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Mom of 2 Found Dead in Road: Her Lover Is Now Accused of Her Murder | Crime House 24/7
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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, it's Vanessa. If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House
- [00:07]
original you should check out.
- [00:09]
It's called the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah's an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller who's seen firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, examining the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. Until it doesn't. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or
- [00:49]
wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:50]
New episodes drop every Monday.
- [00:53]
Foreign. This is Crime House. Good morning everyone. We have multiple breaking true crime cases this morning that you need to know about. And we're starting with the biggest one. A Florida mother of two texted her secret lover the night before she was murdered, telling him she felt a little nervous about their plans. She never came home. Home. Now after 14 months of investigation, detectives say they cracked the case wide open.
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This is crime house 24 7, your
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non stop source for the biggest crime cases developing right now. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson and we have quite a lineup for you today. Here's what you need to know.
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Vanessa Richardson
We're starting this morning with a story out of Palm Beach County, Florida. One that began on the night of October 28, 2024, when a woman's body was found lying face down in the southbound lanes of Lyons Road in Lantana. And this week led to the arrest of the man investigators say is responsible. The victim, 35 year old Linda Campatelli, was a nurse and mother of two young daugh. The man now charged with her murder is 38 year old Renee J. Perez of Miami. On Tuesday, March 10th, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Perez had been taken into custody and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail on charges of first degree murder. With a deadly weapon and tampering with physical evidence. Here's what investigators say happened and how they built the case. On the night of October 28, 2024, dispatchers started receiving multiple calls about unresponsive woman lying in the road. One caller reported she was bleeding profusely from the mouth. Officers were dispatched between 10:18 and 10:21pm the woman, Linda Campatelli, was pronounced dead at 10:26pm her iPhone was found near her body and helped first responders identify her. About 50ft away sat a Chevrolet Tahoe registered to her husband, John Campatelli. Early the following morning, detectives spoke with John at their home. He told investigators Linda had left between 7:30 and 8pm saying she was going to dinner with friends. Cell phone records confirmed he had not left the house. The Palm beach county medical examiner ruled Linda's death a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head and torso. According to the affidavit, her injuries were extensive, consistent with significant applied force. Blood spatter inside the Tahoe was described by investigators as clearly indicative of a struggle or violent episode, with evidence someone had been severely injured and transported inside the vehicle. Interviews with two of Capelli's closest friends pointed detectives toward Perez. Both women told investigators that Campatelli had been engaged in an extramarital affair with him, a relationship that had begun Perez himself would later confirm to police. While both of them were working at Wellington Regional Medical center, both were married to other people at the time of her death. A forensic investigation of Capitelli's iPhone revealed that she and Perez had been in near daily contact through WhatsApp for years. Their messages covered everything from family matters and work to intimate conversations, expressions of affection and explicit photographs. In multiple messages, Campatelli had expressed frustration about having to share Perez's time with his wife. On October 27, 2024, the night before her murder, Capelli and Perez exchanged messages confirming plans to meet the following evening at 7:30pm among those messages, Linda wrote, I love you. I feel kind of weird. I don't know what to expect tomorrow. You've never done anything like this for me before, and I feel a little nervous. Perez told her he was just trying to show her he could be romantic and signed off with, I love you so much. I At 8:12pm on October 28, the night of the killing, a photo was taken on Campotelli's phone showing the interior rear of her Tahoe with the seats laid flat, covered with a birthday blanket and ultrasorb medical sheets. Those sheets were gone by the time investigators arrived on the scene. The same brand of sheets was later found at Perez's residence, and his employer confirmed he had access to them through his job. When detectives interviewed Perez on November 8, he acknowledged the affair but denied meeting Campatelli the night she died. He claimed he had contacted her the day before to cancel their plans and said she had been extremely upset. Investigators say they found no evidence in call or text records to support that claim. What they