Woman sentenced to 40-60 years in prison for 2002 Charlotte murder

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — An Eaton County court sentenced a woman to 40 to 60 years in prison for the 2002 murder and mutilation in Charlotte of her husband, 37-year-old Robert Caraballo.

In April, a jury found Beverly McCallum, 63, guilty of second-degree murder, exhumation and mutilation of a corpse.

McCallum's sentencing took place Thursday. Eaton County Prosecutor Douglas R. Lloyd made the announcement in a statement Friday.

Beverly McCallum is the third and final person convicted for Caraballo's murder.

Authorities had extradited McCallum from Italy two years after her arrest there in 2020. She had previously fled to Pakistan and, in 2019, was initially charged with first-degree murder for her involvement in the killing, said Lloyd.

Caraballo's remains were found in Ottawa County in 2002, Lloyd said. It wasn't until 2015 that authorities were able to positively identify Caraballo's remains.

Authorities say that in 2002, McCallum and his co-defendants bludgeoned and beat Caraballo in the basement of their Horatio Street home in Charlotte. According to testimony, they then took his body to a blueberry farm in Ottawa County and set it on fire.

Prosecutor Lloyd made the following statement:

“Yesterday marked the conclusion of a 22-year journey toward justice for Robert Caraballo and his family. Robert was brutally and senselessly murdered, burned and dumped by Beverly McCallum, Dineane Ducharme and Christopher McMillan. His daughter, Sicily, must have believed that her father had abandoned her for over a decade. Although the successful prosecution of those responsible will not bring Robert back to life, I hope that today Sicily and the entire Caraballo family will feel a sense of justice and closure.”

Eaton County Prosecutor Douglas R. Lloyd