Three arrested for murder of American Airlines flight attendant in Medellín
Andrés Peña, María González and William Olave were captured in Peru after being traced from Medellín. The US will request their extradition.
Three suspects arrested in Peru for murder of American flight attendant in Medellín
Nearly one hundred days after the burial of Erick Fernando Gutiérrez Molina, a flight attendant for American Airlines, three people allegedly responsible for his robbery and murder were detained in Peru, according to univision.com.
The detainees are Andrés Peña, 21 years old, María González, 34, and William Olave, identified by authorities as the mastermind of the gang. The three were traced from Medellín to Ecuador and finally located and apprehended in Lima under international arrest warrants.
González was detained at her residence. According to authorities, she was the one who managed the money obtained illegally through pawn shops. Peña and González are now in police custody; Olave, detained in Lima, is awaiting extradition to Bogotá.
The Government of the United States will request in the coming hours the extradition of the three defendants so they can face justice in the United States for the crime.
One night of stopover that ended in death
Gutiérrez Molina went missing while the crew of his flight made a stopover in Medellín bound for Miami. According to information released by authorities and reported by univision.com, the criminals—described as experts in attacking members of the LGBT community—seduced him and kidnapped him from a nightclub.
Once in their custody, they forced him to surrender his banking security credentials. In a single night, they stole more than 30,000 dollars using his cards, with which they purchased household appliances and jewellery from establishments in Medellín to later resell them. Subsequently, Gutiérrez was asphyxiated to death.
International tracking to Peru
Authorities followed the trail of the suspects from Medellín to Ecuador, where they were filmed crossing the border. The operation concluded in Peru, where they were finally captured with support from Interpol.
"This does not give Erick's life back, but justice is served and it will not go unpunished," stated a source cited in the univision.com report.
The case highlighted the activity of a gang specialised in committing crimes against travellers and tourists in Medellín, with a modus operandi that included seduction, kidnapping, fraudulent extraction of bank funds and subsequent resale of goods purchased fraudulently.
Source: Google News CO — Crime