Erik Alcauter-Huitron, a 31-year-old male from Columbus, Ohio, died on May 17, 2025, after being shot at the Fairlane Mobile Home Park off the 3000 block of Kane Drive. Officers were dispatched at 3:49 p.m., and medics rushed him to Grant Medical Center in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead at 4:26 p.m. Police initially withheld his name pending family notification, later identifying him in an update while noting the investigation was active.
Detectives determined the violence grew out of a personal dispute. Family and friends told investigators that Alcauter-Huitron and another man had been competing for the same woman in an ongoing feud. Accounts in charging documents described people drinking in a nearby field when the suspect approached, pulled a gun, and fired multiple times before fleeing.
Columbus police quickly named 26-year-old Francisco Vallejo-Arevalo as the suspect and obtained a murder warrant. He left the area after the shooting, and on May 21, members of the U.S. Marshals–led Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team tracked him to Camden in Preble County, identifying him as he exited a business where he had just purchased new clothes. He was taken into custody without incident and returned to face charges in connection with the death of the 31-year-old victim.
Prosecutors later presented the case to a grand jury, which indicted Vallejo-Arevalo on counts that included aggravated murder and murder; he pleaded not guilty in early June. Federal authorities also noted he is not a U.S. citizen and, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was in Ohio illegally at the time of his arrest. As of those court filings, the homicide case remained pending in Franklin County.
