Investigators say messages, surveillance footage and blood evidence tied Rene Perez to Linda Campitelli’s death.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida nurse has been charged with first-degree murder in the 2024 killing of Linda Campitelli, a 35-year-old married nurse whose body was found beside her Chevrolet Tahoe in Palm Beach County after what detectives say was a planned birthday rendezvous.

Authorities say the arrest closes a major gap in a case that began with a late-night roadside discovery on Oct. 28, 2024 and ended 17 months later with Rene Perez, 38, in custody in Miami. Investigators say Perez and Campitelli had been in a secret relationship for about two years and had arranged to meet that night. Detectives say the case now rests on a layered record of WhatsApp messages, surveillance video, phone data, statements Perez gave police, and forensic evidence from Campitelli’s SUV.

Deputies were called to the 6100 block of Lyons Road at about 11:15 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2024, after passing drivers reported a woman lying unresponsive outside a vehicle. Campitelli was found in a pool of blood near her Tahoe, according to investigators, with a large head wound, bruising around one eye and abrasions on her body. An autopsy later concluded that she died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso. In the days before her death, detectives say, Campitelli and Perez exchanged messages about meeting for a belated birthday celebration. In one exchange cited by investigators, Campitelli told him she felt nervous because he had never done anything like that for her before. Perez replied that he was trying to show that he could be romantic, detectives wrote.

What officers say they found inside the Tahoe became one of the central pieces of the case. Detectives reported blood spatter throughout the vehicle and said blood had seeped through rear speakers, which they said suggested someone was bleeding heavily while being moved or transported. A photo recovered from Campitelli’s phone, investigators said, showed the back seats folded down with a birthday message attached overhead and medical-style sheets spread across the cargo area. Those details, police say, matched the plan for a private meeting in a dimly lit parking lot outside a medical facility in Wellington. Investigators also wrote that the backs of Campitelli’s heels were worn down and distorted in a way that they said showed she had been dragged or moved with force along the roadway after she was already dead.

Detectives said Perez admitted the affair but denied meeting Campitelli that night, claiming instead that he canceled because his son was sick. Investigators said they found no message showing such a cancellation. They also said surveillance video undercut his timeline. According to the affidavit, video showed Perez leaving work at about 6:30 p.m. in a Honda Accord, while Campitelli’s Tahoe was later seen arriving at the Retina Group of Florida building in Wellington and leaving around 9:59 p.m. Investigators said Perez returned to his office shortly before midnight, stayed briefly and then drove home. He also told detectives that he often left his main phone at work because he shared a Life360 account with his wife, police said, and used a second phone to talk with Campitelli.

That explanation became another focus for investigators. Detectives said they could not recover messages between Perez and Campitelli from the second device and concluded they may have been deleted. They also said Perez claimed he had lost his primary phone, but video from an AT&T store showed him holding that phone while buying a new one. Investigators added that they believe he disposed of the shoes he wore the night Campitelli was killed. The affidavit does not name a motive, and authorities have not publicly said what triggered the violence that they allege began inside the Tahoe. But detectives wrote that, taken together, the message history, the vehicle evidence, the parking-lot location data and Perez’s shifting account pointed to a prearranged meeting that turned fatal.

Campitelli’s death had drawn grief well before an arrest was made. Friends described her in 2024 as a devoted mother, skilled nurse and dependable friend. Wellington Regional Medical Center, where she worked, said she was beloved by patients and staff. Her obituary said she grew up in Miami, earned a scholarship to the University of Miami, built a nursing career that spanned nearly a decade and married her husband in 2016. She left behind two daughters. That public picture of a busy family life stood in sharp contrast to the private relationship detectives say connected her to Perez, a former co-worker who had also worked in health care.

Perez was arrested March 10 in Miami and booked into the Palm Beach County Jail. He is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. His next court date is scheduled for April 9, as prosecutors begin moving a case that authorities say took more than a year to assemble from the roadside death scene to the courtroom.

Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.