Ryan Camacho, 36, is charged with the Jan. 3, 2026, murder of Ravenscroft teacher Zoe Welsh.
Camacho has a 20-year criminal history in Durham and Wake counties. He also has a history of mental illness.
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Here's a look at Camacho's history with law enforcement and mental illness:
Murder suspect may have been sleeping in park before alleged murder, Raleigh police say
On Tuesday, Raleigh police said they believe that Camacho may have been sleeping in Fletcher Park before Welsh's death. Police said investigators cannot determine how long he may have been there.
A lawyer for Camacho declined to comment.
In the past six months, Raleigh police have responded to eight 911 calls at Fletcher Park, which is off Glenwood Avenue. Also, officers initiated 44 calls for service at the park during the same time span. Of those, police said 37 were security checks.
December 2025: Judge denies request to send Camacho to mental hospital
In December 2025, breaking-and-entering charges against Camacho were dismissed after a mental competency examination.
During the hearing, prosecutors asked to have Camacho involuntarily committed at a mental hospital, but that request was denied by Judge Louis Meyer, according to District Attorney Lorrin Freeman.
WRAL News has reached out to Meyer for comment but has not heard back.
Retired North Carolina judge Carl Fox told WRAL News that even if Camacho was involuntarily committed, there is no telling how long he could have stayed behind bars.
“The judge has to make a decision based on the evidence available to them at that point in time. They don’t have the benefit of ... a crystal ball and look and see what’s going to happen,” Freeman said. “Based on the evidence that was available to the court at the time, the court did not find that he met the threshold for involuntary commitment. For involuntary commitment, the judge has to make a finding that they are a danger to themselves or others. And when we talk about danger in that context, it’s an imminent danger to themselves or others.”
August 2025
The Raleigh Police Department arrested Camacho on Aug. 5, 2025, on a charge of misdemeanor larceny, according to public records.
Four felony charges from April 2025 reduced to single misdemeanor
Public records reveal Camacho avoided a multi-year prison sentence in 2025 due to a plea agreement that reduced four felony charges to a single misdemeanor.
A conviction for any one of the four Class H felony charges he faced would have resulted in a sentence between eight and 10 months. Had Camacho been convicted of all four charges, he would have faced a prison sentence between three and four years.
A felony conviction could have seen Camacho behind bars on Jan. 3. Instead, he is suspected of killing Welsh.
In July 2025, Camacho pleaded guilty to a Class I misdemeanor charge of breaking and entering and was sentenced to a maximum of 120 days. The Durham County Sheriff’s Office said Camacho was behind bars from July 6, 2025, until Aug. 4, 2025.
That plea downgraded his original charge for the April 3, 2025, incident. Court documents show Camacho was charged with:
- Felony breaking and entering to terrorize or injure
- Larceny after breaking and entering
On April 3, 2025, court documents state Camacho broke into a home along Weslyn Trace Drive near Oak Grove Parkway with a woman inside. He is accused of trying to steal a bottle of beer worth $2, according to the documents.
On April 6, he was charged with:
- Breaking and entering
- Larceny after breaking and entering
Court documents for that arrest show Camacho broke into a building owned by the Grove Park HOA along Nichols Farm Drive near North Lake Drive. He was accused of trying to steal a case of water worth $8, according to the documents.
WRAL News has reached out to Durham County District Attorney Satana Deberry to ask about Camacho's plea deal. We have not heard back.
Judge Dorothy Mitchell approved the plea deal.
A decade of minor criminal charges
2025
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Camacho on May 20, 2025, and released him to another law enforcement agency for its charges against him three days later, on May 23, 2025.
Jan. 10, 2025
Durham County deputies arrested Camacho on Jan. 10, 2025, on a charge of malicious conduct by a prisoner. He posted unsecured bond on Jan. 13, 2025, according to Durham County.
Durham woman shares chilling run-in with Ryan Camacho
A Durham woman tells WRAL News Camacho broke into her home twice, and she believes he should have been behind bars.
Michelle Potchak says he broke into her Durham home twice: In 2021 and in 2024.
WRAL News has reached out to the Deberry's office with Potchak’s concerns about the handling of Camacho’s 2021 and 2024 cases. We have not heard back.
April 9, 2024
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Camacho on April 9, 2024. He was charged with:
- Three counts of injury to personal property
- Five counts of injury to real property
- Misdemeanor larceny
- Two counts of misdemeanor breaking and entering
- Parole violation
Durham County released him on Dec. 16, 2024, to another law enforcement agency for its charges against him.
March 11, 2024
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Camacho on March 11, 2024, for a charge of injury to real property. Camacho was released the following day.
2021
Camacho tried to escape from state prison in Salisbury, according to the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. It's not clear why he was serving time there.
Camacho's mother granted guardianship over him
Camacho's mom, Cynthia Camacho, sought and was granted guardianship over him multiple times, citing "incompetency."
On Dec. 14, 2021, Camacho's mother said in a court document seeking guardianship that he had been diagnosed with mental illness in 2016 and "was delusional at times," adding that his decisions led to his incarceration.
