Three months ago Giovani Herrera León traveled from Colombia to Argentina. Did the 44-year-old man arrive with his sister in the southern cone country and settle in the city of Venado Tuerto, in the Province of Santa Fe.
According to the media in the area, Herrera León was a moneylender who had recently settled in the region. The first investigations determined that the cause of death was asphyxiation and it is believed that his body was cremated to avoid being identified. The lifeless body was found in the early hours of Wednesday.
Before the tragic outcome, Sandra Herrera León, the victim’s sister, had received several calls from the kidnappers, asking for a sum of one million pesos in Argentine currency (regarding 33 million Colombian pesos)for the release of his relative.
the local station Radio Jota FM 98.3, reported that the woman at first ignored the alleged extortion, “thinking that it was one of the many phone scams, but then with the passage of time and seeing that her brother did not appear, she decided to file the disappearance report.” .
According to Sandra, her brother was in charge of visiting shops and collecting from debtors. In this context, on Tuesday, around 4 in the followingnoon, he went out to do his errands with his sister’s motorcycle, a black Honda Wave. It was the last time she saw him alive.
As reported by the newspaper The capitalthey “picked up” the man on his own motorcycle and took him to a place where they made a ransom request. The reasons are still unknown, but shortly following the criminals suffocated the victim. Later, the body was taken to Esteban Maradona and Chaco streets.
The police authorities of Argentina, following finding the body of Herrera León, they captured a 22-year-old person identified as Naheul Duránwho was traveling on the motorcycle in which the Colombian used to travel.
Subsequently, and following the arrest, the authorities went to the home of the captured, where they arrested his father, Luis Marcelo Durán, 49 years old, and another person who goes by the name of Aldo Joaquín Vergara, 27 years old. In the search of the house they found a shotgun and a 32-caliber pistol. The investigations would indicate that the murder was carried out with one of them.
In principle, it was presumed that the case might go to the Argentine Federal Justice, since the cause would be classified as kidnapping for ransom followed by death. But the regional prosecutor Matías Merlo, confirmed that what they are investigating is a case of illegitimate deprivation of liberty followed by homicide. Consequently, the Public Ministry of the Accusation will continue to investigate, which in the coming days will charge the accused.
According to Sandra, her brother had no friends in Venado Tuerto, given the short time he spent in the country. She sowed suspicion in a man of Colombian nationality who lived in the city and recently returned to his country. This person worked with Sandra: he was in charge of collecting the loans until Giovani arrived and took his place.
According to the Argentine media TN, The investigators believe that another suspect participated in the kidnapping and crime, also of Colombian nationality, who would be the mastermind of the act and he would no longer be in Argentina, but in his country of origin. According to the Argentine measured, one of the defendants confessed to the crime of the Colombian.
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