Her daughter's alleged killer was on the US Marshals Service's 'Most Wanted' list. But this mother helped authorities track and catch him in El Salvador.
Taylor Ardrey
Updated ·5 min read
Krystal Mitchell was killed during a weekend trip to California in June 2016.Josephine Wentzel/Angels of Justice
Krystal Mitchell was found dead inside a San Diego apartment in 2016.
Officials said that her alleged killer, Raymond McLeod, fled the country after her death.
Her mother, Josephine Wentzel, used her detective skills to track him down. Now she has a foundation to help families like hers.
Josephine Wentzel, a retired detective, was determined to find the man she believed killed her daughter.
"I would wake up at 3:30 in the morning, start my searches, go to bed late at night, and start getting emotional," Wentzel recently told Insider. "I felt that I had to fight every year to keep the story alive."
Her daughter, 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell of Phoenix, Arizona, was found murdered in a San Diego, California apartment in June 2016, according to the US Marshals Service.
Local police determined that Mitchell was last seen with a man, identified as Raymond McLeod.
Mitchell and McLeod briefly dated but weren't in an official relationship, Wentzel said. The duo traveled to San Diego, Mitchell's favorite go-to city, for a weekend getaway. Wentzel never met McLeod and didn't know what he looked like, so she asked her daughter to send her pictures of him before the trip.
Soon after, those very pictures would be used for his wanted poster as authorities zeroed in on McLeod as the prime suspect.
Losing Mitchell was earth-shattering for Wentzel and her grandchildren, she said, calling her a bright light in their lives.
"It just wrecked my life. It was a very difficult, heartbreaking, horrible time for all of us," Wentzel said.
A mother's promise
Nearly seven months after Mitchell's death, the San Diego Police Department contacted US Marshals to assist them with the case to locate McLeod.
Authorities were under the belief the ex-Marine, who was eventually charged with murder, fled to Mexico.
He was placed on the agency's 15 Most Wanted list as "Armed and Dangerous." At the time, officials noted that the bodybuilder had a "history of domestic violence" and was "an avid drinker."
Frustrated with the progression of the manhunt, Wentzel decided to take action. She attended a three-day open-source training that was designed for law enforcement agencies and was able to make connections with private investigators.
She started to use digital tools to track information and use social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to distribute McLeod's poster virtually — even reaching out to people in Mexico and throughout Central America.
"I put a geo fence around each section that I think he might be at. He loved the gyms, so I tried to look for places like that where backpackers might pass through," Wentzel said. "He was going hostel to hostel, so I notified all the hostels in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, all the way down to Panama."
And over the years, the tips relating to his whereabouts kept pouring in, and she would update authorities on her findings.
"There was a time when I felt like taking a sledgehammer to all of the glass in my house, every window, every mirror, anything, I was just going to go crazy because I found out that I was getting tips faster than the Embassy can keep up with," she said. "That became very frustrating."
Last year, the Marshals upped the ante and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to McLeod's detainment. It was a tip from a source in El Salvador who saw his poster that led to his capture in August.
According to officials, he was working as a teacher in the city of Sonsonate.
US Marshals Director Ronald Davis acknowledged Wentzel's efforts and said in a statement that she "has worked so diligently with law enforcement these past years to see this day of justice arrive."
Wentzel was dedicated to finding McLeod to bring closure to her grandchildren and to avoid her daughter's file falling to the bottom of the pile.
"My faith and the drive was that I knew that I was getting older, time's flying by, and my grandkids were getting older. I wanted them to sleep at night knowing that this guy's behind bars," she said. "I spoke over my daughter's grave, and promised her that I would bring him to justice. Now, what they do from here, that's between God and the court system, and God helps the court system."
'I wanted him to look at me in the eye'
Josephine Wentzel and her late daughter Krystal Mitchell.Josephine Wentzel/ Angels of Justice
For Mitchell's family, the chapter of this tragedy is almost at a close, but for many others, they don't receive the answers about the suspect behind their loved one's death.
An expert told CBS News that in 2020 a significant amount of murder cases remain unsolved. This is why, in 2018, during her search for her daughter, Wentzel started an organization called Angels of Justice to help other families — regardless of their financial standing — facing roadblocks in their cases.
"Our mission is to empower, assist, educate, train, advocate, and encourage families dealing with murder or missing loved ones," the organization's mission says. "We hope to bridge the gap and facilitate better communications between families and LE."
"I wanted him to look me in the eyes because I was there representing my daughter," Wentzel said. "It was very important to have this moment. I was glad they credited the efforts to me."
She continued, "His first question was, 'How did you find me?' Just knowing that I outsmarted him as a woman, an older woman, and as Krystal's mother…I wanted him to receive that message."
LONDON—The Conservatives, the world’s winningest political party, were booted out of power in dramatic style on Thursday after 14 years of chaotic and divisive rule.The Labour Party had secured a landslide victory, ending an era of Conservative rule over Britain that stretches back to 2010; the year that the iPad and Instagram were launched and Lady Gaga wore that meat dress to the MTV music awards.In that time, the Conservatives have cycled through five leaders, each of them dragging the party
Former President Barack Obama has reportedly told allies that Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has made his bid to win back the White House even tougher than it had been previously.The Washington Post reports that Obama gave a harsher private assessment of Biden’s chances of re-election following the debate despite publicly trying to ease concerns by tweeting that “bad debates happen.”The outlet reported that Obama “spoke directly with Biden by phone after last Thursday’s debate to offe
The adult film star, who accused the former President of giving her hush money to keep quiet about their alleged sexual encounter now owes Trump $600,000 (£470,000) in legal costs after a defamation case she brought against him was dismissed. Last month in New York, Trump was criminally convicted for defaming another sexual assault accuser, E.Jean Carroll. The 45-year-old said on the Daily Mail's podcast, Everything I Know About Me, "How is it fair that I have better, more compelling evidence than E. Jean Carroll? And I'm glad she won. They continue to hand her money like it's f**king candy.”
WARNING: This story contains graphic images of a leg injury.Last week, George Mandl, an American vacationing in Montreal, took his eight-year-old son Max to Parc Jean-Drapeau for a swim.It was a hot afternoon, and Max played on an inflatable structure anchored in the park's man-made lake.As his legs dangled in the blue-green darkness, he felt a stabbing pain. He screamed and, when lifeguards pulled him from the water, his leg was bleeding."It felt like a kind of electrical pain, like that pain w
MONTREAL — Ireland's prime minister says he's "absolutely appalled" by an assault in the country's capital that resulted in the death of a tourist from Montreal. Simon Harris on Wednesday described Neno Dolmajian's death in Dublin as "reprehensible" and "horrific" and told parliament the death is now being investigated as a murder. "I'm absolutely appalled at the recent vicious attack in Dublin city centre which resulted in the death of a young man, Neno Dolmajian, and my thoughts are with his l
Corazon Dandan died after being pushed into an oncoming BART train at San Francisco’s Powell Street Station at around 11 p.m on Monday night. The suspect, 49-year-old Trevor Belmont, also known as Hoak Taing, was arrested at the scene and booked into the San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of homicide and elder abuse. Dandan, who was Filipino American, was a dedicated telephone operator at the Westin St. Francis and other hotels.
A thread of bombshell text messages made public Thursday alleged that Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign settled “multiple” seedy lawsuits for a man described only as “Boris,” leading to conjecture it could be a powerful Trumpworld figure.Those messages were revealed by A.J. Delgado—a former staffer on Trump’s 2016 campaign who’s embroiled in a lawsuit against the current campaign, alleging she was taken advantage of and raped by her former superior, Jason Miller.As part of that lawsuit, Delgado, a la