911 call transcript captures fatal attack that killed Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Science teacher Zoe Welsh found fatally injured after alleged home invasion.
- Raleigh police released 911 call in which Welsh called for help during the break-in
- Suspect Camacho has long record of break-ins, assaults and a prior shooting.
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Teacher slain in Raleigh
Zoe Welsh, a well-known teacher at Raleigh’s Ravenscroft School, was killed in a burglary at her home off of St. Mary’s Street early Jan. 3, 2026. Ryan Camacho has been charged with her murder, with court records showing he has a long history of mental health troubles. Here’s ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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Editor’s note: This story contains details of a violent assault that will be upsetting to some readers.
Raleigh police released a transcript Friday of the 911 call that Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh made as she was fatally attacked during a burglary this week.
Welsh, a science teacher at Ravenscroft School, was fatally injured about 6:30 a.m. Saturday when police say Ryan Camacho, 36, broke into her downtown Raleigh home and attacked her. Her cause of death has not been publicly released, but first responder radio dispatches indicated she had experienced trauma to her head and face.
Welsh told a 911 operator a “homeless man” had broken into her home and that she had seen him at Fred Fletcher Park, according to the transcript.
“He has just gone into my kitchen, gotten something out of the refrigerator,” she told the 911 operator, according to the transcript. “He broke in with a brick. No. No.”
Then the operator asks where she is.
“He hit me with a brick — he hit me with a brick. I’m on the floor in my bedroom. Please (unintelligible),” Welsh said on the call.
Camacho has a lengthy criminal history of break-ins, assaults and trespassing, at one point serving prison time for shooting into an occupied dwelling, The News & Observer previously reported.
He was most recently held in jail this fall on charges related to an August incident in Raleigh that saw him accused of stealing pillows and breaking into a home. But those charges were dismissed in December by the Wake County District Attorney’s Office, with Judge Louis B. Meyer III denying a motion to have Camacho committed despite noting he was incapable of assisting with his own defense.
911 call lasted nine minutes
The call recording starts at 6:32 a.m. and ends nine minutes later at 6:41 a.m.
Before she was attacked, Welsh answered the operator’s questions about the man and what he was wearing.
“You said he broke in through the window?” the 911 operator asked.
“Yes,” Welsh said. “He is in the house right now.”
The transcript also provides some details about what happened when police arrived. Two officers audibly referenced blood.
“Anybody have an IFAC (Individual First Aid Kit)?” one officer said. “Go and grab an IFAC.”
“Yeah, I got it,” another officer said.
Camacho had been declared incompetent in Wake County at least twice and had been under his mother’s guardianship since December 2021, The News & Observer has previously reported.
His mother wrote in court paperwork that Camacho had schizophrenia, refused to take his medication and experienced delusions and paranoia. Those delusions were so intense that he once flew to Saipan, in the western Pacific, convinced the CIA was hunting him, according to court documents.
This story was originally published January 9, 2026 at 4:52 PM with the headline "911 call transcript captures fatal attack that killed Raleigh teacher Zoe Welsh."
