He strangled his wife so she wouldn't go to jail for car debt, Texas cops say

Francisco Olazaran would rather see his wife dead than in jail, he told police.

But at first, he had a different story, according to a news release from the Houston Police Department.

He rushed into the Sand Dollar Thrift Store on the city's East End on July 4 and told employees that his wife had been choked and robbed by three men in the parking lot, KTRK reported. He told the responding officers the same thing.

But after more police interviews, Olazaran admitted that he strangled Maria, 63, the release states. He was arrested and charged initially with assault of a family member on Saturday, but his charge was upgraded to murder soon after that, the Houston Chronicle reported.

According to court documents obtained by KTRK, he told investigators that his wife, who worked at Walmart, had just traded in an older car for a newer one. He didn't have a job, and hers did not pay well, so he worried that they would not be able to afford the car payments, the station reported.

"The defendant stated that morning he killed the complainant because he did not want her to go to jail over the debt," a prosecutor read during Olazaran's first court appearance on July 5. "He stated that he did not want her to go to jail and that he preferred for her to die."

Maria was rushed to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Houston the morning of July 4 and was pronounced dead there, KPRC reported. Harris County authorities determined that she died by manual strangulation.

Although debtors prisons were banned in the U.S. nearly 200 years ago, some people who owe money are once again being jailed for civil debts, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union. If a creditor sues a debtor in civil court, sometimes they are required to attend another court date, to answer questions about their finances.

If they then miss that court date, an arrest warrant can be issued for failure to appear.

Olazaran was being held Tuesday in the Harris County Jail on $80,000 bond and was expected to make another court appearance Tuesday.