New arrest in Florencio Varela triple murder: bodyguard of drug boss captured in Lima
Abel Josuel Taya Humpire, 32, a Peruvian national, was detained in Lima as bodyguard of drug chief "Papá". The case now totals 17 detainees.
Lima captures bodyguard of gang leader behind Varela triple murder
A new detainee has been added to the case file for the triple murder of Lara Gutiérrez (15), Brenda del Castillo (20) and Morena (20), perpetrated in September 2025 in Florencio Varela. According to reports from clarin.com, the capture of Abel Josuel Taya Humpire (32), a Peruvian national, was confirmed this Saturday in the Santa Anita district of Lima.
The operation was carried out by the Peruvian Police in collaboration with the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) through INTERPOL. Taya Humpire was placed at the disposal of federal judge Jorge Ernesto Rodríguez of Morón, who is conducting the main investigation.
Judicial sources consulted by Clarín indicated that the detainee appeared in the case file as "Abel" or "Abel T." and had allegedly acted as "bodyguard" to Luis Alan Valverde Rodríguez (40), known as "Papá", identified as one of the leaders of the Peruvian drug gang responsible for the crimes.
Valverde Rodríguez is the uncle of Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano (21), alias "Pequeño J", who allegedly also held a central role within the organisation. According to the same sources, both "Abel" and "Papá", operating from the town of José C. Paz, had allegedly received real-time information about what was happening at the house on Chañar 702 street, in Villa Vatteone, Florencio Varela, where the three young women were tortured, murdered and buried.
The gang was engaged in drug trafficking in the Florencio Varela area and operated with a vertical structure with different levels of power. Investigators point to drug-related revenge as the main motive: one of the victims had allegedly been linked to a drug theft from the gang headed by "Pequeño J".
On 19 September 2025, Morena, Brenda and Lara were transferred under false pretences from La Matanza, the municipality where they lived, to Florencio Varela, where they were kidnapped, murdered and buried in the backyard of that property.
The case took on new dimensions on 4 November, when a video emerged showing the moment Lara was being tortured during the night of the crime. The images showed Pablo Daniel Macalopu Cafferata (35), nicknamed "Roger" and also "Cody", ordering that a finger be cut off from the minor, in a recording made from his own mobile telephone.
Macalopu Cafferata had been detained in October following the seizure of 300 kilograms of drugs in the north of the country, an operation which led to a raid in Moreno where an additional 207 kilograms of cocaine were confiscated. At his residence in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, 175,000 dollars were also found. Upon examination of his mobile phone, investigators found the video of the torture, which led federal judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado to contact judge Rodríguez, who charged him with the triple murder.
Following the release of the video, a sister of Brenda received threats. Lara's family filed an injunction to prevent the images from continuing to circulate and presented themselves before the court of Arroyo Salgado to demand explanations for the leak, also directing questions to judge Rodríguez.
Judge Rodríguez also incorporated human trafficking and money laundering as parallel lines of investigation, activities to which the organisation had allegedly also been involved and which could be linked to the murders.
At present, the case has at least 17 people detained, mostly of Peruvian nationality.
Source: Google News PE — Crime