Left inset: Melanie Camacho. Proper inset: Vicente Jasso (Madera County Sheriff’s Workplace). Background: The AutoZone in Madera, Calif., the place Melanie Camacho was final seen earlier than being murdered by her ex-boyfriend Vicente Jasso (Google Maps).
The ex-boyfriend of a California teen who went lacking after leaving her job at AutoZone — after which turned up lifeless in an orchard three days later — has been discovered responsible of murdering her.
Vicente Jasso, who was 23 when he was arrested for Melanie Camacho’s 2023 loss of life, was convicted Wednesday of homicide with particular circumstances of kidnapping and theft, in accordance with on-line court docket information seen by Regulation&Crime. He was discovered responsible by a Madera County jury and now faces life in jail.
A second suspect, Jose Lopez-Hernandez, who was Jasso’s buddy, was sentenced to 3 years in jail in February 2025 after he pleaded responsible to a felony cost of accent after the actual fact. He has since been launched.
In response to a police assertion, Camacho — whose reason behind loss of life has by no means been revealed publicly — was final seen “leaving her work” at an AutoZone on Gateway Drive in Madera round 10:15 p.m. on November 24, 2023.
“Round 11 p.m., Melanie despatched a textual content message to her mother letting her know she deliberate to fulfill with a buddy after work,” the assertion mentioned. “When she was not dwelling the next morning, Melanie’s mom reported her lacking round 6:45 a.m.”
Surveillance footage and witness interviews pinpointed Camacho, 19, leaving her job at AutoZone in her 2014 white Nissan Altima, which was noticed on the roadway close to her job round 10:30 p.m., only a half hour earlier than her mom acquired the textual content from her saying she deliberate to fulfill “with a buddy.”
“Detectives spoke with the buddy [Camacho] instructed her mother she’d be assembly, who reported they by no means met after work, however quite Melanie deliberate to fulfill with an ‘ex’ to both give or obtain one thing,” the police assertion mentioned.
Police reported that Jasso and Camacho dated for a number of months however had damaged up days earlier than Thanksgiving 2023. Jasso has a prison background that features a historical past of home abuse courting again to 2016, Fresno ABC affiliate KFSN reported.
Inside two hours of Camacho’s mom reporting her lacking, police acquired a name a few automobile on hearth within the space. It was Camacho’s.
Witnesses instructed police they noticed a blue Ford Mustang with a black hood being pushed across the similar space the place her automobile was discovered. Queuing up surveillance footage, police mentioned they have been capable of decide that the Mustang belonged to Lopez-Hernandez.
Lopez-Hernandez was introduced in for questioning that night time and police executed a search warrant on his dwelling shortly afterward.
The warrant led them to the orchard the place Camacho was discovered, situated close to a rural freeway.
By then, police mentioned they’d made Jasso their main suspect.
Officers noticed him round 7 a.m. the next day driving round Madera in a minivan. California Freeway Patrol tried to cease him and a chase received underway, with Jasso touring at speeds in extra of 110 miles per hour, in accordance with The Fresno Bee.
Police mentioned that they noticed Jasso tossing a few of Camacho’s belongings, together with her driver’s license, from his automobile window through the chase.
Jasso was lastly stopped due to a spike strip that blew out his tires. He managed to flee on foot briefly and hid in a residential neighborhood however was in the end captured with the assistance of a police helicopter.
Police have mentioned that Jasso has a prison historical past courting again to 2016, with prior arrests for witness intimidation, home violence, evading, and reckless driving. He is on account of be sentenced for Camacho’s homicide on April 16.
