Justice for Zoe Campos – Confession Leads to Conviction 9 Years Later
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Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. I'm so happy to have you here with me today. If you are new, then welcome. So today we are going to be talking about a case that recently wrapped up in trial in August of this year, and I really don't think it got enough coverage, so I really wanted to discuss it today. We are going to be talking about Zoe Campos, who was 18 years old when she was reported missing at first in Texas in 2013. However, this case has since passed,

been solved and justice has been served. But before we get into that, I wanted to take a moment to remind you guys about the fundraiser I'm currently hosting for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. We have recently raised over $50,000 and we are very close actually to our next milestone, which is $60,000. So I wanted to tell you about two ways that you can contribute if you haven't already. And if you have, thank you so much. This has been one of the most successful fundraisers that I've done and I'm

really, really proud of what we have created and the impact that we are going to have on NECMEC. It's such a wonderful organization and they are super, super grateful to you all for the support. You can really feel good about donating to NECMEC because they

put every dollar to incredibly good use. And I know that they're going to be using our donations so far to do very incredible and impactful work. So two ways that you can contribute. We currently have merch available on my website. That's milehighermerch.com. This is our NECMEC collection. We love how it turned out.

And I am contemplating the idea of turning it into children's merch, which I've never done before. So let me know if you would be interested in that. Okay, let's go ahead and get into the details of this case. So Zoe Gabrielle Campos was born on September 4th, 1995 in Lubbock, California.

Texas. She was the youngest daughter to her parents, Melinda and Alejandro, and she had one older sister named Savannah. So her father was in the Marines, and because of that, Zoe and her family moved around a lot. They left Lubbock for a few years, and they lived in a bunch of other places, including Honolulu, San Diego, and Round Rock, Texas. But eventually, they ended up settling back

in Lubbock. And at the time, her parents actually got a divorce. Growing up, Zoe had a lot of passion for life in general, but she especially had a huge passion for animals. Zoe's mom said that she was always bringing home strays and that she just had this huge heart, wanted to help all the animals. And she especially loved cats, dogs, and turtles. And Zoe also had a big heart when it came to her family. They meant the absolute world to her. She was

incredibly close with her mom from a young age. Her mom said people would always joke about how they still needed to cut the umbilical cord because they were that close. She was an incredible daughter, sister, and friend, and she really loved to make people laugh. Her family describes her as selfless, funny, kind of clumsy, protective, and warm. And she was also very close with her grandma, who she actually called Grandma Candy because when their family was living in Honolulu, her grandma would send her like care packages in the mail and she always loaded it up

with candy. And as Zoe grew older, she became a bit of a foodie. She loved to cook. Her specialty was jambalaya and their family loved to go out to restaurants and she just always enjoyed, you know, having good meals with good people. She loved all types of food. Some of her favorite was Chinese. And what's really funny is her family said one of her favorite restaurants was actually Hooters. And Zoe was actually really interested in

So animals, food, and mechanics, those are some of her biggest passions in life. And her mom said if she could open a pet store next to a mechanic shop, she absolutely would have.

So like I said, she was extremely close with her family. She had a great relationship with her sister, Savannah, and they spent a lot of time together. And Savannah had two children and she just loved being an aunt. She especially loved to take her nephew fishing at a lake that was near their home. And for being only 18 years old, Zoe was very mature and extremely responsible. She never partied or stayed out late. And if she did go out,

It was always, you know, with a smaller group of friends. She really enjoyed a more intimate setting. And Zoe, by all accounts, was on a great path in life and had a very bright future ahead of her. She would not go in if you knew her. But Zoe was also just a laid back person. She kept to herself. Yeah, she, you know, just hung out just here at the house. She loved being around her sister and her niece and nephew.

She also loved being around me, but she wasn't the type of person that would go out to parties or clubs or anything like that. If she did go to a party, it was with a friend and that was very rare. She was always hanging out with her. They were in separate rooms than they are.

But tragically, all of that was taken from her on November 17th, 2013. She spent most of the day with her family. And then later that night, she was going to go over to her friend April's house who had just had a baby. And she invited just a couple of friends over a very small gathering to meet the new baby.

definitely not a party by any means. It was a casual hangout. And of course, everyone there knew April, but not everyone there knew each other. But it was a pretty normal evening. Everyone got along. And April said that Zoe left around nine o'clock because she had plans to go to dinner that night with her sister, Savannah. They were going out to dinner with her kids and another friend. ♪♪

And Savannah said that Zoe was her usual happy-go-lucky self during dinner. And then afterwards, they decided to go pick up a movie at one of those old red box machines and watch it together when they got home. And Zoe was planning on sleeping at Savannah's house that night. And a few reports have said that that was because she planned to watch her niece and nephew the following day while her sister was at work.

