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Tag: Morena Verdi

  • Man Arrested in Seaside Resort Days After 3 Women’s ‘House of Horror’ Torture and Murder Was Livestreamed on Social Media

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    NEED TO KNOW

    • An investigation into a triple murder in Argentina has led to two arrests in Peru

    • Brenda del Castillo, Morena Verdi and Lara Morena Gutiérrez were found brutally slain in a well in the Argentinian city of Florencio Varela last week

    • Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, known as ‘Pequeño J,’ is accused of masterminding the murders

    Authorities in Peru have detained a 20-year-old man on accusations that he ordered the brutal, livestreamed torture and killings of two women and a teenager whose bodies were found buried in a well after they disappeared.

    The dismembered remains of victims Brenda del Castillo, 20, Morena Verdi 20, and Lara Morena Gutiérrez, 15, were found last week in Florencio Varela, about 16 miles south of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, local authorities said, according to Pagina 12, Cadena 3 and La Nación.

    Four people were arrested in Argentina in the immediate aftermath, but now investigators say they’ve apprehended the alleged ringleader of the killings, 20-year-old Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, BBC and El País report.

    Victoriano, who reportedly goes by ‘‘Pequeño J,” was taken into custody from a seaside resort about 43 miles from the Peruvian capital of Lima, per BBC and the Buenos Aires Times.

    Argentina’s Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich made the announcement on X on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

    Hours prior, she had announced the arrest of fugitive Matías Agustin Ozorio, who BBC reports is Victoriano’s right hand man, citing Peruvian authorities.

    Patricia Bullrich/X

    The National Police of Peru arrest Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, also known as “Little J”

    The discovery of the remains in what was dubbed by local media as a “house of horror” sent shockwaves through the region and sparked mass protests in Argentina demanding justice for the victims.

    An investigation revealed the three victims were allegedly lured into a van with the promise of being paid to attend a party on Sept. 19, Pagina 12, Cadena 3 and La Nación previously reported.

    An examination of the bodies concluded they were killed hours later. Their remains were found on Sept. 24.

    Their alleged torture was live-streamed in a closed group on a social media with 45 people, Buenos Aires Security Minister Javier Alonso previously confirmed, according to El Trece TV, Cadena 3 and La Nación.

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    Ozorio will be extradited to Argentina, Bullrich said on X.

    Authorities are working to extradite Victoriano, who is a Peruvian citizen, the BBC reports.

    Read the original article on People

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  • Thousands protest livestreamed murder of 2 women, young girl in Argentina

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    Clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police as thousands protested in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, to demand justice over the torture and killing of two young women and a teenager, which was livestreamed on social media by a purported drug gang.

    Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday to denounce the killings that shocked Argentinians after it was revealed that the murders were perpetrated live on the Instagram platform and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.

    The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried on Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

    Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van on September 19, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating gang code and to serve as a warning to others.

    Police discovered a video of the triple murder after a suspect in the disappearance of the three revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, the security minister for the Buenos Aires province.

    In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”

    Argentinian media reported that the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, and beat and suffocated the victims.

    While most of the protesters who took part in the demonstration on Saturday marched peacefully, some confronted police who responded by aggressively pushing them away using their batons and shields, according to video clips and images posted by the La Izquierda Diario online news site.

    Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Saturday to denounce the killings of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez, by a suspected drug gang [Luis Robayo/AFP]

    As they marched towards the Argentinian parliament with thousands of supporters, family members of the victims held a banner with their names, “Lara, Brenda, Morena”, and placards with the images of the three.

    “Women must be protected more than ever,” Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, was quoted by the AFP news agency as telling reporters at the protest. He had earlier said he had not been able to identify his daughter’s body due to the torture she had endured.

    “It was a narco-femicide!” read a sign at the protest. Another declared, “Our lives are not disposable!”

    The protesters also banged on drums as they marched and denounced the “inaction” of the administration of President Javier Milei against what they called the growing “narco” influence in the country.

    An image posted on social media showed protesters burning an image of Milei and other political allies of his administration.

    Antonio del Castillo, the grandfather of the slain 20-year-old cousins, was in tears, calling his granddaughters’ killers “bloodthirsty”.

    “You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal,” he said.

    On Friday, Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich announced the arrest of a fifth suspect in the case, bringing the total to three men and two women. The fifth suspect, accused of offering logistical support in the killing by providing a vehicle involved in the crime, was arrested in the Bolivian border city of Villazon .

    Authorities have also released a photograph of the alleged mastermind, a 20-year-old Peruvian, who remains at large.

    Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has disputed that the livestream occurred on its platform, according to the AFP, citing a company spokesperson.

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  • Argentine victims of live-streamed murder laid to rest on eve of protest

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    Shocked and in tears, relatives on Friday laid to rest two women and a girl whose live-streamed torture and murder caused an outcry in Argentina, where activists are planning a weekend protest against femicide.

    The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda Del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

    The crime, which investigators have tied to narco activity, was perpetrated live on Instagram and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.

    Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van last Friday night, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating a gang code, and as a warning to others.

    Police discovered the Instagram broadcast after one of four detainees — two men and two women — revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, security minister for Buenos Aires province.

    In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”

    Argentine media are reporting the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, beat and suffocated the victims.

    On Friday, dozens of people accompanied a mourning procession to a cemetery outside the capital where a private burial for Verdi and Del Castillo was held.

    Gutierrez was laid to rest in a different location.

    “I went to where the two little coffins were, side by side, and there I was able to cry more, and I promised them that I would find out who did this, because they destroyed the bodies, Antonio Del Castillo, grandfather of Brenda and Morena, told AFP.

    “Holding a wake for a family member with the coffin closed is very painful for me, very painful,” he added.

    – No bad victims –

    “They were with the wrong people at the wrong time, and that’s all. They had nothing to do with it,” Federico Celedon, Morena and Brenda’s cousin, told AFP.

    He said that Brenda had a one-year-old son who will now be cared for by his grandparents.

    Rights groups have called for demonstrations around the country Saturday under the banner: “There are no good or bad victims, only femicides,” in an apparent allusion to the victims’ reported involvement in sex work.

    Maria Eugenia Luduena, director of the Presentes rights NGO, told AFP the victims were youngsters with few options, coming as they did from a poor background.

    “We are talking about three very young women, one of them 15 years old, who, according to various reports, were summoned to an event related to sex work,” Luduena said.

    “The lack of work and the economic crisis we live in today affects women more,” allowing criminal networks to take advantage of them, she said.

    A lawyer for the youngest victim’s family, Gonzalo Fuenzalida, said they had received death threats and he will seek police protection.

    Dozens of political, cultural and social leaders have spoken out against the crime and called for an end to gender-based violence.

    A man nicknamed “Little J” or “Julito,” believed to be the head of the gang behind the murders, is on the run.

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