A man was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder for killing and dismembering his live-in boyfriend, whose head and some body parts were found in Griffith Park.
An eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated about a day and a half before finding Gabriel Campos-Martinez, 40, guilty of murdering 66-year-old Hervey Medellin.
The victim’s head was found Jan. 17, 2012, in Griffith Park by a dog that was with some hikers. Medellin’s hands and feet were found a day later.
Campos-Martinez is facing 25 years to life in state prison, with sentencing scheduled for Nov. 16 before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Katherine Mader.
Campos-Martinez and Medellin had lived together for about six months in the victim’s Hollywood apartment after meeting while hiking in March 2011 in Griffith Park — the same park where some of the body parts were later discovered.
Prosecutors said Medellin was likely killed in late December 2011, and died from asphyxiation, although the defense contended that the cause of death should have instead been listed as undetermined.
Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace told jurors the “defendant committed a gruesome, callous murder upon somebody who showed him love, gave him shelter, gave him money … This wasn’t a sudden thing that happened. This was a planned murder.”
He said computers seized from the residence showed that someone had referenced an article on Dec. 27, 2011, about how to dismember a body, and that the killer “went well out of their way to dismember Medellin’s body.”
“The killer did not want Mr. Medellin to be found,” Grace told the jury.
Medellin’s head was discovered a day after Los Angeles police went to the apartment to inquire about Medellin’s whereabouts, the prosecutor noted.
The motive may have been a “money grab” with Medellin’s Social Security check being transferred from one banking institution to another where Campos-Martinez had access to the money, or Campos-Martinez may have felt like he was being pushed out of Medellin’s life, the prosecutor told jurors.
Defense attorney Rodolfo Navarro had urged jurors to acquit his client, questioning whether the prosecution had proven its case — which he said was made up of “theories” — beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Theories do not equal proof,” he said.
Campos-Martinez’s attorney said there was no evidence that his client had looked at the article on dismemberment, and noted “not a single drop of blood” was found at the apartment.
He declined to comment on the verdict.
Outside court after the verdict, the prosecutor said key pieces of evidence singled out by jurors included “the fact that the killer was looking (at) the article ‘How to Dismember a Human Carcass for Human Consumption”‘ on Dec. 27, 2011, and that the same type of plastic that was found in the victim’s house to wrap artwork had been used to wrap his head.
As for what happened to Medellin’s torso, Grace said, “That would be a big speculation on my part … I don’t know … But the way that the victim’s limbs are dismembered … the head, hands and feet are almost eerily the same as described how to do it in the article.”
He noted that a Department of Justice laboratory determined during the trial that a DNA profile from tissue specimens found in March 2014 in the mouth of Bronson Canyon Cave — the so-called “bat cave” shown in the 1960s “Batman” television series — matched the victim’s DNA profile. It was less than a mile away from where the other remains were found, Grace said.
Campos-Martinez was arrested in Texas in March 2014 following a lengthy investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.
— Wire reports