And like I mentioned before, Zoe was very close with her niece and nephew and she loved them as if they were her own kids. So Savannah said the movie wrapped up around 1130 and during the movie, Zoe was kind of falling asleep and they decided to call it a night. So Savannah went to bed and she figured Zoe was just going to sleep out on the couch. So she goes into her room by herself and she has no idea that the next morning her sister would be gone.

Zoe ended up leaving the house later that night after her sister went to bed, which was kind of out of character for her. She normally didn't do things like that, but we know that Zoe left that night because her mother received a text message from her between 2.30 and 2.39 a.m. Melinda was working at a bar

that closed around this time and she was pleasantly surprised when she got this text from Zoe asking if she wanted a ride home because Melinda's car had been in the shop that day. So getting a ride home from her daughter was going to be, you know, super helpful. But after 2.39 a.m., all communication with Zoe stopped.

And her mom waited for her to come pick her up. And she never showed up. Which at first Melinda wasn't too concerned about. She did try to call Zoe. And Zoe didn't answer. But she thought you know it was really late at this point. Maybe she had just accidentally fallen asleep. So she ends up just walking to a friend's house that was pretty close to the bar. And stayed the night there. And her plan was to just go home the next morning. The text that I received from her was around 2.30, 2.30, 2.39.

saying she was on her way to pick me up. And I said, "Okay." And I waited for about 30 minutes, called her phone. It rang and rang and rang and rang. And then it went to her voicemail. I hung up and called it right back and it went to voicemail directly. And since then, I want to say probably about three in the morning, we haven't had any, we haven't been able to get through on her phone.

And again, she didn't really think much of it when Zoe didn't come pick her up. But all that changed the next morning, November 18th. That morning, Savannah, her sister, wakes up and starts, you know, getting ready for work. It's a normal day for her. And she realizes that Zoe's not there. She's not in her room. She's not on the couch. And at first, she also didn't panic. She gave her sister a call. She didn't answer. But her car was gone. So she thought maybe she had, you know, driven home.

home during the night or maybe even in the early morning. So after she tries to call her a couple times and the phone keeps going to voicemail, she ends up reaching out to her mother and realizes that her mom also hasn't been able to get a hold of her and that she never showed up to pick her up last night. And that's when the panic starts to set in and they start calling local hospitals, trying to see if maybe she got in an accident. They continue trying to reach her and have no luck. But after hours of no contact,

and no information about where she could possibly be, they end up calling the police at around 5 p.m. and tried to report her missing. And we see this a lot with missing persons cases, but the police did not file a missing persons report and they didn't want to start an investigation until 24 hours after her disappearance.

The authorities would not accept her as missing and file a report until the following day at 7.13 p.m. on November 19, 2013. Luckily, though, police did put out an APB on her Lincoln Town car on the 18th, and the police also tried to contact her cell phone provider to see if they could access her current location, but they were unsuccessful after learning that her phone was either unhoused

off or the battery had been removed. But then the craziest and one of the luckiest things I've heard in a case happened and her aunt just happens to see her car out driving around. Her aunt Monica was just driving through town on November 20th when she spotted Zoe's gray Lincoln Town car driving in the area of University and 62nd Street. So she immediately follows the car and is able to get a visual on the driver.

But it's hard for her to make any identification on this person because the windows are tinted and the car's in motion at the time. So she's able to determine that this is a male wearing a hoodie with a darker complexion. And she also said that she thought that this person was around 20 years old. So as she's following the car, she's thinking all types of stuff. Is Zoe in the car? Did the person who has the car do something to her? You know, obviously her mind's going wild and she's just focused on...

staying with the car and she calls her son as she's following him but eventually the driver figures out that she is there so obviously he starts trying to lose her and eventually she does lose sight of the car after it made an abrupt turn southbound but she continued to drive around looking for it and eventually her and her son actually did find the car but it was abandoned and

at the driftwood apartments where Zoe lived. So Monica immediately calls the police and they took over an hour to get to the scene. Now, both thankfully and unfortunately, Zoe was not in the vehicle, which means she was still missing. However, they did find a couple of things in the car. They found a phone charger, a black jacket that she was wearing, a male's sweatshirt, and some duct tape.

