In a handful of letters read in court Thursday, David “Bapo” Cotto appeared to tell co-defendant Felicia Nelson to lie to investigators and prevent her sons from cooperating to help him beat a murder case.

“They cannot place me at the crime scene, period,” he allegedly wrote, of prosecutors.

Cotto, 27, and Nelson, 32, both of Gary, are on trial this week. Cotto is charged in the early morning Sept. 11, 2021, shooting death of Andrew “Drew” Lukacek, 28, of Hammond, outside a Gary bar, while Nelson is charged with helping him avoid arrest.

Nelson is charged separately with trying to bribe one son $1,000 to take back what he told detectives, court records show.

In the letters, Cotto claimed prosecutors had no “physical evidence”, no video showing the shooting, no gun, no cell phone location, or texts or social media messages between him and Lukacek.

“They can’t prove we even know each other at all,” he allegedly wrote.

Cotto, who is Hispanic, told Nelson his defense lawyer was advancing a theory pushed forward by another witness that a Black man shot Lukacek.

Cotto allegedly suggested Nelson should sign a false affidavit and told her if her sons didn’t show up for depositions — i.e. pre-trial interviews — prosecutors wouldn’t have a case and would have to dismiss charges, according to the letters.

The testimony of a neighbor that arrived after the shooting was “hearsay” and the friend with them, the neighbor’s relative, was too messed up, he claimed.

“The only other person that can clear me is you, Felicia,” he wrote. “Our story is that it was a Black guy.”

Cotto’s lawyer John Cantrell has implicated the father of one of Nelson’s sons, who is African-American, which investigators dismissed, saying their evidence points at Cotto.

At one point, Nelson had dated both Cotto and Lukacek, which led to the shooting, lawyers said.

She was at a local bar, Tavern of the Oaks, 6201 W. 25th Ave., partly to buy cocaine from Lukacek, for a friend, attorneys said. Police later found nine grams on him in two bags.

Police were called around 2 a.m. Sept. 11, 2021, to the Black Oak bar for a reported shooting across the street, an affidavit stated.

Lukacek appeared lifeless and lying on his back next to Nelson’s white GMC Envoy, shot once in the chest.

Nelson told police she tried to perform CPR on him.

A witness told investigators a man nicknamed “Bapo” pulled up with Nelson’s kids as she was outside the bar buying cocaine for the friend from Lukacek. There seemed to be some issues between the men.

“I’m about to air this (expletive) out,” Cotto said in court documents, before he allegedly shot Lukacek in the chest.

Later, after the murder, Cotto and Nelson made plans to get married, believing she wouldn’t have to testify against him, court documents state.

At one point, the letters read Thursday reference Nelson and Cotto may have married in early February 2022.

Cotto was charged with murder, while Nelson was charged with assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony. They are being tried together this week after Lake Superior Judge Natalie Bokota previously granted a request by prosecutors to join the cases.

Defense lawyer Mark Gruenhagen is representing Nelson. Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Doug Shaw and Jacob Brandewie are assigned to the case.