Suspect in Lesly Palacio’s Murder Arrested in Mexico After Four Years

Las Vegas, NV- The man accused of killing Lesly Palacio is in custody in Mexico about four years after she died.
Erick Rangel-Ibarra was arrested in Mexico, according to a source. Rangel-Ibarra, now in his late twenties, is the sole suspect in Palacio’s August 2020 murder.
Palacio, 22, was a Las Vegas Metro police suspect. He died on August 29, 2020. Police discovered her body two weeks later near the Valley of Fire.
In 2021, Erick Rangel-Ibarra’s father, Jose Rangel, pled guilty to assisting his son in removing Palacio’s body from the family home. The judge condemned Rangel to two years in prison. According to investigators from 8 News Now, Rangel was released after spending less than nine months.
According to records obtained first by 8 News Now investigators in 2021, video footage given to a grand jury showed Rangel-Ibarra and Rangel transporting Palacio’s body on the morning of her suspected death.
According to court transcripts and video recordings, Rangel-Ibarra and Palacio came home around 6 a.m. after a night of drinking. According to court records, video shows Rangel-Ibarra helping a woman named Palacio get out of a pickup parked in front of his residence.
An hour later, the same video from a nearby residence records two men, identified by prosecutors as Rangel-Ibarra and Rangel, pulling a body from the home and into the same truck. A few minutes later, the video showed the truck driving away and a man, whom prosecutors described as Rangel, hosing off the sidewalk.
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Rangel originally told authorities that Palacio died of an overdose, but later admitted that he first saw the body when his son took it down the stairs of their home on a bed sheet, according to records.
The official cause and manner of Palacio’s death have not been determined. Investigators have not said what evidence inside the Rangel home led them to believe Palacio was the victim of a homicide. An unknown cause and manner of death indicate that there is insufficient evidence on a deceased person’s corpse to accurately determine how they died.
Over the years, Metro police and the FBI have collaborated with international partners to locate Rangel-Ibarra.
It was not immediately apparent when Rangel-Ibarra would be brought to Las Vegas to face charges.
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