Man held on murder charges in missing person case

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - Naum Mendez vanished a little over two years ago.

"He was reported missing by his family. We investigated it for several months as a missing person," said Officer Sandra Boonenberg, with the Boca Raton Police Department.

Gustavo Olguin works as a maintenance man at Mendez's apartment. He remembers when Mendez disappeared.

"I spoke to a lot of policemen, and everybody was just waiting to find out what was going on," said Olguin.

The case of Mendez's mysterious disappearance had gone cold. That all changed during a traffic arrest Wednesday when a deputy pulled over a man who was questioned shortly after Mendez vanished.

"The sheriff's office saw him driving, pulled him over and arrested him for the traffic offenses, then called our detectives who went and interviewed him," said Boonenberg.

According to the police report, during the interview with Boca detectives, Juan Camacho broke down, admitting to killing Mendez, a man he had been involved with.

Investigators say Mendez worked part-time at Club Tenampa in Lake Worth where he was a dancer. Mendez, a transvestite, was last seen wearing a red dress, a blonde wig and gold earrings. At the time of his disappearance, police has not ruled out foul play.

Using phone records obtained from Sprint, investigators were able to link Camacho as the last person to be in contact with Mendez.

Camacho told detectives the night of Mendez's disappearance, Mendez asked him to leave his wife. Camacho refused, and then drove Mendez to his family's former house knowing it would be empty, since his family had just moved out.

Once inside, an argument quickly turned into a fight. And a fight, turned into murder.

According to the police report, during the struggle, Mendez threatened to kill Camacho's family, and Camacho took matters into his own hands. "There was a tackle box. While the struggle was going on, he tipped it over, and was able to grab a knife and stab the victim several times," said Boonenberg.

Camacho was denied bond, and is currently being held in the Palm Beach County Jail awaiting trial.