In 2018, Camille Balla carried out a shocking and heinous crime against her own blood.
She brutally murdered her biological mother in a disturbing and violent attack, while she was under the influence of hard drugs.
It was a normal day that started like any other—but it tragically ended in a way no one could have ever imagined.
Background Of the Case
At the time of the crime, 32-year-old Camille Balla was living with her mother, Francisca Montero-Balla, 55.
The two shared a home in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, and Camille was working at a FedEx branch then.
According to people who knew her, Camille had a long history of substance abuse and was known to struggle with drug addiction.
A neighbor recalled that Camille once told them she had tried Flakka, a deadly synthetic drug known to cause hallucinations and violent behavior.
The neighbor said Camille had mentioned that she sprinkled the Flakka on a cigarette and smoked it, and the neighbor found it strange and concerning.
Camille's drug addiction reportedly damaged her relationship with her mother, Francisca Montero-Balla.
One of Francisca's coworkers told investigators that she had noticed a change in her behavior in the months leading up to the tragedy.
She said Francisca avoided going home for more than a year before the incident, and always preferred to stay out late with colleagues after work.
The colleague said Francisca looked troubled but didn’t want to talk about her personal problems.
"She didn’t want to go home. We’d go to restaurants after work just so she could delay going back. You could tell something was wrong, but she wouldn’t talk about it," said the coworker.
It was later revealed in court, that Camille had severe untreated mental health issues.
Everyone knew something was wrong, but no one expected it to end in such a terrible and gruesome way.
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| Francisca Montero-Balla |
The Day of The Crime
On March 16, 2018, around 10:08 PM, Camille Balla began sending a series of disturbing text messages to her manager at FedEx.
The messages contained cryptic phrases like "I got my big wings now" and "mom doesn’t believe me, king."
She added some strange images in the messages like an angel emoji, a man giving the middle finger to a police car, and gold statues.
After a while, she sent one more strange and confusing message to her manager saying:
"I need to sleep. Can you tell the boys to keep it down up there?" and she added a helicopter emoji to the text.
The manager didn’t think anything was wrong at the time, so he didn’t call the police.
Around 1:00 AM, Camille called a coworker named Julio, and asked him to come over, saying she needed someone to talk to.
When Julio arrived, Camille told him she hadn’t been taking her medications and that she had killed her mother, so he called 911 right away.
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| Camille Balla |
Deputies from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene by 1:40 AM.
They found Camille sitting on the sidewalk, her hands and knees covered in blood.
She then confessed to them saying, "I killed my mother. The drugs made me do it."
Camille told officers that her marijuana was laced with PCP or Flakka, and that’s what made her kill her mother.
As officers handcuffed her, she became hysterical, screaming, "I’m a murderer! I killed her! I killed her!" repeatedly.
Inside the house, which was covered in blood, officers found Francisca Balla’s badly mutilated body.
According to forensic experts, she was hit really hard in the head, strangled, and had deep cuts on her chest, arms, and groin.
Her facial bones were fractured, several teeth were knocked out, and her right eye socket was shattered.
The most disturbing part was that her eyes had been taken out and placed on a Little Caesars pizza box, right over the eyes of the cartoon mascot.
Near the body, police found a handwritten note which read:
"The gates to heaven are in your eyes, the stairway to heaven at your legs. I found Nirvana when you tasted the fruit. I was blinded by love at first sight."
They also found a marijuana joint, and noticed that the security cameras in the home had been unplugged.
There were blood smears near the outlet, which showed it was done recently.
Camille was first taken to the hospital, and once doctors confirmed she was okay, police took her to the station, where she was officially arrested and put in jail.
Toxicology reports later confirmed THC and amphetamines in her system, though no traces of Flakka were found.
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| Camille Balla in Court |
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| Camille Balla's Mugshot |
Justice for Francisca Montero-Balla
Camille Balla was initially charged with first-degree murder after her arrest.
In April 2018, her defense team filed an insanity plea, claiming she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and PTSD.
The legal proceedings lasted six years, with both prosecutors and defense lawyers, arguing about Camille's mental state at the time of the murder.
In November 2023, Camille entered a plea agreement and the murder charge was dropped for a lesser charge.
Camille pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a weapon, and she was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 15 years of probation.
She had already spent five years in jail during the court proceedings, so Camille is expected to be released in less than 10 years.
Marc Freeman from the State Attorney’s Office said the outcome was fair, because it showed how serious the crime was and also considered Camille’s mental health
"The victim’s family is in full agreement with this resolution, which considers both the horrific nature of the crime and the defendant’s documented mental illness," he said.
For Francisca’s loved ones, the plea at least spared them the trauma of a trial—one that would have revisited the gruesome details of a crime scene.
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