LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Authorities have confirmed the primary suspect in Lesly Palacio's murder is in custody in Mexico, but how long will it before he appears in a Las Vegas courtroom?
Palacio's family has been waiting nearly four years for justice. Now, they're one step closer to finally getting it.
“At the end of the day, a young girl who was 22 years old was viciously murdered," her family had previously said during a vigil soon after her death. "Her body was found in the desert and Lesly did not deserve that. Nobody deserves that.”
In the days following her murder, the family of then 22-year-old Lesly Palacio asked the community to help find her killer Erick Rangel-Ibarra.
After years of prayer filled with many unanswered questions, authorities have now confirmed Rangel-Ibarra was caught by Mexican authorities and is being held pending extradition to the U.S.
“Fugitives can go and hide and be gone for a long time," said Phil Ramos, a retired homicide detective with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. "In this case, thank goodness, he wasn’t gone that long, a couple of years in the big scheme of things in cases like this is about the average amount of time before somebody gets caught.”
Rangel-Ibarra is the sole suspect in the murder of Palacio, who was last seen alive on Aug. 29, 2020.
Her remains were discovered two weeks later near the Valley of Fire, prompting a years-long investigation.
“I’m sure that our guys knew where he was, and I’m sure the FBI knew where he was and that they told the authorities where he was living," Ramos said. "This is the guy that we want. But like I said, there are mounds and mounds of red tape, that’s gonna have to be dealt with before they can get them.”
The case gained even more attention after video emerged of Rangel-Ibarra and his father Jose Rangel moving Palacio's body from their home.
The footage was presented to a Grand Jury in 2021, showing Rangel-Ibarra returning home with Palacio early on the morning of her death and subsequently the two men dragging a body from the home.
Jose Rangel, who had initially claimed that Palacio's death was due to an overdose, later admitted to helping his son dispose of her body.
He pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges related to his involvement and was sentenced to two years in prison but was released after serving less than nine months.
In the years that followed, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department alongside the FBI and international partners worked to locate Palacio's killer, a process that Ramos said takes time and a lot of resources.
"It all depends on the amount of help that the fugitive has. If he's on his own, it's going to be much more difficult to get in there and hide, but if he's got family support like we know this guy did, then it makes it easier for him to avoid apprehension," Ramos said.
While the time of Rangel-Ibarra's extradition to Las Vegas is unclear, his capture marks a step forward in the pursuit of justice for Lesly Palacio and her family.
"They gotta be so relieved, and hopefully it was the original investigators who were able to go and give him the good news," Ramos said.
Ramos said the extradition process can be lengthy and complex. It involves several federal departments including the U.S. Department of State and agencies in Mexico, so it could be months or even years before Rangel-Ibarra appears in a Las Vegas courtroom.
Palacio's death was ruled undetermined by the Clark County coroner because investigators have not been able to establish the cause or manner of death from the evidence they gathered.
Despite this, authorities determined she was a victim of homicide based on the circumstances surrounding the case.
