Naman Shrestha
In NBC’s podcast titled ‘Dateline: The End of the Affair,’ the primary focus is on the murder case of a Miami-based man named Camilo Salazar, whose remains were found in the Florida Everglades. He had become the target of Manuel Marin, a local supermarket mogul whose wife Camilo had been dating secretly. Once he learned about the affair, he came up with a jealous-driven plan to kill him. Three individuals connected to the MMA industry — Roberto Isaac, Alexis Perdomo, and Ariel Gandulla — helped him materialize the plan. Through interviews with Camilo’s loved ones and the officials linked to the case, the podcast provides the listeners with a detailed account of the extent of involvement of the three individuals.
Roberto Isaac, Alexis Perdomo, and Ariel Gandulla Were Hired by Manuel Marin For Killing Camilo Salazar
The involvement of Roberto Isaac, Alexis Vila Perdomo, and Ariel Gandulla in the brutal murder of Camilo Salazar began with Manuel Marin’s jealousy and his friendship with Cuban-native Alexis, also known as “The Exorcist.” In the 1990s, the latter earned quite a name for himself as he won several medals between 1993 and 1996. It was in 1993 when the former wrestling coach crossed paths with Manuel in Cuba. Sharing a father-son bond with Alexis, the local supermarket mogul helped him move to the US and played a role in the establishment of his wrestling studio. Given his deep friendship with the MMA fighter, Manuel hired him to carry out his plan of killing his wife’s lover.
Alexis then made a couple of his trustees part of the elaborate plan — another former MMA fighter named Ariel “The Panther” Gandulla and a fight trainer/promoter named Roberto Isaac. On the fateful day of June 1, 2011, the trio contacted Manuel on his phone dozens of times to ensure everything went according to plan. Having played their part in the abduction and murder of Camilo, they became persons of interest when Manuel’s phone records led the authorities straight to them. The police interrogated them separately but, despite their best attempts, failed to get a confession from any of them.
Ariel Gandulla Agreed to Cooperate With the Authorities in Exchange For a Deal
In 2015, four years later, when the detectives ran a fingerprint they had found on the victim’s car through the database again, it matched with Ariel Gandulla. Reportedly, Ariel’s fingerprint had been added to the database after he was arrested on a drug charge in the months following Camilo’s murder. Unfortunately, the authorities couldn’t locate him as well as Manuel. A few years of internal debate later, they decided that they had enough evidence against the four suspects to charge them with murder, following which Roberto and Alexis were taken into custody. By August 2018, the police had also arrested Manuel, who was extradited from Spain. Since any of the three incarcerated individuals were not ready to talk, the search for Ariel intensified and led the investigators to Vancouver.
During the interrogation, Ariel initially articulated a false story about the crime. But once the detectives hit him with all the evidence they had against him, he cracked under pressure and told them a different story. As per his account, he, alongside Roberto and Alexis, abducted Camilo on June 1, 2011, and took him straight to Manuel, who was waiting at an empty lot in an industrial area. Ariel claimed that he did not witness the killing as he alleged that he got inside his truck and drove away from the site soon after delivering the kidnapped man to the orchestrator of the plan. By the end of the interview, the detectives offered him a deal where he would serve only three years for the kidnapping charge in exchange for testifying for the prosecution in the trial. He accepted the deal, crossed the border with them, and became a key witness.
While Ariel Has Been Released, Roberto and Alexis Are Serving Time in Separate Florida Prisons
On September 27, 2019, Ariel Gandulla became the first of the four individuals involved in the murder of Camilo Salazar to be convicted. As per his deal, he pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge and agreed to testify against the other accused suspects — Manuel Marin, Roberto Isaac, and Alexis Perdomo. Thus, he was sentenced to a total of three years in prison. According to reports, he was released on April 11, 2022, after the completion of his sentence. Ever since then, he seems to be leading a private life in Vancouver with his family. On the other hand, the trial of Alexis and Roberto commenced in late October 2019. After eight days of testimony from multiple witnesses and experts, the jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning with a guilty verdict for both defendants in November.
While Roberto was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, Alexis was convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and murder. The following month, on December 3, the fight trainer was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder and an additional 15 years for the other charges. Meanwhile, the former MMA fighter and Olympic medalist received a total of 15 years in prison. Currently, Roberto is incarcerated at the Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida, whereas Alexis is serving his sentence at Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda, Florida, with his release date scheduled for April 2032.
Read More: Manuel Marin: Where is the Killer Now?
