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Ioannis Makris was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for arranging the November 13, 2015, fatal shooting of his fiancee, Laura Grillo, inside their Rowlett, Texas, home.

Grillo, 37, was a mother of three. Makris, known as John, ran a remodeling business and was the father of her youngest child. Grillo's brother, who has hearing loss in both ears, also lived in the house. Prosecutors later said Makris had two children with another woman who lived out of state. Grillo sent an email in June 2015 saying she was unhappy and raising the idea of a breakup. About a month later, Makris proposed in front of her children. Their wedding was set for eight days after her death.

Grillo was shot once in the head on the morning of November 13, 2015. Her brother found her body about noon, and a .45 caliber shell casing was nearby. There was no sign of forced entry. A safe in the master bedroom stood open with items scattered, initially pointing detectives toward a robbery, but they concluded the scene did not look like an interrupted burglary.

Rowlett police led the investigation. Makris said he and Grillo left the house together that morning and that he went to a Home Depot in Dallas County about 8:45 a.m. to meet employees Jesus Trevino and James Villeda. Surveillance video and the employees placed him there, and a gunshot residue test showed he had not fired a weapon. Detective Cruz Hernandez said Makris cried lightly for about a minute, which struck him as odd. Investigators also noted that, before being told Grillo was dead, Makris listed the home's residents without mentioning her.

Cell phone records placed Trevino's and Villeda's phones in Rowlett at the time of the shooting while Makris was driving to Dallas. Trevino disappeared and was later arrested in Florida. His former girlfriend, Lorena Rodriguez, told investigators Trevino said his boss was hiring him to kill his wife and had hired him for $15,000 months earlier. Another former employee said Makris first raised the idea with Trevino in January 2015.

During a four-hour interview, Villeda described a plot in which Trevino used a security code supplied by Makris to enter the house, waited for Grillo and shot her. Villeda later testified that Makris bought the two men a silver Kia that appeared on neighborhood surveillance and that the gun was dumped in a Dallas dumpster. In his own police interview, Makris gave the account placing him across the county at the time of the shooting. He did not confess, and the case went to trial. Who conducted the interview and when it occurred were not established.

By early June 2016, Makris and Trevino had been charged with capital murder, and police said Villeda would be charged within days. Makris was tried in Criminal District Court No. 6 in Dallas County before Judge Jeanine Howard. The judgment sentencing him to life without the possibility of parole was signed on September 20, 2018. The Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas affirmed his conviction in a memorandum opinion on May 29, 2020, in cause 05-18-01200-CR. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused his petition for discretionary review on September 16, 2020, and the mandate issued on October 19, 2020.

Trevino was convicted of capital murder at a separate trial and sentenced to life without parole in late February 2019 after jurors deliberated less than 45 minutes. Villeda pleaded guilty in exchange for a 25-year sentence and testified at both trials. Lead prosecutor Marissa Hatchett said prosecutors believed Makris did not want to pay child support for a third child.

The video is the police interview-room recording itself and runs about 116 to 117 minutes. It opens with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

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Part 2 of 3 of the recording described above.

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Part 3 of 3 of the recording described above.