ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Both the defense and prosecution rested Wednesday in the trial for a Volusia County man accused of killing his estranged wife and her two children.
Luis Toledo, 35, is accused of killing 28-year-old Yessenia Suarez and her two children, Thalia Otto, 9, and Michael Otto, 8, in Deltona on Oct. 23, 2013. Their bodies were never found.
The state took up most of the day questioning Suarez’s best friend, Sabrina Newell.
Newell described Suarez and Toledo’s relationship as no fairy tale, saying they were both headstrong and had issues like most couples.
The jury then heard a phone call Toledo made to Newell while in the Volusia County Jail in May of 2015.
In that call Toledo discussed his wife’s affair. The state argues that when Toledo learned his wife was cheating on him with her coworker, he killed her and the children.
“It didn’t justify what happened,” Newell said about the affair.
“You don’t know what happened,” Toledo told her.
Toledo also told Newell not to believe what she heard in the news about the murders.
After dismissing the jury for lunch Wednesday, Toledo told the judge he does not want to testify.
The defense briefly questioned three witnesses including Toledo's neighbor, Tyshawn Jackson, about Toledo's clothes the night they dropped off Suarez's car.
Jackson testified that the black shirt, pants and boots Toledo was wearing were found at the bottom of a dumpster.
Once the judge dismissed the jury for the day, the defense asked to throw out testimony relating to some of Toledo's taped jail interviews.
"Those statements made by Mr. Toledo, as the defendant be stricken," Attorney Jeff Deen said.
Deen also requesting for a mistrial depending on how the judge ruled.
"The state believes the court's ruling was abundantly fair, according to the law and the evidence in the case," Assistant State Attorney Ryan Will said.
The judge denied both motions.
Both defense and prosecution rested Wednesday afternoon and are expected to present closing arguments Thursday morning at 9 a.m.
The trial is expected to conclude by Friday.
See updates from court below from News 6 reporter Loren Korn.
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