So they took the clothing in as evidence and they dusted the vehicle for fingerprints. And because Zoe's dad was an active member of the Marines, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or the NCIS, actually took part in helping with the investigation. They ended up taking Zoe's jacket and conducted forensic testing, hoping that they could find traces of anything that would lead them to Zoe. ♪♪

So obviously they need to figure out where Zoe was the night before and if anyone had seen her from 1130 to 230. And although they couldn't trace her current location, they were able to see where she had been the night before based on her cell phone records. They were able to ping her final text messages and figure out an approximate location. And that actually showed that she was in a one mile radius of Lowry Field, which was a local football field that didn't have the best location.

The area in and around Lowry Field was typically known for its drug and sex work activity. But this was really surprising to her friends and family, and they said that she definitely didn't take hard drugs and she had no connection whatsoever to sex work. So they were extremely worried when they found out that this was her final location. Investigators also figured out that the last call that she made was to a man named B.

And what's strange about this is this man was actually someone her mother used to date. So why would she be contacting her mother's ex? So that is definitely strange, but investigators brought him in, gave him a polygraph test and he passed that. And they said they had no other reason to pursue him further.

The next person that the police had in mind was Zoe's ex-boyfriend, Joe. And obviously ex-boyfriends are looked into when someone goes missing in a lot of cases. She and Joe had dated for two and a half years. So they interviewed him and he was also ruled out. Next, they looked into a guy named Jacob who Zoe had also dated. And I guess Jacob was kind of the bad boy type that

Zoe normally didn't date and her family wasn't super into. And turns out he cheated on her and the two of them fought constantly. And he even admitted to the police that Zoe and him had been in contact recently and weren't getting along. However, he had a rock solid alibi for that night. So they ruled him out as well. So investigators ended up trying to speak to everyone who was at April's house that day.

And they were hoping, you know, someone had seen something weird or heard Zoe say something. Maybe someone could speak to how she was acting or how her temperament seemed. So a man named Carlos Rodriguez was one of the people who was at this gathering that day. So they first interviewed Carlos on November 25th.

And he tells police that he and Zoe didn't know each other before they went to this little gathering at April's house and that they briefly spoke to each other while they were there. He also said that he and Zoe left around the same time, but he didn't have much more to provide them with other than that. But something about his story just wasn't quite right.

So they brought him back in for an additional interview on December 9th. And during this interview, investigators received a sworn statement from Carlos that was very different from his first. And this time, Carlos admits that he had lied to them before and that him and Zoe did connect via Facebook.

He said that the two of them chatted about meeting up at his house that night to smoke a little weed.

But again, he denied any involvement with her disappearance. He said that she actually did come over, that they were going to smoke weed, but neither of them had any. So she left to find some and never returned. And that was it. That's all he knew. Now, Carlos said his reasoning for lying the first time that he talked to police was because of the weed. He didn't want to get in trouble. But even though he denied having any involvement in her disappearance,

Carlos quickly became the number one suspect in the case. I mean, with the way he lied to investigators the first time, it gave them plenty of reason to believe that maybe he was lying about more. And it turns out his house was within a one mile radius of Lowry Field. We miss her. We miss her very much. And we love her. We want her here. We want her back in our life. We want to see her. Her niece and nephew are constantly asking for her. For Zoe. For Zoe.

Can I go see Zoe? Zoe just, we need her back home. So in 2014, there were hundreds of tips coming in about Zoe and her family actually hired their own investigator to follow up on any leads that they had come across. One tip that came in from this woman and her husband said that they had seen Zoe outside of the Villa Motel on the night of November 17th. And this motel is within a one mile radius of Lowry Field and it was empty.

infamously known for being surrounded by drug dealers and sex work. So when the news got out that Zoe was possibly seen at that hotel, there was an ongoing rumor that she had been sold into human trafficking. And it seemed so likely that her family even began believing this theory. There are interviews of her mother talking about how that's what she thought happened.

