Belinda Lane is an American woman who became famous for tracking down the killer of her daughter Crystal Theobald through fake accounts on the now-defunct social media platform MySpace.
Wiki/Biography and Family
Belinda Lane was born in the United States. Not much is known about her parents. She has a younger sister. There is no information about her husband or relationship. She has a son named Justin Theobald. She also has a daughter named Crystal Theobald who died in gang violence in 2006.
Krystal Theobald
appearance
Eye Color: Green
Hair color: Brown
The Crystal Murders
On February 24, 2006, Crystal was traveling in her boyfriend’s car with Juan Patran (Crystal’s boyfriend) and Justin (Crystal’s brother). Belinda was also in another car. When their car passed a gang of two SUVs in the Riverside community of California, the gang began to spray bullets at the car Crystal was in. Belinda, who was present at the time, saw her daughter being shot; Crystal was shot in the head, Juan was shot in the abdomen, and Justin passed by unharmed. No one in Crystal’s car knew the gang. It is believed that the incident occurred because the gang mistook Crystal’s car for a rival’s car. Juan survived surgery, but Crystal died two days later at Riverside Community Hospital. In Crystal’s final moments, her mother vowed to avenge her death. In a documentary, she recalled:
The last thing I said to her was, I promised her, I’m going to get them. They’re going to pay.”
A mother’s struggle
After the funeral, someone tipped off Belinda that the gang was on MySpace, so Belinda hatched a plan to create fake MySpace accounts to investigate Crystal’s murder. Belinda hired Crystal’s cousin Jamie, who later impersonated Angel (the name they gave to one of the fake accounts). Belinda and Jamie soon began tracking down the potential murderers one by one. In a documentary, Jamie said of the incident:
I was obsessed with it. I knew how to make this girl on MySpace look real. Look like I belonged there. My typing was acting. Pretending to be her, and I think that’s what made it hard in the end. It’s not a good feeling inside for someone to love someone who’s dead.”
Crystal Theobald’s cousin Jamie
At the same time, Belinda also drove past the suspects’ houses and photographed their vehicles. Belinda admitted that despite her insistence on her family remaining non-violent, she still wanted to kill Crystal’s killer. She said,
I told them, “Okay, guys, don’t be violent, but deep down, I still knew I would kill them.”
It took her nearly a decade to find Crystal’s killer. In 2006, she contacted William Sotelo, one of the suspects at the time. In 2006, William voluntarily gave an interview to the police, but due to insufficient evidence, William was not detained and he disappeared almost immediately.
William Sotelo under police investigation
In 2011, Julio Heredia, who shot and killed Cristo, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ten other defendants pleaded guilty to a range of charges, including attempted murder and gun charges. Belinda continued to track him (William Sotelo) through social media until she received a tip in 2014 that William was in central Mexico. In 2016, the final suspect in Cristo’s murder, William Sotelo, was arrested in central Mexico and charged with voluntary manslaughter, as well as gang and gun charges; he pleaded guilty to all charges. On January 23, 2020, William Sotelo was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in Cristo’s murder.
William Sotelo
Facts/Trivia
- In her quarter-hour-long victim impact statement, she called her daughter’s killer a “coward,” “monster,” “little thug” and “despicable.” In the speech, she told Sotelo that his cellmates should have killed him and further criticized his family for helping the killer hide.
- As part of the memorial service, Belinda read a speech in front of a large portrait of her late daughter, held by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Victim Services Team.
- In June 2006, Belinda had almost given up when she sent a message to William Sotelo. She wrote:
Why…why did you kill me? If you say you care about me so much, then why did you kill me? You don’t even know who you killed.”
- In April 2021, Netflix released a documentary, Why Did You Kill Me?, based on the story of Crystal’s murder and Belinda’s journey to get justice for her daughter. The film’s synopsis is as follows:
The line between justice and revenge becomes blurred when a devastated family uses social media to track down the killer of 24-year-old Crystal Theobald.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education