A lesbian illegal alien in North Carolina subject to an ICE detainer request has been charged with murdering her partner after police found the victim’s body decomposing in the suspect’s closet.
On Tuesday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police went to the suspect’s apartment to perform a wellness check after a DoorDash driver reported being told there was a dead person inside the dwelling, as WCNC reports:
“When officers entered the apartment, investigators say they discovered a woman’s body hidden inside a closet, behind a door and covered with several towels. The victim was identified as 26-year-old Evelin Carolina Enamorado-Cisnado. Detectives say her body had already begun decomposing.”
The next day, officers located and arrested Lhis Birito Costa, 23, charging her with first-degree murder.
Jealously and infidelity appear to have been a factor. According to court records, Brito-Costa, told investigators she had been in a relationship with Enamorado-Cisnado and shot her after learning that Enamorado-Cisnado was involved with someone else.
At her hearing at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse on March 12, Costa was denied bail when a judge ruled that she should remain in custody without bond. Her next court date is scheduled for April 2.
Costa is currently being held at a Charlottee-Mecklenburg detention facility. But, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) officers have issued an ICE detainer request for Costa, an illegal alien, reportedly from Brazil. ICE, a federal agency, is seeking to take custody of Costa in order to deport her.
However, getting the local police to accommodate the ICE request appears problematic, given Mecklenburg Sheriff Gary McFadden’s legacy of refusing to cooperate with federal officials trying to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.
Despite state laws requiring sheriffs to honor ICE detainers by holding illegal alien inmates for up to 48 hours to allow ICE agents to come get them, data presented at a North Carolina House hearing last month reveals that McFadden’s office pales when compared to the cooperation with ICE of local police of a similar county, as The Charlotte Observer reports:
“The Wake County Sheriff’s Office received 441 detainer requests and 288 pickups last year, a 65% pickup rate, according to data presented. In Mecklenburg County, though, the sheriff’s office received 445 detainer requests, but only 72 of the offenders were actually picked up by ICE. That is about 16%.
“That’s quite a disparity, and McFadden had no real answer for it at the hearing when pressed.”
In fact, ICE didn’t pick up anyone at the Mecklenburg jail before House Bill 318 took effect in October, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sarah Mastouri told The Raleigh News & Observer.
In 2026, however, Sheriff Mecklenburg has been more willing to cooperate with ICE. Of the 111 detainers so far in 2026, ICE has taken custody of 56 illegal aliens, a rate of 50.5%.
