Woman extradited from Italy is convicted in Michigan in husband’s 2002 death

CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) — A woman extradited from Italy for the 2002 fatal bludgeoning of her husband in Michigan was convicted of second-degree murder.

A jury in Eaton County needed only two hours Monday to decide the outcome of the trial against Beverly McCallum, the Lansing State Journal reported.

Roberto Caraballo, 37, was suffocated and beaten in the basement of his home in Charlotte, about 105 miles (169 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.

Burned remains were found in a metal locker near a blueberry field in western Michigan’s Ottawa County, but the remains were not identified as Caraballo until 2015, more than 10 years later.

McCallum, 63, was arrested in Italy in 2020 and held there for more than two years before being returned to Michigan.

Prosecutor Doug Lloyd said McCallum wanted to get rid of Caraballo in 2002 after he was released from federal prison.

“Robert being around was cramping her lifestyle,” Lloyd argued.

Defense attorney Timothy Havis told jurors that McCallum didn’t have a role in the killing but was lured into taking a ride to get rid of the remains.

McCallum, however, was implicated at trial by Christopher McMillan, a witness who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and cooperated with police. He said Caraballo was attacked by McCallum and her daughter, Dineane Ducharme.

Ducharme, 43, is serving a life prison sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder in 2021. McMillan, 45, is serving a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.