John Jefferson
Insets: Phillip Keller and Alicia “Red” Campitelli (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The apartment where Phillip Keller killed Alicia Campitelli (WKMG/YouTube).
A mixed martial artist in Florida is heading to prison for murdering his fiancee while he was “super high on Molly” — telling an acquaintance, “I killed her, bro” — after gunning the woman down at their apartment while arguing over the MMA fighter’s drug use.
“I killed her high,” Phillip Keller told the acquaintance during a recorded phone conversation, according to Brevard County prosecutors and the local CBS affiliate WKMG. “I did it. I don’t know how I did it, but I can’t live with myself knowing that,” Keller said. “I’m a piece of s—.”
Keller, who was 39 when the killing unfolded, was sentenced Monday to 50 years behind bars for the 2021 shooting death of Alicia Campitelli, who was a popular piercing artist on Merritt Island known as “Red.” Keller accepted a plea deal during his sentencing hearing to reduce his charge to second-degree murder after originally being charged with first-degree murder in 2021, WKMG reports.
According to reports, Keller was a professional MMA fighter with a 2-6 record when the shooting occurred. He competed multiple times for Titan FC between August 2019 to September 2020, MMA Junkie reports.
Keller and Campitelli were reportedly arguing over his drug use when he gunned her down “in cold blood” while high on the drug known as Molly, according to police, which is a stimulant and hallucinogen also referred to as ecstasy or MDMA.
“Deputies responded to an apartment on Schoolhouse Lane at approximately 11:15 a.m. Saturday after a call was received advising that the resident, 35-year-old Alicia Campitelli of Merritt Island appeared to be deceased,” the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. “Upon arrival, deputies located Campitelli inside the residence where she was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
More from Law&Crime: ‘Act of evil’: Man stabs fiancee to death 1 day after he proposed to her in video posted on Facebook with the caption ‘I love you baby,’ police say
Keller was the one who called the police and reported Campitelli’s death, but he didn’t reveal that he was the one behind it until later.
“I need help immediately, it looks like she’s dead,” Keller told a 911 dispatcher, according to WKMG. “Oh my God. It looks like she’s been shot and been robbed, my house has been robbed.”
Keller was taken into custody after the shooting and questioned by detectives, who were able to get a confession out of him. The pro fighter admitted to getting into an argument on May 14, 2021, with Campitelli about his drug use before he went to get a gun from their bedroom and shot her with it. Prosecutors said Monday that Keller loaded three bullets into the pistol’s magazine and then hid the weapon before eventually using it to kill Keller.
During his confession, Keller said Campitelli tried to duck down and crawl away as he fired once and missed her. “Oh God no,” Campitelli screamed, according to Keller, as he opened fire two more times and struck her. Keller said he used the woman’s car and debit card to make ATM withdrawals after her death — totaling $1,481.50 — so he could purchase more drugs.
More from Law&Crime: Man stabbed fiancee, her mother, torched home, then ran off with 15-month-old daughter in case that sparked Amber Alert: Cops
“Our hearts are so broken every day,” Campitelli’s mother, Debra Moore, said at Monday’s sentencing, according to Florida Today. “We still hear her laugh at our family gatherings. It was not just the end of her life. It was the end of our family’s life.”
Under the terms of his plea deal, Keller will be eligible for parole after he serves at least 25 years of his sentence. Campitelli’s father, Phil Campitelli, blamed Keller’s addiction to drugs as one of the main reasons his daughter is dead today.
“Keller has no remorse,” Phil Campitelli said. “My daughter is dead because she tried to help Keller from himself.”
Read the full article here