"He needs help and a structured living environment," His mother wrote in the petition. "A guardian will greatly help assist him breaking out of his current cycle."
WRAL News went to her home on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, but she did not want to talk and asked crews to leave.
June 8, 2021
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Camacho on June 8, 2021.
It’s unclear what the charges were against Camacho, but he was released on Aug. 8, 2021, to another agency for its charges.
April 26, 2021
The Durham County Sheriff’s Office arrested Camacho on April 26, 2021.
It’s unclear what the charges were against Camacho. He was released on May 4, 2021, to another agency for its charges.
Feb. 19, 2021
Durham County deputies booked Camacho on the following charges:
- Felony breaking and entering
- Larceny after breaking and entering
- Felony possession of stolen goods
- Safecracking
- Parole violation
Durham County released Camacho on March 29, 2021, to another agency for its charges.
2019
In 2019, Camacho pleaded guilty to shooting into an occupied property in Wake County, court records show.
Raleigh police arrested Camacho on Jan. 4, 2019, for the charge, public records show.
In documents dating back to 2019, Camacho is described as being "previously diagnosed with schizophrenia."
The court document was a motion to determine if Camacho had the capacity to proceed in the criminal case against him at the time. He had been charged with multiple counts of shooting a weapon into an occupied property.
Camacho had been refusing to meet with his attorney and mental health personnel, according to the document. Camacho was also refusing medication and "experiencing intermittent auditory hallucinations and paranoia."
A motion in 2019 noted that Camacho was "previously found to be incapable to proceed in 2017 and treated at Central Regional Hospital" and had a "history of involuntary commitments."
Following an evaluation, a judge found Camacho capable to proceed in the 2019 case. He later pleaded guilty, court records show.
A search warrant connected to those 2019 charges indicated Camacho's mother contacted police because she believed her son brought the gun used in the shootings into their home. "(She) wants her house searched and her son's bedroom searched to recover the handgun."
June 2017
Public records show Raleigh police arrested Camacho on June 4, 2017, and charged him with misdemeanor larceny.
April 2017
Public records show Raleigh police arrested Camacho on April 7, 2017, on a misdemeanor charge for probation violation.
March 2017
Raleigh police arrested Camacho on March 26, 2017, for a charge of trespassing on a railroad right-of-way, public records show.
February 2017
Raleigh police arrested Camacho on Feb. 22, 2017, and charged him with misdemeanor stalking, public records show.
December 2016
Raleigh police arrested Camacho on Dec. 29, 2016, and charged him with injury to real property, according to public records.
October 2016
Raleigh resident and father Wes Phillips claims Camacho stalked, harassed and terrified his family for more than a year.
“It's not like there weren’t signs,” Phillips said. “We were really adamant about the danger that we felt we were in, and perhaps other people were in, and it just wasn't taken seriously.”
Camacho’s actions, Phillips said, forced his family to move twice, and pleas that something be done went unanswered.
Phillips said one of the scariest moments came on Oct. 8, 2016, during Hurricane Matthew. Phillips said he was with his son at their then-home in Mordecai when he looked outside and saw Camacho.
“It was like a horror movie, like he was standing there in a black jacket, staring at us in front of our house during a hurricane. Not talking, like making sure that we knew who he was,” Phillips said.
Phillips had already moved his family once that year, he says, to get away from Camacho, who had lived next door to the family in the Five Points area. Phillips said the move came after property damage and disturbing behavior from Camacho.
On Oct. 8, 2016, Phillips called the police and then jumped in his car, shooting video on his cellphone. At one point in the video, Camacho can be seen trying to open the driver’s side door.
“I had locked the car, and he was pulling on the door, trying to get in,” Phillips said.
Phillips said Camacho eventually disappeared, returning several days later. Phillips said he and his son were out when his wife looked outside to see Camacho walk up and grab a large rock.
Security video taken that day shows a man throwing a rock into the windshield of Phillip’s car, and then through the sunroof, before punching and kicking the car several times.
Phillips moved his family again after that, trying to put as much distance between his family and Camacho as he could.
Two years later, Camacho returned to the Phillips’ now former Mordecai townhome, this time with a gun.
“He shot into our building where he thought that, I can only assume, where he thought that we lived,” Phillips said. “That's something that stays with us.”
No one was injured in the shooting. Court documents show Camacho did face multiple charges for shooting into an occupied dwelling, ultimately spending two years in prison.
Phillips says that wasn’t enough. He said he called the police three to four times about Camacho before that, and attempted to have a no-contact order served. He said Camacho faced no charges for harassing his family.
Freeman said Camacho spent a significant amount of time behind bars, much of that time for shooting into Phillips’ former home.
“He has spent a lot of time bouncing between the prison system and the local jails over the last few years and has really been in custody all but maybe a total of 12 months within the past six years,” Freeman said.
2009-2010
The court documents mention previous convictions in California in 2009 and 2010 for manufacturing and possessing a dangerous weapon as well as grand theft, respectively.
2005-2006
Court records show Raleigh police arrested Camacho on Jan. 12, 2006, and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon.
Records show the alleged incident happened on Oct. 21, 2005. However, The records show Camacho's charge was disposed on June 2, 2006.
