
Phillip Keller, who had three fights with regional MMA promotion Titan FC from 2019 to 2020, had called in the shooting death of his girlfriend and fiancé to police in May of 2021, reporting it as a robbery.
There was never much question as to who had killed 35-year old Alicia Campitelli in the couple’s apartment, however. In the days and weeks that followed, a friend of the fighter recorded phone calls, under the guidance of investigators, that painted a very disturbing story.
“I killed her bro, I killed her high as (expletive),” Keller said during a recorded conversation, according to court documents released in 2021. “I did it. I don’t know how I did it, but I can’t live with myself knowing that. I’m a piece of (expletive). I was super high on Molly.”
Keller has now been sentenced to 50 years in prison for the killing, part of a plea deal that saw his charge reduced from first to second degree murder.
39 at the time of the murder that shocked Merritt Island, Florida, Keller was sentenced on Monday. The case played out quickly, with Keller confessing soon after the recorded phone calls, admitting that an argument over drugs had led him to shooting fiancé. When Campitelli ducked out of the way of his initial shots, Keller continued to fire, murdering her in cold blood with two additional shots. He then used her ATM card with withdraw money to purchase more drugs.
News of Phillip Keller’s sentencing was reported by Florida Today and other outlets. As a mixed martial artist, he put up a record of 2-6, with his only notable fight a loss to future Bellator star Danny Sabatello in 2019. That fight was one of his three under the Titan FC banner.
Our hearts are so broken every day,” Dabra Moore, Campitelli’s mother, said at Monday’s sentencing (h/t MMA Junkie). “We still hear her laugh at our family gatherings. It was not just the end of her life. It was the end of our family’s life.”