did find was a detailed digital trail that told a very different story. Cell phone records, GPS and Life360 data, license plate recognition, hospital key card logs, and surveillance footage all placed a prepaid phone associated with Perez and Perez's own vehicle, traveling in unison with Linda's Tahoe onto Lions Road, the location where Linda's body and her Tahoe were later found. Surveillance footage from Delray Medical center also showed Perez leaving the hospital at approximately 12:06am on October 29 and pausing near an outdoor trash can with a 16 second gap in the footage at that moment. Investigators also noted that he arrived at the hospital wearing one pair of dark compacted shoes and left wearing a different pair of light gray shoes. The shoes he was wearing when he left that night were never found, not at his workplace, his home, or his sister's residence, further raising investigators suspicions. On November 13, Perez purchased a new phone, but was captured on store cameras using his older phone, which he claimed he lost. And while Linda's phone contained thousands of WhatsApp messages between the two of them, forensic extraction of Perez's new phone showed no corresponding WhatsApp records whatsoever. Evidence, detectives say is consistent with intentional deletion. Linda Campatelli left behind two young daughters under the age of 10. She was remembered by those who knew her as bold, sassy, and fun loving. Colonel Talal Masri of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office made a statement about the arrest. He said, quote, After 14 months of working diligently, our detectives from the Violent Crimes Division were able to establish a suspect, obtain an arrest warrant for him, and bring him to justice, end quote. Perez made his first court appearance the following morning, and a bond of $50,000 was ordered. He's due back in court on April 9, with an initial case conference scheduled for April 30. And while that case moves forward in Palm beach county, investigators in Queens, New York, were closing in on a husband whose wife had been missing since the summer, her remains found in pieces months apart in two separate locations across the borough. A man in Queens, New York, accused of killing his much younger wife last year was arrested Wednesday morning, 75 year old Rupchand Simbu was taken into custody on March 11 in connection with the murder of his wife, 34 year old Salisha Ali. He was charged with second degree murder, two counts of concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court and remanded without bail. He's next scheduled to appear in court on March 16. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison. The last confirmed sighting of Salisha Ali, who was either 33 or 34 years old at the time, according to varying reports, was July 13, 2025, when she had a FaceTime call with family members at Simbu's home in South Ozone Park, Queens. She never showed up for work at her Brooklyn job the following day. About a week later, on July 19, Ali's mother asked Simbu to report her daughter missing, which he did. Two months passed with no answers. Then, around 7am on September 22, 2025, two New York City sanitation workers spotted something susp near 149th Avenue and Brookville Boulevard in the Rosedale neighborhood a blue moving blanket wrapped with yellow rope around what appeared to be a large object in a patch of woods. When they opened it, they found what appeared to be a decomposed woman's torso, beheaded and dismembered. The medical examiner later identified the remains as Ali's and ruled her death a homicide. A search warrant executed at Simbu's home turned up plastic wrap and yellow rope that an NYPD lab determined was consistent with the rope used to bind Ali's torso. A second search warrant uncovered a moving blanket in Simbu's garage that was identical to the one her remains had been wrapped in. The case broke open further when investigators obtained GPS data from Simbu's phone. It showed he'd been at the Jamaica Bay wildlife refuge on July 14, the day after Ali was last seen alive. It also showed that he had been at the Rosedale location the following day, July 15, months before her torso was discovered there. Acting on those coordinates, investigators searched the wildlife refuge on the night of March 5th. Additional remains, including a head, legs and an arm, were found near the North Channel Bridge. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said the remains had visible, identifiable tattoos that had not decomposed. After consulting with the medical examiner, Kenny said investigators believe Ali was killed using a knife to cut through soft tissue and a saw to cut through bone. Her exact cause of death has not yet been formally determined. Queen's District Attorney Melinda Katz said Simbu quote, went to extraordinary lengths to evade responsibility for the brutal killing of his wife, discarding her remains in remote locations and concealing critical evidence in an apparent effort to cover up this horrific crime. She also credited the sanitation workers whose discovery set the investigation in motion. Ali and Simbu had met in 2023 while she was living in Trinidad. By 2024, the two had married and Ali had moved into his home in Queens. From Queens, we now turn to Hollywood, California, where a series of fires set over the course of 10 days claimed the lives of two elderly sisters and the man accused of setting them is now facing the possibility of of the death penalty.