They thought maybe Zoe, when met up with this boy, left to find weed and found herself in a horrible situation at or near this motel. But investigators still felt strongly that Carlos knew more than he was saying or could have been involved. So eventually they get a search warrant and they go search his house, which turns out he's no longer living at this property anymore, which made it way easier. And it turns out the dogs...

did find traces of zoe's scent throughout the entire house and in the alley they did a thorough search of the property however they didn't find any evidence but they were definitely not giving up in 2015 and 16 they held many searches for zoe physical searches their entire community really came together to help the compost family it helps it really does because uh her picture out there

It's going to show someone. Someone's going to trigger and finally say, okay, you know what? I do know something. And as the years went by, the community and the entire family really held on to hope that Zoe would be found. And they said they found their strength from their community. And they even held a candlelight vigil for her on November 16th, 2016, which marked three years since she first went missing. And they still didn't have answers at this point, which was just so hard on them. Imagine not being able to see your kid. True.

not being able to hear their voice, not being able to eat.

See their smile? And during this time, the investigators are still looking into Carlos. And he is brought in a few times for questioning over the years. And no surprise, as he continues to come in, his story continues to change. I mean, at first he says that he didn't even see her after the get-together, that they just went separate ways. Then he changes his story, saying that they were together that night. And he talks about them getting together to smoke weed. But then he also says they don't have any weed at all. But when

forensic testing showed that Zoe's DNA was on Carlos's jacket from that night, he had to stick to the story that she had been to his house that night. So in an interview on December 5th, 2017, Carlos admitted that Zoe was in his room for a period of time that night. This interview was conducted in the Lubbock County Detention Center where Carlos was serving a four-year sentence for stalking and threatening an ex-girlfriend of his.

Rodriguez no stranger to the law. Most recently, he was arrested for stalking charges against a former girlfriend.

According to a restraining order application filed in Lubbock County, that former girlfriend said Rodriguez threatened her multiple times with violence. And at this point, investigators felt certain that there was more to his story, but they needed to get something more concrete before they were able to get another warrant. Then another inmate who's also serving time with Carlos at the Lubbock County Detention Center says that he talked to Carlos and he told him.

how, you know, the police are searching his house, but that they wouldn't find anything until they quote, move the concrete. The statement was further supported by a confidential informant who on July 31st, 2018 contacted detectives to let them know that Carlos told him where her body was hidden. That person was then interviewed on November 6th and he told them specific details

details of where they could find Zoe's body. And that was enough for investigators to get another search warrant. And the same team of cadaver dogs that searched the property back in 2014, searched it again now in November of 2018. The dogs ended up alerting to an area in the backyard and investigators started digging. And that's when they found a set of bones. So obviously they send the bones in for testing, but before they determine whose they are or what they are,

I mean, they're not even sure at this point that they're human remains. They bring in Carlos. They want to talk to him again. They start the interview with Carlos. And as soon as they mentioned the bones, he ends the interview and he says he wants a lawyer present to discuss anything with them further. The results from the lab actually came back really quickly and they found out that these were not Zoe's bones.

bones. They were actually just animal bones, but they decided not to tell Carlos that because the way he acted after they told him about the bones made them feel like they were getting really close to figuring out what happened to Zoe. So in the following days, investigators are keeping a close eye

on Carlos and they are monitoring everyone that he is communicating with outside of the detention center. And after, you know, listening in on some of his conversations, they realize that Carlos really thinks that they have found Zoe's remains. It's very obvious by the way he is talking, even though little does he know these are just animal bones. So they really felt like he knew that she was back there somewhere that they just hadn't figured out exactly where.

So on November 14th, they use ground penetrating radar to determine where else they should dig. But two days later, before they even start searching, Carlos requests to speak to the lead detective. And during this meeting, Carlos completely waived his Miranda rights and gave a full confession. He ends up telling them that

But that night when Zoe and him were hanging out, they decided to smoke some K2, which if you don't know what that is, it's a human made synthetic version of THC that can be highly psychoactive. Carlos claims that after smoking this synthetic weed, he basically freaked out. He started hallucinating and he struck Zoe really hard. Rodriguez said he was smoking synthetic marijuana when he lost control and struck Zoe in the face.

He then says he put Zoe in a chokehold and strangled her. He told investigators he buried her in his backyard that night. He then moved her body several months later into a deeper grave. So after telling investigators this, they take him over to the residence and he points out where her remains are.

