When does the madness stop? This is an especially brutal killing of this poor 3 year old. Just sick.





Many are calling it a heinous crime. Law enforcement tells Channel 6 News the murder of 3-year old Evelyn is a shock. She was brutally raped and killed in bed while her parents slept in South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Susie Squires is known in her community for helping kids, especially sexual assault victims, though her organization - Watchful Eye Foundation. Now she's helping the parents of a little girl who became a victim at too young an age, acting as the family's spokesperson.

Squires says, "he went in through the bedroom window of the little girl Evelyn and raped and sodomized and then killed her, and then left through the front door." It happened in the overnight hours of Saturday.

It all also traumatized Evelyn's five year old brother. "He was awake the majority of the time and basically played possum through it all," explains Squires. When the children's mother awoke to tend to an infant, she found the little boy awake in the night. "Her older boy who is five was awake and crying on the couch, and she asked him what was the matter and he stated that there was somebody hurting his sister."

That brother, who shared a room here with his sister, later identified her alleged killer. 29-year old De Jesus Melisio-Camacho, a friend of Evelyn's family and a suspected illegal immigrant, is under arrest.


Melisio-Camacho's immigration status has upset many, like Squires, because it's become the focus for some people. "This has nothing whatsoever to do with illegal immigration. This is a human being and as fellow human beings we need to show compassion because a little girl has been killed." Squires says there are other forums to voice opinions about immigration, and it upsets the family to see that many choose to focus on that and not the tragedy at hand.

Melisio-Camacho was in jail in Dakota County, Nebraska, but threats against him forced a transfer to the state penitentiary in Lincoln Wednesday.

Terry Kern, Dakota County Corrections Director, says, "if it's something that would cause people to react in a violent manner, where emotion overrides reason, and this is one of those situations where that would happen, inside those walls that could be really something to deal with."

Melisio-Camacho will be held in Lincoln at least until his next hearing, scheduled for June 16th in Dakota County Court. He was arraigned Tuesday on charges of burglary, sexual assault of a child and first-degree murder. His bail was set at $5 million.

A tragic ending for a little girl known better for her happiness, called "Smiley" by many who knew her. "She was a happy child, from pictures when she was maybe three or four months old, she had this grin from ear to ear and these really bright, sparkly eyes," describes Squires. "People all over are mourning this little girl because this is severe, what happened to her and most of us have a child in our life whether it's our own child or a niece or a nephew and we can relate to this."

Squires also fears there could be other victims out there. She says Melisio-Camacho lived in Arizona before moving to Nebraska and lived in Mexico before that. "I can almost guarantee you that a 29-year old man doesn't suddenly, in the middle of the night, rape and sodomize and murder a three year old child, and she had just turned three," says Squires. "Be aware of who we allow our children to be around at all times because the nicest guy in the world can be a sexual predator."

Family members are not living in the home at this time, and they don't want to go back. There is a fund to help with funeral expenses and the cost to find a new home for the family. Donations can be made through the Dakota County State Bank in South Sioux City.

There is a public memorial Thursday. It's at the Waterbury Funeral Home at 400 4th Street in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. It's from four to seven p.m.

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If you want to see the picture of this beautiful baby:

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/46101717.html