Woman Cuts Cousin ‘Into Pieces’ & Barbecues Him On Grill After Drug Deal Gone Wrong

Candie Dominguez will receive a maximum 30 years behind bars in exchange for her grisly testimony.

December 13, 2018

Candie Dominguez [Bexar County Sheriff]

By: Aaron Rasmussen

UPDATE (JULY 2, 2019):

After two trials, Gabriel Moreno was found not guilty in the murder of Jose Luis Menchaca.

However, in June 2019, Moreno was accused of assaulting a woman and pointing a gun at her head in an unrelated case. He is facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of a firearm, and theft of a firearm. His bond is a total of $1 million for the three charges.

Read more: CBS Austin, CBS Austin (2)

ORIGINAL STORY (DECEMBER 13, 2018):

BEXAR COUNTY, TX — A beef over a bad drug deal resulted in a Texas woman helping dismember and then barbecue her own cousin on a grill.

In exchange for a plea deal that granted her a maximum of 30 years in prison for admitting to murder, Candie Dominguez testified on December 10 that in September 2014, she lured Jose Luis “Pee Wee” Menchaca, 35, to her home in Bexar County on orders from her boyfriend, Daniel Moreno Lopez.

When Menchaca showed up, Dominguez testified that she “just watched” as her 32-year-old boyfriend and another alleged assailant, Gabriel Moreno, 36, went after her cousin with metal baseball bats and a pipe as revenge for a previous attack on Lopez following a failed drug transaction.

"They just beat him. He tried to talk at first and then he just didn't talk no more,” she said. “He was trying to use his hands to help himself, but no.”

During Dominguez’s trial, witness Dennis Austin, 32, recounted how the bloody murder scene was like “a horror movie” and that he helped move Menchaca’s body to a backyard shed out of fear for his own life. “I was scared as to what I’ve seen, to what I experienced,” he testified. “I never experienced anything like that before."

Dominguez, 39, was calm and matter of fact as she recalled for the San Antonio court how she then got more actively involved after the relocation of her cousin’s body.

"I cut it up into pieces,” she said, noting the gruesome process of dismemberment and barbecuing took “like maybe two days” because “we weren’t on it; we were doing different things.”

In November, Dominguez’s boyfriend, Lopez, was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in Menchaca's death. Moreno, the second alleged assailant, could face a similar fate if found guilty at his upcoming retrial, since deadlocked jurors failed to reach a verdict in his first trial last March.

Next Up

Suspected Texas Serial Killer Taunted Police, May Have Committed Multiple Unsolved Murders, Cops Say

Before his May 2023 arrest, police say Raul Meza Jr. “was ready and prepared to kill again, and he was looking forward to it.”

A Rural Oregon Identity Theft Case Took A Dark, Hard Turn

Officers investigating the fraudulent use of a food benefits card made a horrifying discovery at a Jackson County, Oregon pig farm.

How ‘Serial, Psychosexual, Thrill Killer’ Michael Gargiulo Got Caught

The convicted murderer, dubbed the “Hollywood Ripper”, “watched and waited” for the opportunity to stab his female neighbors, prosecutors say.

5 Things To Know About The Mysterious Staircase Death of Kathleen Peterson

In 2003, Michael Peterson went to jail for life without the possibility of parole for the murder of his wife, Kathleen — but that was just the beginning of the story.

West Mesa Murders: Serial Killer Who Slayed, Buried 11 Victims Remains Unidentified

“We need new information on this case, that is what is going to lead to it getting solved,” the city’s mayor says of whoever killed the girls and women.

Ohio Teenager Kills Boyfriend, Friend By Slamming Car Into Wall At 100 MPH

Mackenzie Shirilla, then 17, “had a mission, and she executed it with precision,” the judge said.

Over Four Decades Later, Serial Killer Confesses To Murdering Teen On Spring Break In 1980

In March 1980, teen Carol Ann Barrett was kidnapped from the Daytona Beach motel room she shared with her friends on Spring Break. After over 40 years, the murder was solved when serial killer Billy Mansfield, Jr. confessed to her murder.

North Carolina Couple Accused Of Murdering Woman Who Refused Threesome With Them

“They bled her out in a bathtub like an animal in a slaughterhouse,” the victim’s grandmother says of the “depraved” case.

Footage Shows Bar Patrons Tackling Austin Attorney After He Pulls Gun On His Ex-Girlfriend

Just days after 41-year-old Gavin Edward Rush was arrested for pointing a gun at his ex-girlfriend at the bar where she worked, he was found dead by police.

Woman Pleads Guilty To Fatally Shoving 87-Year-Old Broadway Singing Coach

Lauren Pazienza pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years behind bars for the 2022 shoving death of NYC music coach Barbara Maier Gustern.