Sponsored message
Logged in as
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen

This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

News

Hollywood Hills Body Parts Case: Did Victim's Lover Do It?

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.

The murder of Hervey Medellin, the man whose severed head and other body parts were found by dog walkers in January in the Hollywood Hills, remains unsolved. With various theories of "whodunit" cropping up from speculation Medellin was the victim of Canadian "Cannibal Killer" Luka Magnotta to the possibility it was the result of his affiliation with a drug cartel, authorities have yet to name a suspect in the grisly killing.

Details of a search warrant affidavit, however, point to Medellin's live-in boyfriend, Gabriel Campos-Martinez, according to The Daily Beast: “During the course of the interview, Campos-Martinez provided inconsistent and suspicious statements,” according to the document.

Additionally, the document reportedly reveals that Campos-Martinez failed a polygraph test, with his responses indicating he "was being deceitful of dismembering the victim’s body and having knowledge of the victim’s murder."

Evidence gathered and studied by detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department showed that Campos-Martinez was looking in to not only moving out, but also buying a new vehicle, as well as selling items belonging to Medellin. The apartment the two shared was examined by police after the body parts were found, and several items were seized as evidence.

Campos-Martinez has since relocated to Texas.

Police also took a look at the possibility Campos-Martinez's volatile ex-lover as a suspect.

Still, nearly eight months after Medellin's head was found by hikers, police are still looking for a suspect, a motive, and a crime scene.

Sponsored message

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles City Council approved a $50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the bizarre and yet-unsolved case.

One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.

If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible donation today