LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The person accused of killing 22-year-old Lesly Palacio in 2020, who was on the run in Mexico for 4 years and returned to Las Vegas on Thursday, was on probation for a gun cost involving his undocumented standing.
Erick Rangel-Ibarra, 30, is the one suspect in Lesly Palacio’s August 2020 homicide. He’s accused of killing Palacio, 22, on Aug. 29, 2020. Police discovered her stays two weeks later close to the Valley of Fireplace.
In a 2018 arrest report the 8 Information Now Investigators obtained, Metro police described Rangel-Ibarra as an “illegal alien.” Rangel-Ibarra is an undocumented immigrant dropped at the U.S. illegally as a child and is assessed as a “Dreamer” with Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) standing, sources mentioned.
The U.S. Marshals Service took Rangel-Ibarra into custody in Mexico on Thursday following a 12 months of extradition proceedings. Officers on the jail booked Rangel-Ibarra into their custody simply earlier than 4 p.m. that very same day.
Erick Rangel-Ibarra, 30, is the one suspect in Lesly Palacio’s August 2020 homicide. He’s accused of killing Palacio, 22, on Aug. 29, 2020. Police discovered her stays two weeks later close to the Valley of Fireplace. (LVMPD)
Authorities in Mexico arrested Rangel-Ibarra in July 2024, the 8 Information Now Investigators first reported. Through the years, detectives have mentioned they believed Rangel-Ibarra was in Mexico inside 48 hours of Palacio’s demise, including he and his household have ties there.
In 2021, a Clark County grand jury indicted Rangel-Ibarra on fees of homicide and destroying proof. The grand jury additionally indicted Rangel-Ibarra’s father, Jose Rangel, for serving to his son transfer Palacio’s physique from their house.
Video proof offered to a grand jury confirmed Rangel-Ibarra and Rangel carrying Palacio’s physique from the house and right into a truck. A choose later sentenced Rangel to 2 years in jail. The 8 Information Now Investigators reported Rangel was launched after serving lower than 9 months.
Rangel initially advised police he thought Palacio died from an overdose, however then advised police he initially noticed the physique when his son dragged it down the steps of their house on a mattress sheet, paperwork mentioned. Police have by no means mentioned how they imagine Palacio died, and the Clark County coroner’s workplace dominated her reason for demise as unsubstantiated.
In 2018, a Metro police officer stopped Rangel-Ibarra after observing him driving “at a high rate of speed” and “driving into oncoming traffic unsafely,” paperwork mentioned. The officer seen Rangel-Ibarra reaching “near the side panel door” and suspected he was concealing a firearm.
The officer then discovered a nine-millimeter handgun on Rangel-Ibarra’s waistband, paperwork mentioned. Rangel-Ibarra advised police he purchased the gun from a non-public vendor for $500 for his security.
Within the report, the officer famous Rangel-Ibarra didn’t have a allow to hold a hid weapon and is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was conscious of Rangel-Ibarra’s arrest in 2018, a spokesperson mentioned. Following his arrest, a choose launched him on bond.
He later pleaded responsible to carrying a hid weapon and was ordered to serve three years’ probation, data mentioned. At sentencing, the choose ordered Rangel-Ibarra to “cooperate and comply with all orders and directives of ICE,” amongst practically two dozen different circumstances, together with acquiring from medication and alcohol and maintaining a gradual job. Paperwork related to Palacio’s homicide point out she and Rangel-Ibarra have been consuming within the hours earlier than her demise.
Rangel-Ibarra confronted an identical federal cost, which, after two years, prosecutors later dropped in June 2020, simply two months earlier than Palacio’s demise, data mentioned.
Federal code permits the federal government to terminate a DACA recipient’s standing at any time, significantly if a criminal offense is dedicated.
Rangel-Ibarra was scheduled to make his first look in district court docket on the fees related to Palacio’s homicide on Sept. 3. He declined an interview request from jail.
Erick Rangel-Ibarra, 30, is the one suspect in Lesly Palacio’s August 2020 homicide. He’s accused of killing Palacio, 22, on Aug. 29, 2020. Police discovered her stays two weeks later close to the Valley of Fireplace. (LVMPD)
When the 8 Information Now Investigators first requested ICE about Rangel-Ibarra’s custody standing following his arrest in Mexico in 2024, a spokesperson mentioned the division was “focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that protects the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of our communities and the integrity of our immigration laws.”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers reported 525,000 DACA recipients as of March 31, many who know no different house than america. Data point out Rangel-Ibarra illegally entered the nation when he was eight months previous.
