She was affected by a single gunshot wound to the neck and had a gun in her hand. The sufferer was pronounced useless on the scene.

As they started to research the scene, officers found a “Publish-It Notice” in a downstairs bed room, in response to a press launch from the Peoria County State Legal professional’s Workplace, that appeared to color an image of what may need occurred.

The observe purportedly learn, “I, Mary Elyce Halcomb, promise to by no means break Nathanial Archuleta’s coronary heart, and if I do, Nathaniel Archuleta has each proper to euthanize me, vice versa, I like you.”

Nathan Archuleta, 19, reportedly gave police “conflicting accounts” of what occurred that evening as investigators began to rule out suicide because the doable reason behind Halcomb’s loss of life. A big issue on this was a blood path from the bed room to her ultimate resting place within the touchdown space, suggesting her physique had been moved after she was shot.

An post-mortem of Halcomb’s physique additionally revealed that the gun that had shot her within the neck was fired from two to 3 ft away, per the Peoria JournalStar on the time.

Whereas talking with detectives, Archuleta first advised them that his girlfriend had dedicated suicide. Then, his story shifted to an admission that he’d been cleansing his gun and it by accident went off, although police couldn’t discover something that could possibly be used to wash a firearm within the dwelling.

That rationalization additionally doesn’t clarify why her hand was wrapped across the gun on the touchdown, with prosecutors arguing in court docket Monday that Archuleta “staged her loss of life to look as a suicide.”

In accordance with the State Legal professional’s press launch, although, Archuleta allegedly made a jailhouse confession, telling a fellow inmate that he had shot Halcomb as a result of he “caught her texting one other man.”

In a report on the time of his arrest by native radio station WMBD, Archuleta additionally allegedly “admitted to signing the sticky notes.”

In court docket on Monday, prosecutors talked about how her loss has impacted her household. “They spoke of sleepless nights, nightmares, and protracted heartbreak. They described their overwhelming sense of loss, lack of sisterly moments, shared desires, and life milestones that can by no means come,” they stated, per the discharge.

“Mary’s family members described battling belief, worry, despair, and nervousness,” prosecutors continued. “They referred to as Archuleta’s actions egocentric and unforgivable, stating that blood will ceaselessly be on his fingers and that justice should now be served.”

Throughout the listening to, Nathaniel Archuleta pleaded responsible to the first-degree homicide of Mary Halcomb. His trial had been set to start July 28, per the Peoria JournalStar.

As a part of his plea settlement — which is supported by Halcomb’s household, in response to the State Legal professional’s Workplace — he was sentenced to 45 years with out the opportunity of parole.

In her obituary, it was revealed that Halcomb was working as a CNA whereas attending lessons towards turning into a nurse, “a aim pushed by her deep compassion and need to assist others.”