On December 14, 2025, officers in Wallace, North Carolina, responded to a shooting at a residence on Wallace Mobile Home Park Lane and found 39-year-old Iliana Lizbeth Valenzuela Gomez deceased from gunshot wounds. Investigators determined her death was a homicide that occurred inside her home.

Detectives identified a suspect who reportedly fled the area and, with assistance from the State Bureau of Investigation and the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office, located and arrested Melvin Morales in Harnett County less than 48 hours after the shooting. Morales was returned to Duplin County, charged with murder and booked into the Duplin County Jail to be held without bond.

Valenzuela Gomez, who was born in Mexico, lived in Wallace with her family and is survived by her parents, her husband Eric Martinez, two daughters and a son. A funeral was scheduled at Hope Valley Hawkins Funeral Chapel. Does anyone in the community have information about Iliana’s last known movements or the events at the mobile home that night?