Robert Chilcote

MARINETTE, Wis. – A 29-year-old man has been accused of first-degree intentional homicide after reportedly admitting to killing his girlfriend, whose body was found last week in Menominee County.

Robert Alan Chilcote, of Porterfield, was charged Friday after calling the Marinette Police Department from the Wright County Jail in Minnesota on Feb. 9 and reportedly confessing to shooting his girlfriend, Gabriella Cartagena, during an argument Feb. 4 in Marinette, according to the criminal complaint.

Chilcote further told investigators he shot Cartagena in the head while attempting to scare her and claimed the shooting was accidental.

Marinette Police found Cartagena’s body the morning of Feb. 10 in a wooded area about 115 feet from the roadway near Birch Creek Road in Menominee County, according to the criminal complaint.

Authorities observed significant trauma to Cartagena’s face and body, with the main areas of trauma being the eye regions. An autopsy performed Saturday determined her cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Law enforcement used cellphone location data, along with information Chilcote later provided to police, to locate the body.

The shooting happened at Red Arrow Park in Marinette, according to the complaint.

“(Chilcote) said he shot her in the head and he went around to the other side of the car and laid her on the ground,” Lt. Ben Matzke of the Marinette Police Department wrote in the complaint.

Matzke continued: “He said she was bleeding and he was scared and panicking. Robert said he moved her a bit and confirmed he moved her in front of the dock.”

Authorities further reported finding what appeared to be a trail of blood in the parking lot at Red Arrow Park extending southwest toward the water. Large amounts of blood were also found in the snow between the dock and the shoreline, leading officers to believe a body had been dragged from the parking lot to in front of the dock.

Chilcote told police he initially drove back to Cartagena’s mother’s apartment, where he had been staying for the past few months. He reported he spoke with his girlfriend’s mother, packed his clothes in his car and returned to Red Arrow Park, where he put Cartagena in the back passenger side of his car and drove her to Michigan.

Matzke later wrote, “(Chilcote) said he didn’t cover her up with anything but snow. He told me he didn’t want her out there.”

The Marinette Police Department initially received a report of a possible missing person at about 11:40 a.m. Feb. 5.

Cartagena’s mother reported her daughter had last been seen about 5 p.m. the previous evening, when she left home with Chilcote to get juice for her child, who she does not share with Chilcote.

When the pair did not return after about an hour, Cartagena’s mother called her daughter.

“(Cartagena’s mother) said she heard (Cartagena) pick up the phone and say ‘I’m sorry. Don’t shoot me. I’m sorry. I didn’t do nothing.’ (Cartagena’s mother) said she thought maybe the police had her,” Det. Amy Schoen of the Marinette Police Department states in the complaint. The mother also later noted she heard her daughter say “my mom.”

Cartagena’s mother told police that the next time she heard from her daughter was a text at 7:21 p.m. saying her daughter was at Walmart where she worked but she “couldn’t talk right now.” Cartagena and Chilcote both worked at Walmart and first met there. They had dated for about six months, according to a statement made by Chilcote.

Another text from Cartagena stated she wouldn’t be back before her shift at Walmart, which was 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., and Chilcote would come and pick up her clothes for work, which was reportedly not normal for her. It was later determined these texts were sent by Chilcote posing as Cartagena.

Chilcote then showed up at his girlfriend’s mother’s house, which she believes to be a little after 8 p.m. According to the complaint, he seemed off and “when he was talking he was poking at his head.”

Chilcote told her he dropped off Cartagena at Walmart and they had argued a little bit in the car. His story reportedly changed throughout their conversation, and his pants appeared to be dirty, which were not dirty when he first left with Cartagena for juice.

Marinette Police Department officers arrived at Red Arrow Park shortly after receiving the initial report. Officers “immediately recognized evidence that indicated this area was a potential crime scene,” Public Information Officer Brad Beyle said during a news conference Thursday.

Nearly 2 1/2 hours after Cartagena was reported missing, the department sent a request for assistance to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota that identified Chilcote as a person of interest in Cartagena’s case.

During the department’s investigation, they were able to locate video from the park area of Chilcote leaving Red Arrow Park and heading to Birch Creek Boat Launch. Residential cameras placed Chilcote in Menominee.

Chilcote’s vehicle’s plate number and color were then sent out statewide. The department stated that through investigative techniques, law enforcement determined Chilcote fled to the Minnesota area, where Wright County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him after a 16-minute chase that reached 100 mph.

Chilcote swerved towards a deputy who was deploying stop sticks, narrowly missing the deputy during the chase. Chilcote eventually crashed into a snowbank and was taken into custody without incident.

According to Matzke, “(Deputy Blake LeMire of the Wright County Sheriff’s Office) said they located three pistols in the vehicle, one AR-15, a shotgun that appeared to be new in the box, a lot of ammunition in 9 mm, 12 gauge, and AR rounds. Deputy LeMire told me they located a ‘chestrig’ that had a lot of magazines on it. There was also a ballistic face mask and suppressors.”

Chilcote remains in the Wright County Jail in Buffalo, Minn., on a $100,000 bond. No court date has been set as of this report.

Agencies that assisted Marinette Police include the Marinette County Sheriff’s Office, the Menominee Police Department, the Menominee County Sheriff’s Office, the Wright County Sheriff’s Office in Minnesota and the Marinette County District Attorney’s Office.