BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – An Edinburg mother accused of setting a vehicle on fire with her two children inside made her first court appearance Wednesday morning in San Antonio.
Marlene Vidal, 34, appeared before Judge Joel Perez in Bexar County’s 437th Criminal District Court.
During Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutors said they haven’t decided if they are seeking the death penalty at this time for Vidal.
The state and Vidal’s defense team told Perez they are continuing to gather evidence to build their respective cases.
Perez asked both sides to return to court for another hearing in approximately 60 days. Records show the next hearing is tentatively set for Nov. 12.
Background
First responders found the bodies of Vidal’s two children just before 5 a.m. on May 15 behind a warehouse in the 500 block of Richland Hills Drive, which is located near Potranco Road.
San Antonio police detained Vidal at the scene. She was later identified as the children’s mother.
On May 26, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the children as Aleeza Elena Vidal, 6, and Adrian Akeel Vidal, 5. Vidal’s indictment states they were both cut and stabbed with a knife. The medical examiner’s office ruled their deaths as homicides.
Vidal is charged with two counts of capital murder of a person under 10 years of age, capital murder of multiple persons, two counts of injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury, arson and tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse.
She is being held at the Bexar County jail on a $1,000,000 bond.
More coverage of this story on KSAT:
