Police in Wisconsin announced this week that a missing Wisconsin woman had been found dead and her boyfriend arrested in Minnesota.
The body of Gabriella Cartagena, 24, was found in Michigan, but police said they believe she was murdered in Marinette, Wisconsin, where she lived with Robert Chilcote, WLUK reports.
Marinette Police Chief John LaCombe said at a news conference on Thursday that when police responded to Red Arrow Park, where the two were believed to be, they “found some signs of possible blood and other disturbances in the area, which led us to believe that this was a scene we needed to focus on from the start.”
That began on the morning of February 5, when Cartagena’s family reported her missing — and that she had been on a phone call with her mother the night before when her mother heard her crying and saying, “Please don’t shoot me. I’m sorry,” as CrimeOnline reported. On Tuesday, police announced they had found Cartagena, although only her family reported at that time that she was dead.
Marinette Police said on Thursday that her body was found in a wooded area in Menominee County, Michigan, on Tuesday. Investigators said her body as found as they tracked Chilcote’s movements after Cartagena’s disappearance. They further tracked him to Minnesota, where he was arrested.
Chilcote has been charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and being a fugitive from justice from another state. Police said they found “several firearms” inside Chilcote’s vehicle.
“I don’t know if those were the weapons used in this incident or not,” LaCombe said.
Prosecutors are awaiting completion of an autopsy to file further charges, Marinette County District Attorney DeShea Morrow said. Her office has already begun the process to extradite Chilcote to Wisconsin.
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[Featured image: Gabriela Cartagena/GoFundMe and Robert Chilcote/Wright County Sheriff’s Office]