SAN DIEGO — A former Marine, suspected of murdering his girlfriend, on the run in South America; a mother's unrelenting search for her daughter's killer.
It is a plot made for a blockbuster film but a harsh reality for Josephine Wentzel, the mother who spent six years tracking down, Raymond McLeod, the man suspected of killing her daughter.
On August 29, 2022, after more than six years on the run through Central and South America, authorities in Sonsonate, El Salvador arrested McLeod.
The unofficial lead investigator on the case was the victim's mother, Josephine Wentzel.
"I just cried tears of joy that it was over that part was over but it wasn't like a satisfaction because you have a great loss," said Wentzel.
The Murder of Krystal Mitchell
Krystal Mitchell, a 30-year-old single mother of two children, thought she met her match when she met then-37-year-old former Marine, Raymond McLeod.
"There were no red flags right away," said Wentzel. "He was a Marine. His family was established in Scottsdale. And, Krystal said he was a doting dad who loved his child."
But McLeod had a hidden past that neither Mitchell or her mother knew.
He was a heavy drinker and had a history of domestic violence.
McLeod's violent tendencies surfaced during a June 2016 trip the couple took to San Diego.
On June 15, while staying with friends in their Allied Gardens apartment on Mission Gorge, Mitchell and McLeod went to a neighborhood bar for drinks.
Inside the bar, a drunken McLeod slapped Mitchell. When a bar patron tried to intervene, McLeod, an avid bodybuilder, got into a fight with him.
The fight was the last time anyone other than McLeod saw Mitchell alive.
Shortly after the fight, the couple went to the apartment on the 7600 block of Mission Gorge.
Mitchell was found strangled and beaten to death inside the apartment the following day. Detectives discovered a trail of blood from the elevator to the apartment door.
McLeod was nowhere to be found.
Detectives later learned he left the apartment and rented a car at the San Diego Airport.
He placed a phone call to his ex-wife telling her that he would not be able to make their son's birthday party.
A Fugitive on the Run
Days after the murder, Mexican authorities found McLeod's rental car abandoned more than 1,110 miles south of the border in Mazatlán, Mexico.
McLeod left no trace behind. Authorities in San Diego and Mexico had little to go on. McLeod had vanished.
But Mitchell's mother, Josephine Wentzel, a former detective, waiting was not an option.
"It was about five months after not hearing before I spoke to [McLeod's] bail bondsman," Wentzel told CBS 8. "I wanted to see what their responsibility was and whether or not they were going to go after him. He said something like, 'You know, nobody's looking for him?'
"I told him they were and he said, 'No, nobody is looking for him. There's nobody out there.' That's when I found out there were no boots on the ground. Nobody was handing out flyers, nothing."
That's when Wentzel got to work.
She took a social media course. She began posting wanted ads on social media.
"I just started pounding the pavement, virtually," said Wentzel.
"You can have a billion-dollar reward but if nobody out there knows that there's a billion-dollar reward nobody's going to go after it."
Wentzel monitored Facebook and other social media platforms. When someone wrote in saying they saw McLeod, Wentzel put more wanted ads within a 100-mile radius of the sighting.
Over several years McLeod and Wentzel played what amounted to a game of cat-and-mouse; when Wentzel got close to nailing down McLeod's location, the former Marine would flee.
This happened in Guatemala, Belize, and throughout Central and South America.
"He had, what people call, a paid 'Watcher.' They get paid to look out for people. Oftentimes the watchers are in law enforcement," said Wentzel.
Wentzel said the fact that she, as a private citizen and not a member of law enforcement, did not have to abide by international or national law regarding communicating with sources or other potential barriers.
The Arrest
In August 2022, Wentzel received a tip from Sonsonate, El Salvador, more than an hour outside of San Salvador.
A man known as Jack Donovan fit McLeod's description. According to the tip, McLeod was teaching English at a small school.
On August 30, 2022, after Wentzel sent the tip to the U.S. Marshal, authorities in El Salvador arrested McLeod.
The San Diego County District Attorney's Office charged McLeod with murder and he faces 25 years to life if convicted.
For Wentzel, the arrest was bittersweet.
"I was lost for words," said Wentzel. "I just cried. I didn't know how to react. It was so long and I've been so grieved. I just cried tears of joy but it wasn't like satisfaction, not in the least."
Now, Wentzel has her sights on the next leg in her journey to get justice for her daughter.
"So, it paid off so we caught the rat. Now we start the court process."
Meanwhile, Wentzel is not stopping at ensuring McLeod loses his freedom. She also looks to hold him responsible civilly as well.
In August, Wentzel filed a civil lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court looking to hold McLeod financially responsible as well.
Nicolas Jimenez from San Diego-based national law firm, McKenzie Scott, said McLeod needs to be accountable not only criminally but financially as well.
"You have to remember, these are two children who were left without their mother," said Jimenez. "They've been without their mother for the past eight years and will be for the rest of their lives. They're not going to have that love, that support, everything that goes with losing your mother. Part of the reason for this lawsuit is to cover the possibility that if indeed, at some point there are financial resources available to this defendant, the children can get at least some compensation for what they lost."
Added Jimenez, "Miss Wenzel is prepared to see all avenues through for what was done to her daughter, and this is one of them."
McLeod's attorney declined to comment for this story.