photo by: Theatre Lawrence

Louise ImMasche as Hedwig in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

A man accused of murder in the highway death of a local actor waived his right to a preliminary hearing in another criminal matter on Tuesday.

Eliseo J. Munoz, 24, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in that matter — a case in which he’s charged with a third DUI and driving while suspended — and also in the murder case. He waived his right to the hearing in the DUI case, and the hearing in the murder case was continued until Nov. 30.

At a preliminary hearing, the state would put on a portion of its evidence and a judge would decide whether, based on that, there was probable cause to order the defendant to stand trial. The effect of waiving the preliminary hearing is that the defendant is automatically bound over for trial.

Munoz’s attorney, Michael Clarke, told Judge Stacey Donovan that his client was waiving the preliminary hearing in the DUI case “as a show of good faith and to keep (plea) negotiations going.”

No other details about ongoing negotiations were presented to the court Tuesday.

The DUI case stems from an incident that happened on March 7, 2024, but that wasn’t charged until one year and seven months later, on Oct. 27, 2025 — just three days after actor Louise ImMasche, 41, died in a head-on collision on the South Lawrence Trafficway, allegedly as a result of Munoz’s reckless driving.

District Attorney Dakota Loomis has characterized the failure to pursue the DUI charge sooner as a “fatal mistake” by the previous DA’s administration — the implication being that if Munoz had been charged with a third DUI back in the spring of 2024, when he was reportedly driving with three times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream, ImMasche might be alive today.

In the ImMasche case, Munoz faces one count of second-degree murder, one count of reckless driving, one count of driving with a suspended or revoked license and one count of operating a vehicle without a required ignition interlock device.

The arrest affidavit would provide more details about the circumstances for Munoz’s arrest, but Donovan has sealed that document in its entirety.

Clarke requested the seal, saying that the affidavit includes alleged admissions by his client as well as toxicology results and how fast he may have been driving on Oct. 24, 2025, the night that ImMasche was killed after a performance in “The Rocky Horror Show” at Theatre Lawrence. Clarke argued that such information could unduly prejudice potential jurors in the case.

A civil lawsuit filed by ImMasche’s husband, Zachary Grant, claims that Munoz was texting, speeding and under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.

Munoz is being held on a bond of $750,000 in the murder case and $7,500 in the DUI case. Prosecutor David Melton told a judge in February that Munoz posed “an extreme risk to the public” if he were to be released.

ImMasche, who used they/them pronouns, was a well-known actor in area theatrical productions, including numerous shows at Theatre Lawrence, such as “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “The Rocky Horror Show.” Though they lived in Kansas City at the time of their death, they had previously resided in Lawrence for many years. ImMasche also wrote two musicals, “Femme Assassin Guy” and “Run.”