Detectives say a hidden affair, a second phone and deleted records shaped the murder case in Linda Campitelli’s death.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The murder case against Rene Perez centers on secrecy: a concealed affair, private WhatsApp messages, a second phone and what detectives say was a failed effort to explain away a final meeting with Linda Campitelli on the night she was killed.
Authorities say that private world came into public view only after Campitelli, a 35-year-old nurse and mother of two, was found dead beside her Chevrolet Tahoe in Palm Beach County on Oct. 28, 2024. Perez, 38, was arrested in March 2026 and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Investigators say the pair, both married, had been involved for about two years and were meeting for a belated birthday celebration when Campitelli was killed. In the affidavit, detectives describe not only violence, but also a pattern of concealment before and after it.
The messages quoted by investigators gave the relationship its final frame. The day before the meeting, Campitelli told Perez she loved him but felt uneasy and did not know what to expect because he had never done anything like that for her before, according to the affidavit. Perez responded, detectives wrote, that he was trying to show he could be romantic. Police say the exchange set up a rendezvous at 7:30 p.m. the next day. A photo recovered from Campitelli’s phone showed the back of her Tahoe arranged for that meeting, with a birthday message overhead, the rear seats down and medical-style sheets spread across the cargo area. To investigators, it was evidence that the outing had been planned in advance, not improvised.
Even the location fit the hidden nature of the relationship, detectives said. Phone data placed Campitelli in a dimly lit parking lot outside a medical facility with little foot traffic. Surveillance later captured her Tahoe at the Retina Group of Florida building in Wellington, arriving that night and leaving at about 9:59 p.m. Not long afterward, deputies were called to Lyons Road, where they found her body around 11:15 p.m. Investigators said the Tahoe itself preserved much of what happened next. Blood spatter was found throughout the vehicle, they said, and blood had seeped into rear speakers, suggesting heavy bleeding during movement inside the SUV. Campitelli’s autopsy listed blunt force trauma to the head and torso as the cause of death.
The body, detectives wrote, showed signs that she had not simply been attacked but moved. Campitelli had a large laceration to the head, bruising around one eye and abrasions consistent with road rash. Authorities said those abrasions were likely inflicted after death. They drew special attention to the backs of her heels, which they said were worn down, disfigured and distorted in a way that showed compression against the roadway while she was dragged or moved with force. That finding gave the case one of its starkest details and helped investigators describe the alleged attempt to stage or abandon the scene after the killing.
The secrecy detectives described extended to technology. Perez allegedly told police that when he met Campitelli he often left his main phone at work because he shared a Life360 tracking account with his wife. He said he used a second phone to communicate with Campitelli, according to investigators. But when detectives examined that explanation, they said they could not recover messages between the two and concluded they may have been deleted. Perez also claimed he had canceled the meeting because his son was sick, police said, yet detectives reported finding no message showing a cancellation. He separately told investigators he had lost his primary phone, but detectives cited video from an AT&T store that they said showed him still holding it while buying a replacement.
Those gaps and contradictions became the bridge from suspicion to arrest. Surveillance showed Perez leaving work at about 6:30 p.m. in his Honda Accord and returning shortly before midnight, according to detectives, a sequence that they say undercut his version of events. Investigators also believe he got rid of the shoes he wore that night. What remains missing is motive. The affidavit does not publicly explain why detectives believe the birthday meeting turned deadly. Instead, the record emphasizes method: hidden communication, a covert meeting place, a violent encounter inside the SUV and later actions that authorities say were aimed at erasing traces of contact.
Campitelli’s public life, by contrast, was described in open and affectionate terms. Her obituary said she was born in Miami, won a scholarship to the University of Miami, completed nursing training there and built a career that began in 2014. Friends and colleagues remembered her in 2024 as an attentive mother, loyal friend and accomplished nurse. Wellington Regional Medical Center said she was beloved by patients and staff. Perez is now jailed without bond, and his next court date is April 9, when the state will continue presenting a case built largely from the private record detectives say he tried to hide.
Author note: Last updated April 7, 2026.