Femicide of Javiera Jiménez: convicted of qualified life imprisonment in Antofagasta
The Antofagasta Court imposed the maximum sentence on Javiera Jiménez's killer, aggravated by ignominy and the deserted location where the crime occurred.
Two aggravating circumstances and no mitigating factors: qualified life imprisonment for Javiera Jiménez's killer
The Oral Criminal Trial Court of Antofagasta sentenced a 30-year-old man, partner and cohabiting with Javiera Jiménez Galleguillos, to qualified life imprisonment for the intimate femicide committed in the early hours of 26 August 2022. According to informaalminuto.cl, the sentence was handed down on 5 October 2026 and represents the most severe penalty contemplated in the Chilean penal code.
The ruling was based on two aggravating circumstances and the complete absence of mitigating factors. The first aggravating circumstance was ignominy: two days after the crime, the convicted man impersonated Javiera's identity to send a message to her mother. In that message he falsely attributed having run over a person, justified the victim's disappearance as a supposed flight to avoid being arrested, and asked her not to search for her and to delete the communication.
The judges considered that this conduct constituted an affront to the honour and memory of the victim, which prolonged the suffering of her family beyond the crime itself. The second aggravating circumstance was committing the offence at night and in a deserted place: the assault occurred during the early hours, in an isolated and desert sector of route B-400, with no vehicular traffic, no nearby population and no telephone coverage, conditions that prevented Javiera from being able to receive help.
The defence requested several mitigating factors which the court rejected entirely. Irreproachable previous conduct was discarded because the accused had a prior conviction for serious injury committed during his adolescence. Claims of effective collaboration and substantial collaboration in clarifying the facts were also dismissed, as it was established that the information provided about the location of the body was partial and late.
The regional prosecutor of Antofagasta, Juan Castro Bekios, highlighted the work of the Public Ministry and the Criminal Investigation Police (PDI) in resolving a highly complex case: there were no eyewitnesses, the victim's body remained undiscovered for over a year, and the accused fled abroad after the crime. Castro Bekios specially recognised the work of prosecutor Ana María Escobar, prosecutor Rodrigo Cusó, and the teams of the PDI's Homicide Brigade.
The investigation began on 31 August 2022, when Javiera's mother filed a complaint for presumed misfortune. During the first months, the teams worked on circumstantial evidence and had to contrast the successive false versions given by the accused. Traces of the victim's blood found in the vehicle in which the defendant travelled proved key to obtaining an arrest warrant before locating his remains.
The convicted man had left Chile days after the investigation began. He was arrested in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, following coordinated efforts between the PDI and the Bolivian police, and handed over at the Chungará border crossing. On 5 January 2024 he was transferred to Antofagasta. A week later, on 12 January, Javiera Jiménez's remains were found, their identity confirmed through genetic analysis.
The sentence of qualified life imprisonment prevents the convicted person from accessing conditional release before completing 40 years of effective deprivation of liberty. The man is currently also serving a 16-year prison sentence for two robberies with violence and intimidation; once the ruling becomes final, the new sentence will be executed following the sanctions he is already serving.
Source: Google News CL — Crime