Curtis Holliday, the Texas businessman who murdered his wife and left her body in a freezer, will be released after serving his 10-year prison sentence.
In 2020, Holliday was arrested for repeatedly beating his wife, 29-year-old Chi Le, and ordered not to contact her. He murdered her while out on bond.
Years later, in June 2024, just before jury selection began in his trial in Harris County District Court, Holliday, 62, pled guilty to murder in exchange for a ten-year sentence. (He’s already served two of those years.
“We’re thrilled that we were able to obtain that accountability. “He accepted responsibility,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Bondurant said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Le met Holliday on WeChat in 2015 before moving into his home and working for his business, which bought and resold domestic products returned by clients.
A year later, Le, a Vietnamese immigrant, gave birth to their daughter; the couple married in 2019.
In early 2020, Holliday was arrested on domestic violence accusations. Court filings described the violence he reportedly subjected his wife to, including punching her, denying her access to food, putting her in a room against her will, and telling her that “if he killed her, no one would know, care, or notice.”
Four months later, Holliday murdered his wife. “I was jealous and angry that [Chi] had decided to leave me for another man,” he admitted in his guilty plea.
Le’s death was discovered in April 2020, when her aunt, Simone Le, noted it had been weeks since she spoke with her niece.
After calling the police and stating that it was unusual for Le to miss their frequent phone talks, the aunt requested that an officer visit the couple’s house. That’s when cops discovered a woman caring for the couple’s daughter — but she was Holliday’s ex-wife, not Le.
A month later, officers discovered what prosecutors characterized in an affidavit as a “large freezer that appeared to be brand new in the middle of a room.” They remarked that the appliance not only seemed “out of place,” but it was also large enough to accommodate a human.
Authorities were surprised to discover Le’s body wrapped in plastic inside the freezer, “frozen with frost on the skin,” according to an autopsy report.
Holliday eventually admitted to putting his wife in the freezer but claimed she died by suicide.
However, officials were doubtful, in part because of a Facebook message that Le’s aunt saw before her niece’s death: “If suddenly nobody can find me, or find me dead,” she wrote, “please check my husband.” “He has repeatedly threatened to murder me.”
In July 2020, prosecutors charged Holliday with murder after a medical examiner determined that Le’s death was a homicide. His attorney, Dick DeGuerin, was anticipated to argue that his client had simply entered the couple’s home, despite a court-issued no-contact order, discovered his wife’s body, panicked, and stuffed it into the freezer.
“We thought that a settlement was better than a trial for him,” adds Holliday attorney DeGuerin. “He could be out in eight years, back with his daughter.”
Before her horrific death, Le sought help from law police and the courts, knowing her life was in danger. According to many who assist with victims of domestic violence, her situation, as well as Holliday’s brief prison sentence, exemplify bigger socioeconomic issues.
Amy Smith of the Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council tells PEOPLE, “It just goes to show how few resources and support there are for victims.”
Andy Kahan of Crime Stoppers of Houston adds, “This case sends a chilling message to victims of domestic violence.” “Her life is worth far more than ten years.”