SAN ANTONIO – Still seemingly shaken, a San Antonio man told the jury how a $200 dollar rendezvous with a prostitute in a Corpus Christi motel cost more money than the agreed price, and it almost cost him his life.
Odie Reyes identified Juan “Popeye” Lachel as the man who jumped him and began to attack him not long after he arrived at the motel.
“I know that man right there injured me,” Reyes said as he pointed to Lachel.
He testified that Lachel and the prostitute he knew only as “Vanessa” beat and tortured him.
“I would never forget the cigarette burns,” Reyes said. “I would never forget the iron on my face twice, and l’ll never forget what he did with the aerosol can.”
Reyes said that the couple sprayed him with the can’s contents and then set fire to his lower abdomen. He said he was convinced that he was going to die.
“I could tell that she was angry. I mean, she wanted to kill me,” Reyes said.
Reyes said that he was blindfolded and driven to a San Antonio motel, where he was forced to call his bank and increase his bank card limit.
From the motel, Reyes said Lachel and the woman drove him to several ATM machines, forcing him to withdraw hundreds of dollars.
Lachel is on trial for aggravated kidnapping. Charges against the woman, who is identified as Vanessa Luna, are pending.