RALEIGH, N.C. (WRAL) – A man accused of killing a North Carolina teacher during a home break-in allegedly confessed to the crime in an interview with investigators.
Ryan Camacho, 36, is charged with the murder of Zoe Welsh, a science teacher at Ravenscroft School, a private school in Raleigh. Newly released search warrants allege he admitted to the crime, referring to Welsh as “the lady I killed.”
Raleigh Police say Welsh called 911 on the morning of Jan. 3 to report a man was inside her home. While she was on the phone with a dispatcher, the suspect began assaulting her. She died from her injuries at the hospital.
Investigators arrested Camacho that afternoon. Warrants show that while he was being interviewed, he “made an utterance” about Welsh’s death, indicating he knew how she died, and asked if this was about the woman he killed.
“Is this about the lady’s head I bashed in with a rock? The lady I killed?” Camacho is quoted as saying to detectives in a court document.
The warrants also allege detectives collected Camacho’s bloody clothes and found a rock, like the one he said he used to kill Welsh, inside his jacket.
Attorney Woody Webb Jr., who is unaffiliated with this case, says confession to a murder is basically a slam dunk for prosecutors. But it gets a little hazy when it comes to Camacho, who has a history of mental illness.
“A confession is very, very, very powerful,” Webb said. “If he knew what was happening at the time he was questioned and made a confession and he did it voluntarily in compliance with Miranda, that certainly will weigh in the prosecutor’s favor.”
Camacho’s competence to stand trial for Welsh’s murder is still being determined. In December, he was declared unable to stand trial on an unrelated battery charge.
Camacho remains behind bars with no bond.
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