Leslie Palacio: the crime recorded and confessed that ended with a fugitive killer

The night Eric disappeared with Leslie: The murder of Leslie Palacio

Leslie Palacio's last transmission was a text message to her sister at 3 a.m. on August 29, 2020: "I have something important to tell you." She never did. Hours later, a neighbor's camera recorded Eric Rangel removing a lifeless body from his home while his father José helped him load it into a truck.

In this episode, we explore how the surveillance cameras at the Long Casino document Leslie and Eric leaving together at 2 a.m., how a prepaid phone activated in Valley of Fire admits to the murder to a friend, and why an unequivocal neighborhood video has not resulted in any arrests three years later. The bloodstains in Eric's room, the burned body found eleven days later, and the pending toxicology raise an impossible question: how does the alleged killer remain at large while his father serves only eight months in prison?

Victim: Leslie Palacio
Date: August 29, 2020
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada and Valley of Fire
Status: Unsolved homicide; fugitive killer

- Neighborhood video shows Eric leaving shirtless and returning with his father José to remove Leslie's lifeless body to the truck.
- Eric's prepaid phone activated in Valley of Fire on the same day of disappearance admits to the murder; geolocation matches exactly with the location of the discovery eleven days later.
- José Rangel claims that Leslie died from an accidental overdose, but the Rangel family fled to Mexico, attempted to cross the border, and his son Eric remains at large.
- Official toxicology still pending on the third anniversary; cause of death classified as "undetermined," preventing a definitive legal classification of the crime.

Leslie Palacio, Las Vegas homicide, Valley of Fire 2020, murder, investigation, mystery, forensic, impunity, fugitive, Rangel family, true crime Spanish

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