‘He never came home.’ Widow of Grove man slain in savage kidnapping, mutilation testifies

Daisy Holcombe could always recognize her husband’s smile.

And it was that gap-toothed grin that medical examiners used to identify Camilo Salazar, the Coconut Grove father found burned and mutilated with his throat slit in an isolated field near the Everglades eight years ago.

“He did have the most unique smile of anyone,” Holcombe, 45, testified, saying she and her husband used to joke that “he had perfect teeth.”

Holcombe took the witness stand on Tuesday, the second day of trial for two men accused of orchestrating and carrying out Salazar’s kidnapping, torture and murder. Prosecutors say it was done at the behest of Miami supermarket magnate Manuel Marin.

On trial is ex-MMA fighter and Cuban wrestling champ Alexis Vila Perdomo, 48, and his associate Roberto Isaac, 63. Marin remains jailed, and won’t be tried until next year.

For prosecutors, Holcombe’s testimony was crucial because she set the stage for the events leading up to her husband’s kidnapping, and frantic search for his whereabouts afterward.

Holcombe had married Salazar a year earlier, under a harvest moon. She said she didn’t know he was cheating on her with Jenny Marin, an ex-lover who was married to Marin.

Marin, a wealthy owner of several Presidente Supermarkets, had confronted Salazar and Jenny months earlier at a South Miami-Dade cafe. Marin then allegedly orchestrated, through Vila, to have Isaac and ex-MMA fighter Ariel Gandulla kidnap Salazar on June 1, 2011.

That morning, Salazar dropped off their infant daughter at Holcombe’s Miami office. “He said ‘see you soon,’ ” Holcombe testified through tears. “He never came home.”

Holcombe texted Salazar throughout the day, but received no response. Both Holcombe, an event planner, and her husband, an interior designer, were self-employed — she assumed he was caught up with a new client.

In the evening, when Salazar didn’t return, Holcombe started calling friends and Salazar’s parents. An impromptu search party formed, scouring Miami for Salazar. They found his white Chevy Trailblazer by her office, with the window down. (Gandulla’s fingerprint was found on the Trailblazer.)

A friend of Holcombe’s soon filed a missing person report.

Detectives asked Holcombe to list anyone she thought may have harmed her husband. She said she gave them a few names: An ex-girlfriend (not Marin) who had once stalked Salazar, some people who’d bought a car from the couple, and a man who’d scammed Salazar in a real estate deal years earlier.

The next day, law enforcement would identify Salazar as the dead man whose genitals had been lit on fire with gasoline near the edge of the Everglades, his throat slit, his head beaten.

During cross-examination, Isaac’s defense lawyer, Michael Walsh, tried to cast doubt on Salazar’s integrity.

“Camilo did a lot of things behind your back without telling you,” Walsh said.

“And if he was alive, I’d be asking him about it,” Holcombe responded.

Holcombe is also suing the Marin family for wrongful death. “It’s for reparations,” she testified on Tuesday. “I want them found guilty in any court.”

The trial of Isaac and Vila is expected to last over a week before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Miguel de la O.

Gandulla, who had been hiding out in Canada, voluntarily returned and will testify as the prosecution’s star witness in exchange for 36 months in prison.

Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle contributed to this report.

This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 3:44 PM.