Background: News footage of Hetsel Campos in court on Aug. 19 (KLAS). Inset: Natalie Villegas (Guerrero Dean Funeral Home).
A Nevada man who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and hitting a U.S. Airman at a speed of over 100 mph received nearly the maximum sentence allowable by law.
Hetsel Campos, 39, was arrested following the April 13, 2024, crash on a Nevada highway that killed U.S. Airman Natalie Villegas, 23. According to court records obtained by local CBS affiliate KLAS, Campos had double the legal blood alcohol limit when he was taken into custody. He appeared in court on Tuesday to hear his sentence after pleading guilty in March to DUI and reckless driving resulting in death as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
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KLAS was in the courtroom when Campos addressed those present, including Villegas” family members, saying, “I should be the one gone, not her. I should be the one that’s not here.”
Local ABC affiliate KTNV reported at the time that after an investigation, Nevada State Police said that Campos was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Traverse heading north on U.S. 95 at a high speed — later stated by police to be 117 mph — just before 7:00 a.m. on the morning of April 13, 2024. Campos hit Villegas in her Hyundai Elantra from behind, sending both vehicles off the road and flipping over into a desert area near the highway.
Villegas’ car ended up landing on its roof. Villegas, who was driving to work at Creech Air Force Base, was pronounced dead at the scene.
In court, Villegas’ father addressed Campos, saying, “While on her way to serve our country, you irresponsibly and selfishly came along and took all that away from my daughter.”
Clark County District Court Judge Tara Clark Newberry also spoke directly to Campos, telling him, “My charge and my oath is to uphold justice and to hold people accountable for the choices that they make. And unfortunately, Mr. Campos, you made the worst possible choice you ever could have probably made in your life that night.”
Campos was sentenced to six to 20 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 2031.
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