Suspect in Wake teacher murder attacked Durham man in ‘harrowing event’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Suspect in Durham attack identified as Ryan Camacho, later charged with Wake murder.
- Court records show long criminal history, mental-health detentions, and releases.
- Witnesses report court notifications unclear; victim missed hearing and case continued.
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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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Two years ago, Howard Eisenson and his wife were attacked in downtown Durham by a stranger who came at them swinging a folding chair.
They had just finished dinner and were stepping into their pickup truck when the man swung once, nearly striking his wife in the head, then twice, shattering the truck’s rear window.
“It was quite a harrowing event,” said Eisenson, a medical professor at Duke University.
When Durham police took the Eisensons to see a suspect they had apprehended, they saw a face now flashing all over the news: Ryan Camacho, charged with murdering Wake County teacher Zoe Welsh inside her Raleigh home.
Two years after his own attack, Eisenson describes a frustrating experience as a witness in court and a deep disappointment in a judicial process that allowed a man with a violent history and well-documented mental illness to walk the streets.
“I’m sure a lot of people are feeling like, ‘The criminal justice system let me down,’” Eisenson said Tuesday in an interview with The News & Observer.
Long record
Camacho, 36, has a criminal record dating to 2005, but much of that included petty crimes, many of them dismissed by prosecutors, until 2017.
In that year, Camacho’s mother filed a petition to have him declared incompetent. “He was arrested for stalking the neighbors and has been involved in knife incidents in the past,” she wrote in court documents. “He needs psychiatric help.”
Released from Central Regional Hospital later that year, he soon flew to Saipan in the western Pacific, saying he needed to escape from the CIA. By mid-January 2018, his mother had him involuntarily committed to what was then UNC WakeBrook after he locked himself in his room, refused to eat and threatened suicide, court documents show.
In the next several years, he served a prison term on charges of firing into an occupied property, attempted a prison escape, and spent time in the psychiatric unit at Raleigh’s Central Prison. In December, prosecutors in Wake County dismissed breaking and entering and larceny charges against Camacho while also attempting to have him involuntarily committed:
“Following a hearing to have him involuntarily committed which was denied, the Assistant District Attorney dismissed the charges because the defendant had been in custody for 120 days and was not capable of proceeding,” District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told The N&O. State law “limits the amount of time a defendant can spend in custody when found incapable to proceed and directs the charges to be dismissed once that has been reached.”
‘Informal and sloppy’
In Durham, Camacho had at least 10 open cases against him in 2024, according to court documents.
Many of them were dismissed in exchange for a guilty plea, and the bulk of them involved property damage — much like what the Eisensons experienced.
After the downtown attack, Eisenson received a summons to appear in court for Camacho’s case.
“That was kind of a disappointing experience,” he said, recalling a crowded and busy courtroom. “Nobody was there to welcome you or orient you at all. You just sort of sit down for hours. It was never clear what was going on.”
Camacho was not in court that day, he said, and he learned later that the case had been continued.
When he received a second notice in the mail, it did not specify that his attendance was important, so he skipped going a second time out of fear that he would sit alone all day again.
In November, Camacho pleaded guilty to four charges in Durham, all of them either breaking and entering or injury to property. He received a 120-day jail sentence, had to wear an electronic monitor for that period and was required to have a mental health evaluation.
Eisenson never learned the outcome of the case and heard nothing about Camacho until his arrest on murder charges Saturday.
Durham District Attorney Satana Deberry’s office has not yet responded to The N&O’s email seeking comment.
“A violent assault on people sitting in their car, that’s serious stuff,” Eisenson said. “It just seemed kind of informal and sloppy.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Suspect in Wake teacher murder attacked Durham man in ‘harrowing event’."