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Vanessa Richardson
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Vanessa Richardson
Between January 26th and February 4th of this year, a man prosecutors say used a handheld torch style lighter moved through residential Hollywood setting fires at 10 different locations, according to the Lo Angeles County District Attorney's office. Now that man, 39 year old Jovon Lamar Duvern has been charged with murder. The spree came to its deadliest point in the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 4th when a fire broke out just after 2am at a home on Vista Del Mar Avenue near West Yuka Street. Inside that home were two sisters. As firefighters rushed to the scene, a neighbor witnessed 76 year old Maria del Consuelo Alarcon Valdez, known to her family as Cello, briefly appear on the front porch in a panic telling her neighbor, I need to go back and get my sister. When firefighters arrived, both Chelo and her sister, 82 year old Yolanda Honda, known as Yola, were found trapped inside Alarcon Valdez died at the scene. Onda was rushed to the hospital, where she later died. That same day, Duvern was arrested near Hollywood Boulevard and Wilton Place. On March 11, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office announced he'd been charged with two counts of murder and 11 counts of felony arson, two in connection with the sisters deaths and 10 additional counts tied to the other fires set throughout the neighborhood. Prosecutors filed a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with sentence enhancements related to a prior arson conviction and a second strike allegation. Duvern is being held without bail. If convicted on all charges, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. A decision on whether to seek the death penalty will be made at a later date, los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hockman said in a statement. Setting fires anywhere is reckless and extraordinarily dangerous, but deliberately igniting multiple fires in a residential community shows a shocking disregard for human life. According to the family's GoFundMe, Alarcon Valdez had been in the middle of recovering from emergency hip surgery at the time of the fire. Anda had moved in without hesitation to become her full time caretaker. It's not immediately clear whether Duvern has retained an attorney and our final story this morning comes from Washington State, where a man accused of murdering two women spent nearly three years on the run until the FBI added his name to its most exclusive and consequential list this morning. A double murder suspect, 33 year old Samuel Ramirez Jr. Is in custody after being arrested in Mexico. Shortly after being added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list on Tuesday, March 10, the FBI's Seattle office and the Federal Way Police Department named Ramirez to the list. One hour and 13 minutes later, he was arrested without incident in Kakan in the Caloa region of Mexico. He was returned to the United States, landed in Seattle this morning and was taken into custody by Federal Way police. He's expected to face charges in King County Superior Court within the next two weeks. Ramirez, who's from Federal Way, Washington, had been wanted since May 21, 2023, when two women were shot and killed outside the Stars Bar and Grill in Federal Way in the early morning. Jessica Hone and Katie Duny, both employees at the bar, died at the scene. A third person was injured but survived. Police Chief Andy Huang said the violence followed an argument involving Ramirez inside the bar and that after shooting one victim in the head, he stood over the second and shot her in the head as well. Ramirez was first formally charged with first degree murder, second degree murder, and attempted murder on May 24, 2023. Investigators say he fled the state shortly after the killings and crossed into Mexico. A federal arrest warrant was issued in November 2025, and when he was added to the 10 Most Wanted list, the reward for his Capture jumped from $25,000 to 1 million. Bar owner Tina Nelson, who remembered both women fondly, had publicly said of the weight Quote it's been almost three years, and I wish it would have happened sooner. End quote. For the families of Katie Dunkey and Jessica Hone, justice is finally moving forward.
- [18:51]
If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House
- [18:56]
show for you to check out.
- [18:57]
It's the new Crime House original series, the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, looking not only at what happened,
- [19:21]
but what led up to it.
- [19:23]
Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get get overlooked. Because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that
- [19:42]
closes just like it always has.
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Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope, because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as overanalyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. New episodes every Monday.
- [20:06]
Before you go, let me tell you what else is happening at Crime House. Today on Murder True Crime Stories, we examine one of the most haunting mysteries in American history, a house fire that did not just destroy a home, but complicated the truth of what happened inside it. Fire is one of the most destructive forces in criminal investigation. It consumes physical evidence, distorts timelines, destroys trace material, and alters scenes beyond recognition. It collapses walls, melts metal, and reduces organic matter to fragments that may never yield clear answers. For investigators, fire presents a paradox. It can be accidental or deliberate. It can obscure homicide or create the illusion of one. And when the flames die down, what remains is often incomplete. Here are five cases where fire erased crucial ev, altering investigations, shaping public perception, and leaving questions that persist long after the smoke cleared. Number one the Willingham case. In December 1991, a fire engulfed the Corsicana, Texas, home of Cameron Todd Willingham. His three young daughters died in the blaze. Investigators quickly concluded that the fire had been intentionally set. Willingham was charged with arson and capital murder. The prosecution relied heavily on forensic testimony that cited bur patterns, poor marks and indicators that were at the time considered signs of accelerant use. Willingham maintained his innocence, but he was convicted and ultimately executed in 2004. In the years that followed, advances in fire science cast doubt on the original forensic conclusions. Independent experts argued that many of the indicators used at trial were based on outdated or debunked arson analysis techniques. By the time those questions gained traction, the physical scene had long been destroyed. The fire itself had erased the possibility of re examination. The case became a flashpoint in debates over forensic reliability and capital punishment. Here, the fire did more than kill. It eliminated the opportunity for definitive reassessment, leaving lingering doubt about whether evidence had ever been properly interpreted. Number two. