Police say Jonathan Holt strangled his wife after trying to inject her with insulin to induce coma.

Published: 9:55 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Sylvia Reyes Holt always put the needs of others and perhaps even her own estranged husband ahead of her own, her older sister said.

And that may be what led to Holt's death hours before the 36-year-old mother was due to visit relatives in San Antonio for the Christmas holiday.

On Wednesday, police charged Jonathan Douglas Holt , 40, with first-degree murder in the strangulation death of his wife in her South Austin home, according to an arrest affidavit. It said he had first tried to put her in a diabetic coma.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The couple had been estranged for more than a year and were going to divorce next month, said sister Alicia Pond , 38, of San Antonio.

"She was loving; she was generous; she never had an enemy," Pond said. "She always put others first. She would put others ahead of her at any opportunity. And unfortunately, that may be the reason for her demise."

Reyes Holt tried to remain cordial to her husband even at the end because the two shared custody of their 8-year-old daughter, Pond said.

On Dec. 23, Reyes Holt, a Marble Falls High School graduate who worked for chipmaker Spansion Inc., was found dead in her home in the 8700 block of Birmingham Drive, the arrest affidavit said.

Late Tuesday, Holt was booked into the Travis County Jail, with bail set at $1 million, records show.

Reyes Holt's death was the city's 10th homicide related to domestic violence last year, police said. That marks the highest number of such homicides in at least 13 years, said Julia Spann, executive director for the nonprofit SafePlace.

The figure is a dramatic increase from the single homicide case connected to domestic violence in 2009, said Spann, whose agency helps women overcome issues of rape, sexual violence and domestic violence.

On Dec. 23, Holt, who is listed as living at a Southeast Austin address a few miles away, initially told police he had been shopping the evening before his wife was found dead, the affidavit said. However, Holt was unable to verify his alibi for a four-hour period that evening, the document said.

The following day, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. David Dolinak said homicidal strangulation was the cause of death, according to the affidavit. Holt voluntarily met with police Tuesday and "admitted that he murdered his wife," the affidavit said.

Holt told police that his wife was diabetic and that he researched how to place someone in a diabetic coma with the use of insulin, the medication used to treat the illness, the affidavit said. At 8 p.m. Dec. 22, Holt went to the home on Birmingham Drive to meet with Reyes Holt, it said.

The couple had stopped meeting at each other's homes to exchange custody of their daughter because of increasing arguments, Pond said. The daughter was not home at the time, Pond said.

"I was surprised she let him in," Pond said. But "if he would have shown up at the door, she would not have turned him away. She always looked for the good in a situation."

After entering the home, Holt said he took two syringes and filled them with insulin from a refrigerator, the affidavit said. He restrained Reyes Holt while she was on a couch in the living room and injected the syringes into her neck, the affidavit said.

Holt said he then used a rope he found in the kitchen to strangle Reyes Holt, the affidavit said. He locked the front door and left through a back sliding glass door, the affidavit said.

On Wednesday, Austin police declined to comment .

For Reyes Holt's relatives, they are focused on supporting her 8-year-old daughter and moving forward, Pond said.

She said the couple had been married for about 15 years, separated about 18 months ago and lived at different addresses. Holt had filed for divorce initially, Pond said, but Reyes Holt said she was moving forward with a final divorce hearing in February because she "just had enough."

Reyes Holt had considered a temporary restraining order against her husband but decided against it, Pond said. Reyes Holt had said such a court order would have prohibited her from attending some of her daughter's activities if her father was present, she said.

"I thought he was OK with it, they were both ready to move on," she said. "So I am not sure what caused him to snap."

When her relatives cleaned out Reyes Holt's home, they found a "ton of Christmas presents" to neighbors, nieces, nephews and uncles.

"She was happy giving of herself, she never wanted anything in return," Pond said. "She didn't ask for anything but to be treated decently."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

She was murdered two days before Christmas. What a sad Christmas it must have been for her daughter!

This guy deserves the death penalty... in the same manner he killed his wife!!

Renee Rockwell, the Defense Attorney that is on NG a lot and kind of looks like her (and they are really bff's), said this is NOT a DP case; however the new Mrs. Peter Odom who is a Prosecutor and DP qualified said it was.
This is Texas and it happened in the State Capitol. I have no doubt this man will get the chair. Texas doesn't play when it comes to the DP. I will give them that one.

