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Man sentenced to decades in prison in the shooting death of Mary Halcomb in Peoria
A man pleaded guilty on Monday, July 7 to first-degree murder in the death of a Mapleton woman.
Nathaniel N. Archuleta, now 19, was arrested in September 2024 in the shooting death of Mary Halcomb, 20, at a home in the 1400 block of South Griswold Street in Peoria. He had been set to go to trial on July 28, but he pleaded guilty during a hearing Monday and was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
More: A 'heart the size of Texas': Family grieves young woman who was fatally shot in Peoria
On Sept. 6, 2024, Peoria police responded to the home to find Halcomb lying in a pool of blood on the landing of a stairwell at the front of the home with a gun in her hand and a gunshot wound to her neck. According to the Peoria County State's Attorney's Office, Archuleta tried to stage Halcomb's death to make it appear as if she had died by suicide.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, with officers discovering that Archuleta's story did not match up with the evidence. A blood trail was discovered leading from a downstairs bedroom to the stairwell where her body was found, suggesting that her body had been moved.
In the downstairs bedroom was a post-it note that read, 'I, Mary Elyce Halcomb, promise to never break Nathanial Archuleta's heart, and if I do, Nathaniel Archuleta has every right to euthanize me, vice versa, I love you,' according to the State's Attorney's Office.
When questioned by police, Archuleta gave conflicting accounts of what happened the night of Mary's death, initially claiming it was a suicide, then saying that he was trying to clean his gun, and it accidentally went off. However, while he was in custody, the State's Attorney's Office said that he told a fellow inmate he shot her because she had been texting another man.
The State's Attorney's Office said the plea hearing in front of Peoria County Circuit Judge Katherine Gorman was an emotional one for Halcomb's family members, who told of a steep emotional toll that her death had caused them. They said they had sleepless nights, nightmares and persistent heartbreak.
"They described their overwhelming sense of loss, loss of sisterly moments, shared dreams, and life milestones that will never come," the State's Attorney's Office said in a press release. "Mary's loved ones described struggling with trust, fear, depression, and anxiety. They called Archuleta's actions selfish and unforgivable, stating that blood will forever be on his hands and that justice must now be served."
Halcomb's family supported the plea deal, the State's Attorney's Office said, with Archuleta being required to serve 100% of his sentence. He had no prior criminal history.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Not a suicide: Teen pleads guilty in shooting death of woman in Peoria
