Skip to main content
Clear icon
56º

Wife of Presidente Supermarket co-founder describes affair

Manuel Marin hired 3 men to kill wife's lover, prosecutors say

MIAMI – The wife of Presidente Supermarket co-founder Manuel Marin told jurors Wednesday morning about the day her husband learned about her affair with Camilo Salazar.

Jenny Marin rekindled a romantic relationship with Salazar when she and her husband moved to Miami from New Jersey. The relationship, according to state prosecutors, was the reason Manuel Marin devised a murder-for-hire plot that ultimately killed Salazar.

Jenny Marin described in detail a confrontation with her husband at a Presidente Supermarket after he learned about the affair.

"He had a crazed look. He was kind of smiling and kind of serious. He was walking very rigid," she said.

When asked if she was afraid, she said "a little bit. Yes."

She told jurors her husband grabbed her by the arm and screamed at her as they drove away from the store.

When prosecutors asked her if she felt responsible for the death of her lover, she reportedly choked back tears before saying "sometimes." 

Wednesday’s testimony helps prosecutors establish the state of mind that they say led Manuel Marin to hire three men, Roberto Isaac, Alexis Vila Perdomo and Ariel Gandulla, to kill his wife's lover, Salazar.

Only Isaac and Vila Perdomo are on trial at the moment for second-degree murder.

Manuel Marin has yet to stand trial. Gandulla faces a less serious kidnapping charge in exchange for testifying against the defendants. Salazar’s body was found in 2011 near the Everglades and investigators said he was beaten, his throat was slit and his groin area was burned.

A thumbprint on Salazar's car and cell phone records implicated Gandulla, who asserted his innocence in the actual killing and fled to Canada. Prosecutors eventually convinced him to turn himself in.

On Tuesday, Salazar’s wife took the stand and, while her late husband’s accused killers sat across the courtroom, described the last day's of her husband's life.

Jenny Marin's testimony was expected to continue into Wednesday afternoon.


Recommended Videos