Police in Phoenix, Arizona, arrested three men after they allegedly beat a man to death so brutally that detectives recommended his family not see his body.
The Phoenix Police Department announced the arrest Saturday.
A passerby called police shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 after finding a body at Mountain View Park. The victim, later identified as 30-year-old Bernardo Pantaleon, was suffering from “significant bodily trauma,” police said in a press release.
After working “relentlessly” on the case, detectives identified three suspects: Leonardo Santiago and Manuel Carrasco Calderon, both 21, and Jose Rodriguez, 20. All three men admitted to killing Pantaleon in interviews with detectives, cops said.
Pantaleon’s family told local CBS affiliate KTVK that the crime could be a hate crime as he was gay. His family said he was found naked, beaten and tortured. Detectives recommended the family not see the body because he was in such bad shape, the TV station reported. The Phoenix Police Department did not confirm these details when asked by Law&Crime.
From left: Leonardo Santiago, Jose Rodriguez and Manuel Carrasco Calderon are facing first-degree murder charges for allegedly beating 30-year-old Bernardo Pantaleon to death in Phoenix. A passerby found Pantaleon’s body in a north Phoenix park on Nov. 26, 2023. (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)
“We don’t understand,” his cousin Gasdeli Pantaleon said. “We are hurt. We’re lost. When you lose someone from a natural cause, you’re like, oh, he had a heart attack, but when you lose someone and some coward took his life, then you’re sitting there like, why? Who? Why did they go after him? Why?”
The details of his death are heartbreaking, she said.
“It’s going to be so devastating at a funeral home with a closed casket of someone you love so much and you can’t be near them and hug him or touch him or put a flower inside for him,” Gasdeli Pantaleon said.
In a GoFundMe account, family described Bernardo Pantaleon as “a person who was not just full of love, but the funniest, caring loving person you will come across.” He served as a rock for his sibling after their parents died.
“Unfortunately, we are mourning him as we have lost him in the most tragic way possible. He will be missed and didn’t deserve to suffer the way he did,” the page said.
Bernardo Pantaleon, 30, was found beaten to death on Nov. 26, 2023, in a Phoenix park. Police arrested three men who are facing first-degree murder charges in his death. (GoFundMe)
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