Gabriella Cartagena (Photo courtesy of Marinette Police Department)
MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Community members gathered Wednesday night for a vigil honoring a young Marinette mother whose boyfriend is charged with her murder.
The event took place at Red Arrow Park, where Gabriella Cartagena, 24, was allegedly killed two weeks ago by 29-year-old Robert Chilcote. She left behind a three-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.
Officials say the pair met while working at Walmart.
“I was in shock because I knew him too, because he worked there too,” said Susan Zemke, a coworker of Cartagena and Chilcote. “I think I’m still in shock. I just can’t believe that he would do something like that.”
Photos of Cartagena, surrounded by candles, centered a display in her honor. Some attendees at the vigil, including Cartagena’s sister, gave emotional speeches.
Gabby may not be here physically, but the love she gave didn’t leave with her.
“I pray nobody else has to ever go through anything like this,” said a speaker.
Another said, “We are all praying for all you guys.”
Family members and friends remembered Cartagena as someone who was kind and full of jokes.
“She’s funny and she had a big heart. She helped anybody, but we had a lot of laughs,” Zemke said.
Although Cartagena’s family chose not to speak on camera, they said she was a good mother and had a gentle side.
According to the criminal complaint, the Marinette Police Department was notified Feb. 5 about Cartagena’s disappearance. Her mother told police about a phone call with her daughter the previous evening, where Cartagena was in distress, saying to someone, “I’m sorry. Don’t shoot me. I’m sorry. I didn’t do nothing.”
Cartagena was believed to be with Chilcote at Red Arrow Park. When police responded to the area, they found blood and quickly determined it was a crime scene.
Chilcote was identified as a person of interest in the case and police technology helped place him in Minnesota.
After a police pursuit, he was booked into a Minnesota jail on charges of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and being a fugitive from justice from another state. Several firearms were found in his vehicle.
During an interview with a Marinette police lieutenant, Chilcote confessed where he had dumped Cartagena’s body and her clothing, the complaint says. Five days after she was reported missing, law enforcement found her frozen body in a wooded area near Birch Creek Road in Menominee County, Michigan.
Chilcote told police killing his girlfriend was “an accident.”
He said they were arguing in the car. Robert said she was calling him names and he told her to get out of the car. Robert said tried to scare her with the gun and then the gun went off. Robert said it was the .22 pistol and that it happened inside the car.
An autopsy determined Cartagena’s cause of death was a gun shot wound to the head.
Chilcote was charged last week with one count of first-degree intentional homicide.
Authorities say Cartagena moved to Marinette with her family from the Milwaukee area about a year ago. Cartagena and Chilcote had been dating for approximately six months and living together for most of that time. They met while working at Walmart.
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