Just after 10 p.m. on November 16, 2018, Zoe's decomposed remains were found and Carlos was arrested and finally charged with her murder. Yeah, the medical examiner is testing the bones to get a positive DNA match. Right now, investigators believe the body is 18-year-old Zoe Campos. Now, in that arrest warrant, it states that Carlos Rodriguez confessed

to killing Zoe Campos at this house in the early morning hours of November 18, 2013. And then they sent Zoe's remains to the medical examiner's office for a final identification. And because it had been so long and how decomposed her body was, they had to use forensic dental records to confirm that the remains actually did belong to her. In sitting down with them a few minutes ago and having to tell them that was Zoe, that was her body. I hope it was a degree of relief. I think it was.

if for no other reason than just finally knowing that she's not out lost, she's not out suffering. And so if anything, at least that part of this tragedy

He is now behind them. Now, despite giving a full confession, Carlos ends up making an initial plea in court that he is not guilty. But after entering this plea, he released a letter intended for the media that really reiterated his confession and outlined his guilt. In this letter, Carlos stated that the

burden of keeping the secret was just weighing on him that he felt very guilty about what he had done and he wanted to come forward. The letter stated that he and Zoe had met that night at April's house for the first time. He claims they were kind of flirty with each other and that there was mutual attraction. He ends up messaging her later that night on Facebook and the two of them agreed to meet at his house where they planned to smoke weed. And I just wanted to read a section of this letter. So he says, she kept saying things and I could hear her laughing.

Zoe kept grinning and asking me if I was okay, but I was certain I was dying.

That's when I started to get lightheaded and my vision started to black out. Then Zoe said, you're fucking tripping. And when she opened her mouth to laugh, her face started to melt. And that's when I struck her. She got up and I heard a demonic scream. I remember her running to the door. So I grabbed what appeared to be a demon from behind in a rear naked choke.

I don't know how long I was choking her gut. When I let go, I started to realize what had happened and my whole world started to crumble. Carlos went on to say that he has had to live with the guilt of what he did to Zoe for the last five years. And he's adamant though, he is not alone.

He claimed that he would have never done such a thing to her in his right mind, and it was the drugs that made him kill her. In his letter, he also apologized to the Campos family. He said,

hurt and suffering I caused. You have every right to be upset with me and consider me a worthless enemy who destroyed your lives by taking a life dear to you. Just remember, don't seek revenge, seek justice, and don't hate your enemies. Love them and forgive them. In my opinion, it's incredibly inappropriate and strange for him to be telling them how they should feel or how to think of their enemies or whatever he was saying. And the anger that her family must have felt finding out what happened to her must have just been...

I just can't even imagine. Carlos also admitted that he was the one driving the car when her aunt Monica saw him. And he also said that he ended up having to move Zoe's body from where he originally put her because his dog started to dig her up. And

And despite this full written confession, Carlos maintained his not guilty plea and he and his lawyers prepared for trial. And his team actually tried to get the original confession thrown out, saying that he had been coerced into making it without a lawyer present. But a judge ultimately ruled that both the verbal and written confession were obtained legally and therefore they could use it in trial.

A Lubbock judge will not be throwing out the 2018 confession of Carlos Rodriguez in the murder of 18 year old Zoe compost. And this is according to the Lubbock County District Attorney. The defense team for Rodriguez attempted to get his confession thrown out in a Lubbock courtroom on Thursday.

They argued the confession was obtained by investigators when his attorney was not present. So this year, Monday, August 15th, 2022, Carlos changed his plea from not guilty to an open plea, meaning that he didn't reach a deal with prosecutors, but would be taking his chances in court. He faced a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Well, Matt and Terry, they're asking for the jury for a life sentence, saying Rodriguez had no reason or motive, just the opportunity. In court today, Zoe's family took the stand, telling members of the jury about their beloved Zoe and why in no way she deserved what brutally happened to her.

And things moved quickly with this trial. After a very short deliberation, the jury came back with their decision on August 18th and Carlos Rodriguez was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Zoe Campos. Zoe's family is still so devastated and

always will be about the loss of their beautiful daughter, but they do feel peace knowing that they can finally put her to rest and that justice has been served. This is just such a sad case. I mean, just completely unnecessary. And what's so frustrating at the end of the day is

We don't even know what really happened to Zoe. I mean, we know what Carlos told everyone happened, but there could be details that are left out and what he actually did to her. Only he will ever truly know. I think Carlos absolutely deserves life in prison and I am happy that justice has been served for this family and that they can start to heal from here.

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.