Aug. 23, 2011

Jonathan Douglas Holt, who police say confessed to killing his estranged wife in her South Austin home three days before Christmas last year, has been released from jail pending trial.

State District Judge David Crain ordered Holt's release on his own recognizance Tuesday after prosecutors said they wanted to conduct additional DNA testing in the death of Sylvia Reyes Holt and would not be ready to go to trial as planned in October.

Buddy Meyer, trial bureau director in the Travis County district attorney's office, said that prosecutors did not oppose Holt's release, to which he said Holt is legally entitled because of the delay. Meyer said he could not comment on the evidence in the case.

Holt's defense lawyer, former state District Judge Charlie Baird, said Holt is innocent and that the delay stems from problems with the prosecution's case. Baird said that Holt, 41, only confessed to the killing under pressure from Austin homicide Detective Richard Jennings and that Holt's statements about how Reyes Holt died did not match the evidence.

"It is the repetition \u2026 from the police officer that the suspect is lying ... that he's not going to believe anything that (Holt) says other than that he committed the crime," Baird said in describing what he called improper police interrogation techniques. Jennings, Baird said, told Holt: "I know you did it. I know you did it."

In an interview Tuesday, homicide Sgt. Hector Reveles noted that Crain held hearings on Baird's attempts to suppress the confession and ruled it admissible. He declined to comment further. A call Tuesday night to the homicide unit was not immediately returned.

Holt's personal recognizance bond requires him to pay nothing upfront and $1 million if he fails to show for a court appearance. He is required to wear a GPS device and is not allowed to leave Travis County, Meyer said.

Reyes Holt, 36, was a Marble Falls High School graduate who worked for chipmaker Spansion. Holt worked 18 years in the construction supply business, Baird said. The couple was in the process of getting a divorce and had a daughter who was 8 at the time of the killing.

Reyes Holt was found dead in her home on Birmingham Drive, near Slaughter Lane and South First Street, about 5 p.m. on Dec. 23, according to Holt's arrest affidavit. When Jennings went to Holt's house, which is about four miles southeast of the crime scene, later that evening to inform him of his wife's death, Holt told them that he had been alone shopping for a few hours the night before, the affidavit said.

In an interview at police headquarters Jan. 4, "Holt admitted to Detective Jennings that he murdered his wife," providing "details about the crime scene that have not been released to the public," the affidavit said.

According to the affidavit, Holt told Jennings that he went to the house about 8 p.m. on Dec. 22 and was let in by Reyes Holt. He told Jennings that Reyes Holt was diabetic, that he had conducted research on how to put someone in a diabetic coma, and that when he was inside the apartment he injected two syringes filled with insulin into her neck, the affidavit said.

"Holt said he then used a rope to strangle Sylvia around her neck to insure death," the affidavit said.

Baird said there are several problems with the case, including that at one point during the interview in which Holt allegedly confessed he told Jennings, "tell me how she died, and I'll tell you I did it." Baird said this was a signal that he was succumbing to police pressure.

Baird said Holt initially told Jennings that he killed Reyes Holt with insulin, something disproved by medical examiner David Dolinak, who said Reyes Holt died from strangulation.

Baird said that Holt left his daughter at a neighbor's house and went shopping for her the night police believe the killing happened. That same night, Baird said, neighbors near Reyes Holt's house reported seeing a suspicious person in the area. He said Reyes Holt sent a text message that there was a red truck near her home that she was suspicious of, Baird said. Holt did not drive a red truck, he said.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

June 21, 2013

State District Judge David Crain this week granted a prosecution motion to dismiss murder charges against Jonathan Douglas Holt pending further investigation.

Holt was charged with killing his estranged wife, Sylvia Reyes Holt, 36, in her South Austin home days before Christmas 2010. Defense attorney Charlie Baird said Crain granted the motion after investigators learned that DNA evidence determined two men had had recent sexual activity with the woman, and that the evidence excluded Holt. Investigators have claimed that Holt confessed, but Baird has long maintained that confession was false and a result of police coercion. Holt told investigators — and said on cable TV’s “Nancy Grace” show — that he had injected his diabetic spouse, whom he was in the process of divorcing, with insulin and then strangled her, Baird said.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]