
That’s when she began to push him and strike his face with her palms.
This correlates with the autopsy photos shown during testimony from the pathologist Dr. Flugencio Salinas earlier in the week, who demonstrated that Longoria had petechiae under his eye lids, inside his mouth and gums and abrasions to the face.
Aleman managed to push him away but he then grabbed her hair and pulled her back before striking her on the back of the head, she said, causing her to fall against a wall.
Once there, he jumped on her again, attempting to kiss her, according to her testimony. She said she pushed him off once more but, in the struggle, fell on the floor with him on top of her.
That’s when she held her hand up to his neck and squeezed causing his body to go limp and fall to the side, Aleman testified.
Autopsy photos showed that Longoria had an abrasion to the back of his head, but Aleman couldn’t explain how he got that.
Aleman then noticed blood on her hands and used the rag to wipe it off due to her believing he might have a disease.
She then called 911 for help as she believed she had killed him when she grabbed his neck.
During cross examination, Aleman said she was scared to go, but did so anyway to discuss the disease and tell Longoria to stop bothering her.
“I called the police thinking they were going to help me,” Aleman said while crying.
She then admitted that Longoria would tell her that she was a nobody.
Aleman also said she disagreed with Flugencio Salinas’ conclusion of the autopsy where he stated that Longoria died from asphyxiation by smothering as she never covered Longoria’s mouth or nose.
Earlier testimony from expert witness neurologist Dr. Gloria Mireles brought up the topic of Longoria’s undiagnosed oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, which Mireles said could cause death.
Mireles said oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, or OPMD, is under-diagnosed because people aren’t familiar with the symptoms.
OPMD is a rare, inherited muscle disorder that affects the muscles around the eyes and throat, causing droopy eyelids and trouble swallowing.
Zavaleta stated that Longoria had a procedure done on one of his eyes because it wouldn’t open and would complain about having trouble swallowing. It was also learned that his sister was diagnosed with OPMD by the Mayo Clinic.
Longoria’s neighbor, Javier Garza, agreed the idea that Longoria might’ve had OPMD as Longoria told Garza on occasion that he had trouble digesting food.
Garza also corroborated Longoria’s sexual deviancy as he testified that conversations with him would sometimes drift into sexual territory, leading him to ask Longoria to only speak to him and not to reach out to his daughters or his wife.
Two days prior to his death, during Garza’s lunch hour, Longoria had asked him for help reading something and presented Garza with a bottle of sexual lubricant. Garza was offended and uncomfortable and left Longoria standing at his garage with a blank stare, according to Garza.
The day ended with both state prosecutors and the defense making their closing arguments before excusing the jury to enjoy their Halloween.
The trial will continue Monday morning.
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