Munoz Charged with Murder, Daniel Munoz Jury Trial Scheduled for Aug. 3

Daniel Lee Munoz of Fallon and Reno pleaded not guilty to Open Murder on May 3, 2025, in Reno’s Second Judicial District Court before Judge David Hardy, upon which the court set a jury trial for August 3, 2026.

The case began on Nov. 20, 2024, when the Reno Police Department (RPD) and Churchill County Sheriff’s Office both received calls regarding a missing 40-year-old woman last seen alive between Nov. 8 and 9, 2024.

RPD initiated a joint investigation with Churchill County, which led to the discovery of the body of Xiaoxia Zhang, the wife of Daniel Munoz, the following day. Zhang was buried under the trampoline in the yard of the couple's Del Rio Drive home in Fallon and was believed to have been killed in their residence in the 6100 block of Pleasant Oak Trail in Reno.

During the course of the investigation, detectives believed that Xiaoxia Zhang, known to her friends and family in the U.S. as Shawna Munoz, was likely killed in Reno and then transported to Fallon. Munoz was identified as a suspect, arrested in Churchill County, and later transferred to the Washoe County Jail.

The case originated in the Reno Justice Court, where Washoe County Deputy District Attorney Adam Cate requested that bail be set at $10 million, with bond only. Defense attorneys Orrin Johnson and Robert M. Draskovich argued against the high bond, noting that such an amount was nearly impossible to secure and asserting that the risk was too high for surety companies, even with collateral.

Reno Justice Court Judge Ryan Sullivan set bail at $5 million, which was posted through Abel Bail Bonds on March 7, 2025. Munoz was released from custody, placed on house arrest, and ordered to surrender his passport.

Following a preliminary hearing on April 29–30, 2025, Judge Sullivan found that enough evidence existed for the case to proceed. Justice Court preliminary hearings, unlike trials, do not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the court determines whether probable cause exists that a crime was committed and that the defendant committed it. An estimated 85% to 95% of cases meet this threshold and are bound over to district court, as was Munoz’s case.

On April 30, the case was bound over to the Second Judicial District Court in Washoe County. Munoz was arraigned on May 15 before District Court Judge David Hardy, at which time he again pleaded not guilty and waived his right to a speedy trial. In August and again in November, forms for substitution of counsel were filed. On Dec. 11, his attorney filed a motion for bail reduction, despite Munoz being out of custody. Judge Hardy denied the motion.

Several issues have plagued the case since Munoz’s arrest in Churchill County. Jurisdiction was heavily contested early in the case. Munoz’s attorneys argued that the matter should be heard in Churchill County, where his wife’s body was discovered, asserting there was no forensic evidence indicating Shawna Munoz was killed in Washoe County. They maintained that proper jurisdiction lay where the body was found.

"Strikingly, there is no direct forensic evidence which would establish that any criminal activity happened in Washoe County at all," they wrote. "There is nothing to indicate a violent murder was committed in the Reno home — no evidence of large blood stains or recent cleanup, broken furniture, signs of struggle, bullet holes, etc."

According to the defense, the Nov. 21 search of the Fallon property yielded little evidence apart from a bleach odor and a chemical stain on Munoz’s pants. Munoz told police he had been cleaning his pool. Police seized the pants, but “no matching evidence of a half-cleaned crime scene was discovered.” 

"Even if, for the sake of argument, Mr. Munoz had killed Shawna, the available evidence suggests that this act occurred wholly within Churchill County," the defense wrote in bail arguments.

Additionally, the defense argued that the medical examiner’s report, released Jan. 17, 2025, did not identify a specific cause of death, listing only “homicide.” According to the defense, the report noted decomposition but found no signs of gunshot wounds, stabbing, strangulation, blunt force trauma, or poisoning.

“There were no obvious wounds or broken bones which would explain the death,” said Johnson and Draskovich in their motion. The medical examiner classified the death as a homicide “based solely on the circumstances of the death,” not physical evidence.

“Even an intentional killing in self-defense is not a crime at all,” continued the defense. However, according to police interviews, Munoz initially told investigators, “There were no problems in the marriage, mental health issues, fears of threat or of suicide, and the family was financially stable.”

These issues were addressed by both the state and the defense during the April 29–30 preliminary hearing and will likely be revisited at trial.