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire killed 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women. Although not a hidden murder in the traditional sense, the blaze exposed criminal negligence on a massive scale. Locked exit doors, inadequate safety measures, and flammable materials contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. By the time it was extinguished, the factory floor was charred and chaotic. Prosecutors charged the factory owners with manslaughter. However, the construction of the physical scene complicated the effort to prove specific acts of negligence beyond reasonable doubt. The owners were acquitted in criminal court, though later found liable in civil proceedings. The fire consumed not only the building, but much of the physical context that might have clarified individual accountability. In its aftermath, sweeping labor reforms were enacted. Yet, in terms of criminal responsibility, the fire itself obscured the clarity of causation and intent. The number 3. The Setagaya family murders In December 2000, a family of four was brutally murdered in their Tokyo home. The perpetrator remained inside the house for hours after the killings, using the computer and consuming food. Investigators later determined that the suspect had attempted to set a small fire within the residence. Although the fire did not fully consume the structure, it damaged parts of the interior and compromised potential evidence. The crime scene was already complete, complex, with multiple forms of physical evidence. Any attempt at arson further complicated the preservation of trace materials. Despite extensive forensic collection, including DNA samples, the case remains unsolved. The partial fire did not erase everything, but it introduced additional uncertainty into an already challenging investigation. The attempt to burn evidence underscored a recurring tactic. When violence has occurred, fire is often deployed as a secondary instrument to obscure it. Number four. The West Memphis Three. In May 1993, three eight year old boys were found murdered in a wooded area near West Memphis, Arkansas. The investigation quickly focused on three teenagers, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jesse Misskelley Jr. Although the case did not center on a house fire, fire and alleged occult symbolism became part of the narrative presented at trial. Earlier fires in the area and rumors of ritual activity were cited to reinforce a theory of satanic motive. The wooded crime scene had been exposed to environmental elements before evidence was fully secured. Water, mud, and natural degradation further complicated forensic clarity. While not an arson case per se, the broader context demonstrates how environmental destruction, including fire damage and related incidents. Incidents can distort interpretation and invite narrative speculation. Years later, DNA evidence raised serious questions about the convictions. In 2011, the three men were released under Alford. Please. In cases where the original scene is compromised or degraded later, scientific advances cannot always reconstruct what was lost. Number five the Happy Land Social Club fire. In 1990, an arsonist set fire to the Happyland Social Club in the Bronx, killing 87 people. The blaze was intentionally set after a personal dispute. The fire spread rapidly through the illegally operating club, which lacked proper exits and safety systems. By the time investigators arrived, the interior was devastated. The perpetrator, Julio Gonzalez, was eventually apprehended and convicted. However, the scale of destruction limited the ability to reconstruct every detail of the event. The fire consumed surveillance possibilities, destroyed internal configurations, and erased certain trace elements that might have clarified specific sequences of movement and escape. Although responsibility for ignition was established, the complete reconstruction of how the disaster unfolded inside the club remains partially speculative. Fire, once unleashed, rarely preserves nuanced why fire is so devastating to investigation. Fire transforms space rapidly. It collapses, structures, and alters materials at a chemical level. DNA degrades, accelerants evaporate or dissipate. Objects melt and fuse. Even when arson is suspected, proving intent requires interpretation of burn patterns and residue techniques that have evolved significantly over the past century. Earlier generations of fire investigation relied on assumptions now understood to be flawed. When fire is accidental, it can still erase evidence of unrelated crimes. When fire is deliberate, it may be designed precisely to destroy that evidence. Investigators must work backward from debris, ash, and structural collapse. In some cases, the scene becomes so compromised that certainty is impossible. The destructive power of fire makes it uniquely suited to complicate truth. Truth in today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories, we examine a house fire that did more than consume walls and belongings. It reshaped an investigation and left questions that have endured for generations. For the full story, including the evidence that survived and the evidence that did not listen now, because when fire enters a crime scene, it does not just destroy it. Obscure and sometimes what burns away is clarity itself. You've been listening to Crime House 24 7, bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vanessa Richardson. We'll be back Monday morning with more developing stories. Stay safe and thanks for listening. Hi, it's Vanessa.
- [28:49]
If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, check out the new Crime House original, the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Listen to and follow the Final Hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or
- [29:04]
wherever you get your podcasts.
- [29:06]
New episodes drop every Monday.