Still no justice for Lesly Palacio’s family 3 years after slaying, attorney says

On the three-year anniversary of a 22-year-old Las Vegas woman’s death, her family is hopeful but also losing faith that justice will ever be served, their attorney said.

“They feel like they’re at a loss,” lawyer Ofelia Markarian said Monday in a news conference. “They feel like that they’re losing, that nothing has helped.”

Erick Rangel-Ibarra, the suspect named by the Metropolitan Police Department in Lesly Palacio’s killing, has not been arrested, police and the FBI confirmed Monday.

“Erick Rangel-Ibarra is still considered to be the suspect and no, he has not been found, and yes, we are still looking for him,” said Metro officer Luis Vidal.

“We’re assisting Metro,” said FBI spokesperson Sandra Breault.

Markarian said she believes he is still in Mexico, where prosecutors said he fled with his father after the Aug. 29, 2020, killing.

“Erick is nowhere to be found; we do not know where he is,” Markarian said, adding that she doesn’t know where the Rangel family members live and whether they still live in Las Vegas. “We are still very, very hopeful that authorities will find him and bring him to justice. However, the family is losing faith, losing hope.”

Rangel-Ibarra’s father, Jose Rangel, who returned to the U.S. 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, Markarian said.

That punishment outraged Palacio’s family, who saw it as a slap on the wrist for Rangel and a slap in the face for them.

Now, three years after the killing, Palacio’s family has no answers and no justice, Markarian said. Nobody from Palacio’s family was at the news conference. It’s too hard for them, Markarian said, and they wanted to focus on Lesly Palacio — as another anniversary approaches — instead of Rangel-Ibarra.

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

Surveillance footage from Aug. 29, 2020, showed Rangel-Ibarra, then 25, and Rangel dragging Palacio’s body out of Rangel-Ibarra’s home and placing it in a pickup truck. Palacio had gone to meet Rangel-Ibarra for drinks earlier that day.

Before Palacio’s body was found in Moapa Valley near Valley of Fire in September 2020, she was a young woman who had “many dreams,” the attorney said. The Palacio family was not wealthy, and she was always helping out, Markarian said.

“She was very outgoing, happy,” Markarian said. “Any room she walked into, she would just light it up.”

Markarian said Monday that any of Rangel-Ibarra’s family or friends who know where is he should do the right thing and turn him in. He doesn’t deserve anybody’s protection, she said.

“Our message is to turn Erick in,” she said. “It’s been three long years. Lesly deserves justice. Her family deserves justice.

“Do not forget Lesly Palacio,” Markarian added.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com