Houston death row inmate set for November execution after $3.5 million diamond heist
By Investigative Reporter Tammy Rose
A Houston capital murder case that began with a multimillion-dollar diamond heist nearly 30 years ago is moving toward an execution.
Harris County court records show Reinaldo Dennes now faces execution on Nov. 19, 2026, at the Huntsville Unit.
The case dates back to Jan. 24, 1996. Prosecutors said Dennes helped carry out a robbery that left Houston jeweler Janos “Johnny” Szucs dead and security guard David Copeland seriously wounded.
The thieves took more than $3.5 million in diamonds and about $200,000 in cash, according to court records.
The diamonds have never been recovered.
Harris County records show execution date
Court records show prosecutors filed a proposed execution order, death warrant and notice on June 23, 2026.
Those documents listed Nov. 19 as the proposed execution date.
However, the copies filed in June did not contain the judge’s signature.
The Harris County docket later recorded new activity on Aug. 14. Those entries included an execution order, a death warrant and an execution date of Nov. 19, 2026.
The order directs the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to carry out the execution sometime after 6 p.m. in Huntsville.
Dennes has remained eligible for execution since December 2020, according to the state’s filing.
Prosecutors say robbery involved months of planning
The court filing describes a detailed plan that started before the January 1996 robbery.
Prosecutors said Dennes knew Szucs through previous business dealings. Dennes also worked as a jewelry dealer in the same office building as Szucs and Copeland.
According to the filing, co-defendant Francisco Santos Rojos introduced Dennes to Antonio Ramirez.
Prosecutors said Dennes asked Ramirez to build a firearm silencer from a sketch.
Ramirez built the device and later modified it after Dennes complained that it made too much noise, according to the filing.
Court records say Dennes eventually tested the silencer inside his office.
Witness backed out before robbery
The filing says Dennes and his brother, Jose Alberto Dennes, approached Ramirez on Jan. 18, 1996.
Prosecutors said they asked Ramirez to participate in the robbery.
According to the filing, Dennes planned to obtain the surveillance tapes. Ramirez would take the diamonds. Jose Alberto Dennes would shoot the jeweler.
Ramirez realized why Dennes wanted the silencer and asked him to return it, according to the court record.
Dennes refused.
Ramirez later traveled to Ecuador and was outside the country when the robbery happened.
Neither the firearm nor the silencer was ever recovered, according to prosecutors.
Cleaning employee helped provide access
Court records also identify Estrella Martinez as a cleaning employee at the office building.
Prosecutors said Martinez had a romantic relationship with Dennes.
The filing says Martinez agreed to allow Dennes and his brother into the building through a loading dock entrance after business hours.
Dennes bought Martinez a cell phone so he could tell her when to open the door and when to distract the security guard, prosecutors said.
The filing says Dennes warned Martinez that he would have to shoot the guard if she failed to distract him.
Prosecutors said Dennes postponed the robbery for two days before moving forward on the third day.
Security guard survived shooting
Security guard David Copeland later testified about the attack.
According to the filing, Dennes approached Copeland and told him, “I have something I want to show you.”
Prosecutors said Dennes then shot Copeland in the chest.
After Copeland fell, Dennes shot him again in the back.
Copeland survived but suffered partial paralysis.
The filing says Copeland later heard sounds consistent with someone removing video recording equipment from the security booth.
Jeweler found dead with five gunshot wounds
Police later found Szucs dead inside his seventh-floor office.
Court records say he suffered five gunshot wounds.
Investigators found no signs of forced entry.
When authorities opened Szucs’ safe, they discovered the diamonds and roughly $200,000 in cash missing.
The filing also says Szucs regularly wore a five-carat pinky ring.
That ring disappeared too.
Investigators never recovered it.
Prosecutors said the stolen diamonds would equal approximately $7.2 million today when adjusted for inflation.
Ballistics evidence connected the shootings
Investigators recovered shell casings from the building lobby, a field between Dennes’ home and the office building, and other locations.
A firearms examiner concluded that bullets recovered from Szucs, Dennes’ office and the lobby came from the same firearm, according to the filing.
The weapon was either a Taurus or Beretta 9mm handgun.
Police later searched Dennes’ office.
Officers found either a Taurus 9mm semiautomatic handgun or an owner’s manual for one, according to the court record.
Prosecutors also used landline and cell phone records to support testimony from Ramirez and Martinez.
Dennes left Texas after the killing
The filing says Dennes and his brother traveled to Florida after the crime.
They later went to the Dominican Republic for several days.
Prosecutors also said Dennes bought a new sports car shortly after the killing.
Prosecutors told jury about earlier diamond robbery plot
The court filing also describes another robbery plot from November 1995.
Prosecutors said Dennes targeted diamond courier Albert Ohayon.
Dennes allegedly knew Ohayon through previous employment and believed he would carry between $500,000 and $1 million in diamonds.
Two men recruited for the robbery entered the wrong house, according to the filing.
They invaded the home of another family instead.
The filing says the men terrorized a couple and their 9-year-old daughter for about two and a half hours before fleeing with property and the family’s vehicle.
Jury convicted Dennes of capital murder
A Harris County jury convicted Dennes of capital murder on Aug. 28, 1997.
Court records show the trial judge sentenced him to death on Sept. 4, 1997.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later affirmed the conviction and sentence.
Dennes continued to challenge his conviction through state and federal courts.
The state’s 2026 filing says reviewing courts found no due process violations that blocked his execution.
Nearly $4 million in diamonds and cash still missing
The execution date closes one chapter in a case that has remained active for decades.
One mystery remains.
Investigators never recovered the more than $3.5 million in diamonds taken from Szucs’ safe.
They also never recovered his five-carat pinky ring.
Dennes is scheduled for execution on Nov. 19, 2026, in Huntsville.
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