Lesly Palacio’s family grateful after suspect in her 2020 death detained in Mexico

The family of a 22-year-old Las Vegas woman who disappeared and was later found dead in 2020 is grateful that the suspect wanted in her suspected killing has been detained, the family’s attorney said.

Erick Rangel-Ibarra was taken into custody by authorities in Mexico, the Metropolitan Police Department said in a news release Tuesday. He will remain in custody pending a decision on his extradition to the United States, according to the news release.

Lesly Palacio went missing on Aug. 29, 2020, according to Metro. Her body was found in Moapa Valley near Valley of Fire State Park in September 2020, police said.

Rangel-Ibarra’s father, Jose Rangel, admitted to helping his son, who was 25 at the time, move Palacio’s body and flee to Mexico, according to court records.

Rangel, who returned to the United States and gave himself up at a San Diego border checkpoint on Jan. 19, 2021, was convicted in a Las Vegas court of helping his son dispose of the body. He served about eight months of a two-year sentence, according to Ofelia Markarian, the family’s attorney.

At a press conference Tuesday evening, Markarian said the family was anxiously waiting for Rangel-Ibarra’s extradition to the United States, Markarian said.

“We’re expecting to see Erick in the United States very, very soon. We’re hoping that the extradition process will be fast,” she said. “And next, we will be there (at) every single court hearing.”

Nearly a year ago, Markarian held a news conference marking the third anniversary of Palacio’s death.

“We’ve been fighting and fighting for four years now,” Markarian said on Tuesday. “And it feels good that we never gave up — and that there was light at the end of the tunnel.”

Markarian said she has a belief that everyone will face justice one day, adding that she and the Palacio family are very hopeful that Rangel-Ibarra will face the punishment that they say he deserves.

Palacio was last seen by family when she went to get drinks with Rangel-Ibarra on the day she died. Prosecutors said during Rangel’s case that surveillance video showed Rangel and his son dragging Palacio’s lifeless body from the younger man’s home on Aug. 29, 2020, and placing it into a pickup.

In September 2020, days after Palacio’s body was found, Metro police obtained an arrest warrant for Rangel-Ibarra on charges of open murder and destroying/concealing evidence.

The family still doesn’t know how or why Palacio died. Her cause of death was ruled undetermined by the Clark County coroner’s office.

Contact Tony Garcia at tgarcia@reviewjournal.com. Contact Peter Breen at pbreen@reviewjournal.com.