Videotaped Confession Details UTPA Grad's Murder

Tape allowed as evidence in trial

EDINBURG - A suspect's confession to police details a young woman's murder.

Alfredo Valdez was arrested a year after Larissa Cavazos was found dead in her apartment. After his arrest, he returned to the scene of the crime. He was handcuffed and guarded by at least five Edinburg police while he gave officers a step-by-step detail of the murder. His confession was videotaped.

On the recording, Valdez admits the crime all had to do with money and drugs. He says he and two other men stormed the apartment.

"They kick the door open. Mario runs forward. And I stop and go this way. Pero, this was... I don't remember this like this," he's heard saying on the tape.

The Mario he mentioned is Mario Quintanilla, another suspect. Valdez claims Quintanilla was the one carrying the gun.

"When I come in, I hear a shot. Paa! So I look around, and see Mario standing over there," Valdez told police.

He says he looked around the apartment and found Larissa Cavazos in her room. He tells us she was on the bed, hunched over.

"Mario went out there to load the gun," Valdez says on the tape. "I don't know what. I had her and I'm telling her, 'I don't want to... I don't want nobody to get hurt or anything.'"

Valdez says in the confession, he tried to tell the girl to just give up the location of the money and drugs. He remembers her pointing to the cabinets in the kitchen. But they never got a chance to look.

"There was one shot already... And I'm right here. Then I hear another shot," he says. "And that's when we're all like... Vamanos. Vamanos."

Valdez says the three men never spoke about the incident again. On his videotaped confession, Valdez told police he thought they made a mistake that night.

He says they were looking for an apartment where two black males lived, but instead they found Cavazos.

Earlier today, lawyers were arguing whether the tape and other evidence could be used in Valdez's trial. We learned all of the evidence will be allowed.