Woman who incited 2018 murder of Chilean neighbour arrested at Merlo station after years on the run
The Federal Investigation Department arrested a 27-year-old woman accused of inciting her father to kill a Chilean neighbour in 2018. She was captured at Merlo station on the Sarmiento Line.
Woman detained at Merlo who incited the murder of a Chilean neighbour in 2018
Officers from the Federal Investigation Department (DFI) detained a 27-year-old woman inside Merlo station on the Sarmiento Line, as part of an operation supervised by the Ministry of National Security. She was subject to a warrant for arrest on the charge of murder. According to a report by Google News AR — Buenos Aires, the detainee had been a fugitive for years after abandoning all her known residences.
The events of 31 December 2018
The origin of the case dates back to the night of 31 December 2018, in the locality of Mariano Acosta, in the western zone of Buenos Aires conurbation. That night, the father of the now-detained woman attacked a Chilean national neighbour with a screwdriver, wounding him in various parts of his body, including his left ear. The victim fell to the ground without offering resistance. The assailant then took a metal crowbar and dealt him several blows to the head.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died in the morning of 1 January 2019. The judicial investigation determined that the initial motive appeared to have been a complaint about noise disturbance, although as the case progressed it revealed a long-standing poor relationship between the two neighbours. The assailant also had prior criminal convictions.
Conviction of the father and the daughter's role in the crime
The authorities managed to detain the perpetrator of the murder shortly after the incident. On 17 October 2023, after the case was referred for oral trial, the court sentenced him to 17 years imprisonment.
During the trial it was established that the father had not acted alone. Investigators confirmed that his daughter was the one who handed him the metal crowbar with which he carried out the attack. Additionally, during the incident, the woman had allegedly urged him to continue the assault. "Kill him, kill him" and "they are fucking Chileans" were among the phrases which, according to the case, she uttered to encourage her father.
The search: from known residences to the train station
With this evidence, the authorities ordered the search of the woman's residence and her subsequent detention. Upon not finding her, she became a fugitive. The Functional Investigation Unit No. 6 of the Judicial Department of Morón, headed by Dr Patricio Ventricelli, then delegated the search to the Homicide Division of the Argentine Federal Police.
The agents first established that the wanted woman had abandoned all her known residences. Through cyber-patrol activities, they obtained information that the woman worked as a Pilates instructor, an activity linked to her training in physical education.
The inquiries made it possible to determine that she travelled each morning from Merlo station to the locality of Haedo, using the Sarmiento Line, to reach her workplace. With this evidence in hand, the intervening court ordered a discreet operation inside the station.
Detention at Merlo station
A group of agents positioned themselves strategically at the location and, after several hours of waiting, identified a woman with physiognomic features compatible with those of the fugitive. Upon confirming her identity, they proceeded to detain her immediately.
The detainee, of Argentine nationality and aged 27, was placed at the disposal of the intervening magistrate pending the continuation of her criminal proceedings.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires