A Round Lake Beach woman, mortally wounded in a stabbing, cried out for her father moments before she collapsed and died, the victim’s family members testified Tuesday at the Lake County trial of Alonzo Campos.
The father and daughter of Mariana Castro-Tellez were the first witnesses to testify in the trial of Campos, 23, a Round Lake Beach area resident who authorities said stabbed Tellez-Castro, who was 48, in the family’s home on May 17, 2019, in a dispute over a pawned video game console.
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The victim’s daughter, Jessica Reyes, 17, told jurors that her mother had spent the previous night packing a bag for a church retreat she was planning on attending. But at about 4:30 a.m., Reyes told jurors she heard her mother screaming, and as Reyes exited her bedroom, she saw her wounded mother walking into the bedroom of Castro-Tellez’s parents, calling out “Dad! Dad!” before falling to the floor.
Reyes testified that Campos had been to the family home before, and that the alleged murderer was an acquaintance of her brother. At the time of the slaying, the brother had been in jail about a month.
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Authorities have said that Campos went to the house that day trying to resolve an issue over a pawned PlayStation 4, and apparently confronted Tellez-Castro before shooting her with a BB gun and then stabbing her with a kitchen knife.
The knife was recovered on a lawn down the street, and both the daughter and the victim’s father identified it as belonging to the family. Police arrested Campos after seeing him on surveillance video.
Neither the daughter nor the father of the victim saw Campos in the house as the stabbing happened, they testified.
Reyes said her mother was a hardworking house cleaner who got up early every day.
“She just worked all the time,” Reyes said. “She just wanted to make sure me and my brother had a roof over our head.”
The case is expected to go to jurors later this week.