Joshua Touchton, left, and Beatriz Herrera (Orange County Sheriff’s Office).
A woman from Florida, who was reportedly exchanging text messages with her incarcerated husband about influencing a witness in his murder trial, has been charged with conspiracy and is now in jail herself.
Beatriz Herrera, 32, is the spouse of Joshua Touchton, 38, a convicted murderer who was found guilty in 2013 and is appealing his conviction. As per court documents, both Touchton and Herrera face charges of conspiracy to manipulate a witness, after authorities alleged that Herrera was caught sneaking a cellphone into the prison for her husband. Text messages and voice notes discovered on her phone supposedly revealed plans to instruct a witness in Touchton’s murder case.
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According to an arrest affidavit for Touchton dated April 3, law enforcement was alerted by an assistant state attorney through email. The attorney stated that Herrera was under investigation after she was suspected of smuggling cigarettes and cellphones to her husband in jail.
A search warrant was issued for Herrera’s phone, which allegedly contained “a sound clip that Touchton made for Herrera trying to get her to coach someone on how to testify for his upcoming evidentiary hearing.”
The detective wrote in the affidavit that a witness in the original trial was reportedly set to recant his story, giving the appeal new momentum. However, according to the affidavit, the same witness was allegedly coached by Touchton and Herrera ahead of his testimony. Police wrote that a male voice allegedly explained “what needs to be said to be said by [the witness] and how he needs to say specific things, including Joshua did not kill Mike, but [redacted] did.”
Detectives were able to confirm that the male voice was Touchton and that he was texting Herrera.
In an exchange that took place in November and early December 2024, Touchton and Herrera texted about the witness’ affidavit being notarized. In mid-December, Touchton allegedly sent a PDF containing questions about the night of the murder and “specific answers” that the witness was to deliver.
Police said that Touchton admitted that he spoke with the witness in February.
Herrera was arrested in March for allegedly smuggling phones and cigarettes. At the time, she reportedly told police that she received a text from a “random person” who said they would pay her to smuggle the items. After confirming that Touchton had been moved to Orange County Corrections when new evidence was presented in his appeal, she provided police with her phone’s passcode.
The search warrant on Herrera’s phone yielded several conversations about the witness and what Touchton wanted him to say in court. One text sent from Touchton to Herrera on Feb. 20 stated, “Baby, with [the witness], I’m about to make you a recording.” That recording, according to the affidavit, started with Touchton saying, “Okay baby, this is what you need to go over with [the witness] …” Police wrote that Touchton allegedly instructed that “[the witness] needs to remember that [redacted] was the one that killed Mike.” Touchton also allegedly told Herrera, “[E]verything that transpired that night, [the witness] was never at the murder scene,” and he “needs to stick to that.”
Touchton also allegedly said that the witness had to add that he was “threatened by the state prosecutor.”
Herrera allegedly told Touchton at the beginning of that conversation, “Baby, you’re going to come home.”
Police charged Herrera with conspiracy to tamper with a witness. She was booked into the Orange County Jail on Friday on $5,000 bond. Touchton was also charged with conspiracy to tamper with a witness while in custody.
