Femicide in Pilar: DNA and mobile phone evidence will decide case against accused neighbour
Luis César Navarro remains in preventive detention for the murder of Milagros Cabrera. Two forensic examinations will be key to determining his responsibility.
Two forensic analyses at the centre of Pilar femicide
According to canal13sanjuan.com, a month and a half after the murder of Milagros Naomí Cabrera — the 30-year-old woman raped and killed in Pilar — prosecutor Marcela Semería is awaiting the results of two crucial forensic examinations to consolidate the case against the sole accused: her neighbour Luis César Navarro.
Milagros disappeared on 31 July when leaving her home in Villa Rosa to go to work at a kiosk. Her body was found two days later, naked and bearing signs of asphyxiation and sexual abuse, on a fenced property on Route 25 and Rawson Street, metres from a bus stop. Her body was discovered by her ex-partner, a sergeant of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police who had been searching for her.
Navarro, a former member of the Buenos Aires Prison Service with psychiatric discharge, has been held in custody at Manzanares under preventive detention since 2 September. The prosecutor charges him with double qualified homicide for femicide and criminis causa, sexual abuse with penetration, and false reporting.
Investigators from the SubDDI reconstructed the case based on three elements. Area cameras place Navarro leaving the exact location where Milagros's body was found, at a time consistent with the crime. At the moment of the search of his home on Carlos Saavedra Lamas Street, the suspect bore scratches on his neck and the back of his neck, marks that investigators interpret as defensive wounds from the victim. Moreover, clothing linked to the crime and a mobile phone with a transparent case were seized from the home, despite Navarro having falsely reported the theft of the device in an attempt to establish an alibi.
Progress in the case now depends on the forensic laboratories. The court ordered a DNA comparison between biological samples extracted from Milagros's fingernails and vaginal swabs, and samples pending extraction from the accused. The process has experienced delays stemming from the mandatory protocol that requires first verifying whether the material recovered from the victim is suitable for comparison.
Simultaneously, computer forensics experts are working to unlock Navarro's mobile phone. The accused refused to provide his access password, a stance that raised red flags for the prosecutor: investigators suspect the device contains incriminating material that could confirm his responsibility for the femicide.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan