Murder of farmworker Eduardo Chávez in Pocito remains unsolved after 25 years
Eduardo Vicente Chávez disappeared in May 1999 from Villa Vallecito, Pocito, and was found dead weeks later. The crime remains unresolved.
The Pocito farmworker who disappeared in 1999 and never received justice
In the early morning hours of Sunday 16 May 1999, Eduardo Vicente Chávez vanished from his adobe room in Villa Vallecito, Quinto Cuartel, Pocito. He was 41 years old and worked as a rural farmworker. His father went to wake him that morning and found the room empty. According to tiempodesanjuan.com, the family searched hospitals and police stations before filing a missing person report.
During the search, several neighbours reported seeing a blue or light-blue Peugeot pickup truck circulating through the village asking questions about Chávez. The testimonies indicated that a woman travelling in that vehicle had entered the family property. No witness could specify what happened next or identify the occupants.
On 9 June, nearly four weeks after his disappearance, a body was found in a sugar cane field on Costa Canal street, west of República del Líbano. Investigators identified him by his clothing and documents. The body showed signs of beating, a gunshot wound to the chest, and wire tied around a wrist—evidence that he had been held before his death.
Investigators detained a woman who supposedly had secret meetings with Chávez. She was released a few days later for lack of evidence. The investigation failed to identify the occupants of the pickup or to precisely reconstruct how the crime had occurred. Over time, the case stalled. The murder remains unsolved.
The case forms part of Chapter LXII of Crime Stories, a weekly production by tiempodesanjuan.com available on Spotify. The content is produced by Walter Vilca, Agostina Montaño and Adrián Caravajal.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan