Nadia Palacios Confessed To Killing The Wrong Guy

[sugarfree irony]

Nadia Palacios was taken into custody after her boyfriend allegedly fired a shotgun at a car and a lawn ornament to “impress her.”

But when Waukegan police and Cook County investigators questioned her on Sunday, her guilty conscience got the best of her and she confessed to something far more serious — a nearly year-old murder that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, authorities said.

Palacios, 22, told investigators she tortured and helped kill a man she believed had sexually assaulted her last year. The confession led to the arrests of other culprits in David Campbell’s gruesome murder, Waukegan police said.

Campbell, however, was the wrong guy.

Lured by a phony drug deal, the 27-year-old walked into a deadly ambush at a Waukegan body shop, where he was tortured with a blowtorch, beaten with a hammer and then strangled to death, Lake County prosecutors said.

Palacios allegedly wielded the blowtorch, burning Campbell’s groin before the Waukegan man was killed, authorities said.

The five people charged with Campbell’s July 5, 2011, murder were mistaken — police concluded he did not commit the July 1 sexual assault, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz said Thursday.

Campbell’s body — wrapped in plastic — was discovered in a pond a day later near Barrington.

The chain of events allegedly began when Palacios, Roberto Guzman and a friend were tied up by four masked men in Palacios’ Waukegan home. One of the men then sexually assaulted Palacios, authorities said.

Afterward, Palacios and Guzman allegedly talked to others and became convinced Campbell — whom they knew — had carried out the assault, Fisz said. A source said Palacios might have been led to believe Campbell was the prime suspect because he had similar shoes as her attacker.

Similar shoes is such a little thing to go on when planning a revenge murder .

Guzman, 24, of Waukegan, allegedly arranged a phony drug deal to lure Campbell to the auto body shop where Campbell was attacked as he stepped inside an office, authorities said.

Eric Castillo, of Beach Park, knocked Campbell to the ground, Fisz said. Another man, Jose Horta, 19, of Waukegan, pointed a pistol at Campbell while Castillo stripped his clothes off.

Questioned by the men about the sexual assault, Campbell denied any involvement. But Castillo, 24, allegedly hit him in the head with a claw hammer, Fisz said, then pulled a clear plastic bag over his head and secured it with a zip tie.

Palacios then used the blowtorch on Campbell’s groin, Fisz said. Castillo strangled him moments later with the zip tie, authorities said.

Horta and another man wrapped Campbell in plastic and then drove to the Barrington area to dump his body in the Penny Road Pond, Fisz said.

Palacios and Guzman drove Campbell’s car to northwest Indiana and abandoned it there.

Guzman was denied bail. Bail was set at $5 million for Castillo, $3 million for Horta and $2 million for Palacios.

Scary to think they all might have gotten away with this if she was not feeling bad enough about it to confess .


http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/1...st-summer.html

[Whisper]

Nadia Palacios, Roberto Guzman, Eric Castillo and Jose Horta

Police say they have pieced together the murder of a man found strangled nearly a year ago in a pond in a South Barrington forest preserve.

Waukegan Police said three men and one woman were charged Wednesday in the death of David Campbell, 27, a Waukegan resident who was found July 6, 2011 in the Penny Road Forest Preserve in Cook County.

Nadia Palacios, 22, of the 3500 block of Winhaven Drive, Waukegan was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Also charged were Roberto Guzman, 24, of the 1000 block of Berwick Boulevard, Waukegan; Eric Castillo, 24, of the 38400 block of North Sheridan Road, Beach Park; and Jose Horta, 19, of the 300 block of Edison Court, Waukegan.

Police said the murder was in retaliation for a crime the suspects believed Campbell committed against them.

Police hope to release details of Campbell’s alleged transgression during a press conference Friday afternoon, Waukegan Police Cmdr. Gabriel Guzman said Thursday.

Police arrested Palacios while investigating a report of shots fired Sunday evening near Grand Avenue and Yeoman Street in Waukegan. While interviewing Palacios, police said detectives from the Gang Intelligence Unit learned of her alleged involvement in Campbell’s death.

Lake County gang detectives worked with the Cook County Sheriff's police in the investigation, police said.

Guzman, Castillo and Horta were arrested Wednesday after police obtained warrants on the murder charges, police said. Bond set in each warrant was $3 million.

Palacios was in the Lake County jail Thursday in lieu of $2 million bond. Guzman was in the Lake County Jail Thursday. Castillo and Horta appeared in bond court Thursday afternoon.

Additional charges were filed against Palacios in connection with the Sunday shooting incident, including unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharged of a firearm.

A companion, William Golden, 19, of the 1900 block of Washington Street, was charged with multiple felonies, including reckless discharge of a firearm, two counts of criminal damage to property and unlawful use of a weapon.
[...]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,7854811.story

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Jury selection was under way when a Waukegan man changed his mind about going to trial and took a plea deal in the blowtorch murder case.

Attorneys were picking jurors Tuesday, May 7, when Roberto Guzman, 25, admitted to first-degree murder instead. Guzman will serve 29 years in prison for luring Waukegan man David Campell, 27, to a Waukegan body shop July 5, 2011, Assistant State’s Attorney Ken LaRue said.
[...]

Guzman admitted Tuesday that he helped set the murder up, but claimed he was at his mother’s house when Campbell was being murdered, LaRue said. Guzman could have spent 20 to 60 years in prison if a jury had convicted him of first-degree murder.

Palacios is accused of taking the blowtorch to Campell’s groin, Castillo is accused of strangling Campbell with a zip tie and Horta is accused of dumping the body at Penny Road Pond in Barrington Hills, officials said.

Charges are still pending against Palacios, Castillo and Horta. Each has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.

http://newssun.suntimes.com/19955298...ch-murder.html