Seventeen months after Campitelli was found slain beside her SUV, detectives say a former co-worker arranged a birthday meeting and killed her.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The long wait for answers in the killing of Palm Beach County nurse Linda Campitelli shifted this spring when deputies arrested Rene Perez, a former co-worker they say met her for a birthday outing and then killed her before leaving her body beside a road.
For Campitelli’s family, friends and colleagues, the arrest changed a story that had lingered in public as a sudden and deeply painful death. Campitelli, 35, was found on Oct. 28, 2024 outside her Chevrolet Tahoe near Lyons Road in Palm Beach County. In the months that followed, loved ones remembered her as a wife, mother of two and trusted nurse. Now, investigators say, the evidence points to a hidden relationship with Perez, 38, and to a planned meeting that ended in homicide.
Campitelli’s loss was felt publicly almost from the start. Friends told local reporters in 2024 that she was the kind of person who answered the phone at 1 a.m. and showed up when people needed help. Wellington Regional Medical Center said she was beloved by patients and staff. Her obituary traced a life rooted in Miami, where she was born in 1989, through a scholarship to the University of Miami, an accelerated nursing degree and a career that began in 2014. It also described a marriage in 2016 and a growing family life built around outings, trips and time with friends. That portrait gave the case a community weight even before detectives disclosed the details they now say were hidden behind it.
According to the arrest affidavit, those hidden details centered on an affair. Detectives say Campitelli and Perez, who were both married, had been involved in a romantic relationship for about two years. On the day before she was killed, investigators say, the pair used WhatsApp to plan a belated birthday celebration. Campitelli wrote that she loved him but felt uneasy because he had never done anything like that for her before. Perez, detectives said, replied that he wanted to show he could be romantic. The next evening, authorities say, Campitelli drove to meet him at a dimly lit parking lot outside a medical facility in Wellington. A photo recovered from her phone showed the Tahoe prepared for the meeting, with the rear seats folded down, a birthday message overhead and medical sheets spread in the back.
Police say what happened next was violent and prolonged. Deputies found Campitelli around 11:15 p.m. lying in blood outside the SUV. She had a major cut to the head, bruising around her eye and abrasions that investigators said were consistent with being dragged. An autopsy concluded she died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso. Detectives reported blood spatter throughout the vehicle and said blood had soaked through rear speakers, evidence they said showed heavy bleeding inside the Tahoe. They also wrote that the backs of Campitelli’s heels were worn down and distorted, a detail they said indicated she had been dragged or moved with force on the road after death.
Investigators say Perez tried to distance himself from the meeting but left behind a trail of contradictions. He admitted the affair, according to detectives, but claimed he canceled the date because his son was sick. Police said they found no message backing that up. Instead, surveillance footage showed him leaving work about 6:30 p.m. in his Honda Accord, while Campitelli’s Tahoe was captured arriving at and later departing the Wellington site. Detectives said Perez also told them he left his main phone behind when meeting Campitelli because he shared a location-tracking app with his wife, and used a second phone to communicate with Campitelli. Police later said they could not recover those messages and that store video contradicted his claim that he had lost his main phone.
The legal case is now moving forward, but some pieces remain unresolved. Authorities have charged Perez with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, and he is being held without bond in Palm Beach County. He made an initial court appearance in March, and the next hearing is set for April 9. Investigators have not publicly laid out a motive in the affidavit. They have, however, described a case built from phone records, parking-lot surveillance, vehicle forensics and statements they say were false. That combination turned what had once looked like a baffling roadside death into a prosecution centered on prearranged contact and post-crime concealment.
For those who knew Campitelli, the arrest may answer one question while sharpening another: how a private relationship detectives say she kept hidden ended in a public and brutal death. As the case moves toward court, her family and co-workers remain tied to the memory of the woman they lost in 2024 and to the proceedings that will test the account deputies have now laid out.
Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.