VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — A Vancouver mother is desperate for answers in the search for her daughter’s murderer. She’s calling on her skills as a former detective to track him down and give her family closure.
Jospehine Wentzel’s daughter, 30-year-old Krystal Mitchell, was killed while vacationing in San Diego on June 10, 2016. The prime suspect in the murder is her boyfriend, Raymond McLeod, who authorities say fled to Mexico.
“Basically he came across as a gentleman,” Wentzel said. “He had a son that he loved and adored, and she even met the son.”
Wentzel said her daughter thought it could be a good match because she had 2 kids herself. Mitchell and McLeod met in Phoenix, Arizona, where Mitchell had moved a few years ago. She was a project manager at the apartment complex McLeod was applying to live in.
“She wasn’t in love with him. I don’t think there was enough time to be in love,” Wentzel said. “But she was checking it out, what young people do.”
Wentzel believes there was an altercation between McLeod and another man in San Diego.
“He got into it with somebody, punched some guy or something,” Wentzel said. “I know my daughter. She probably said ‘that’s ridiculous, I’m outta here.'”
The San Diego police have a warrant for McLeod’s arrest. They say he is a former Marine with PTSD and may have access to weapons. Police believe he may try to cross the border back into the United States.
The U.S. Marshals Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to McLeod’s arrest. They said he is known to use cocaine and marijuana and frequently goes to gyms and strip clubs.
Wentzel’s detective work started paying off when she got lots of tips on social media posts. She knows finding McLeod won’t bring her daughter back but she wants justice to be served.
“But finding him is going to stop him from creating another grieving family,” she said. “I have to do this for my grandkids. That’s my mission … they need to know the man who took their mother away is behind bars and they don’t have to be afraid of him.”
