Settlement of the LGBTI population in Medellín
Rosa Enredo Alzate cries out for reason. On January 28, his son Juan David López, 31, was murdered and part of his former possessions were stolen. “The truth is he didn’t deserve to die the way he was killed,” he said sadly.
She herself found her son dead after looking for him because she had been called from work because she had not come to do her job. His hands and feet were bound and his body lifeless. According to the police, he had choked on a webbing belt.
(Additional: Alert for homicides against LGBTIQ+ people after being contacted by networks)
Since then, Doña Rosa has been searching for answers to solve the murder of one of her four children. “I don’t know, they didn’t tell me zero, they didn’t mention to me for zero that they caught someone or had signs of zero,” he says.
She claims that one of her friends could have been the murderer because “he was jealous of him”.
See also: (They are investigating the murder of Óscar Parada, LGBTI leader in Bogotá)
However, she says prosecutors aren’t listening to her. He demands that these friends whom he lists as suspects and who have stolen almost everything be investigated: money, hats, shoes, his cell phone, his computer and even his television.
For her, the murder of her son was not linked to his sexual preference, as suggested by the investigators of the case. She does not believe she contacted the killer on a platform used by homosexuals. “Juan David had a stable partner and had a lot of money, he took him all over the world, he took him on three cruises, he went to Europe, he met Italy (…) This couple is immersed in sadness, they talk to me a lot because they really loved him very much and they couldn’t react to the fact that they lost him, ”says Rosa.
(In context: The mysteries surrounding the murders of the LGBTIQ+ population in Medellín)
The case of Juan David remains unpunished. He is one of nine men killed in Medellín since January.
This report had already reported seven cases, there are now two more. The coolest was that of Edin Correa Martínez, 61, who died of various injuries on May 5 while staying at his home in the suburb of Manrique, northeast of the Antioquia stream.
Prosecutors told this report that in four of the nine cases investigated, the alleged killers were arrested.
What these four have overall is that the majority are Venezuelan citizens and the homicide would have been motivated to subvert the interests of the victims.
(You might be interested: Mystery murders of gay men continue in Medellín)
There were two resolutions in Edin Correa’s complaint. According to reports, a Venezuelan citizen was in one of the rooms of the house and was arrested red-handed. This man initially identified himself as Joshua Josué Zapata Osuna, but appeared on the Colombia Migration page as César Eduardo Zapata Osuna.
The inmate seized a backpack belonging to the victim along with six watches and various items of clothing. The foreigner was protected by an internal insurance measure for the offenses of aggravated homicide and aggravated and aggravated theft.
Osvaldo Adolfo Botero Giraldo was assassinated on January 11 of this year at his home in the La Castellana district. Upon inspecting his body, he found a bruise in the neck category and some foundations had been removed from his home. In his case, there were also two arrests. They are Dilan Rodríguez Gómez and Harold Sepúlveda López, who have been charged by the prosecution with aggravated homicide.
The third case that has also led to arrests is that of Gustavo Alberto Arango Jaramillo, who was murdered on February 1 after entering a hotel in downtown Medellín, accompanied by another man. He had multiple injuries from beatings.
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National Police arrested Cristian Rafael Santos Macías, from Ecuador, who was a few blocks from the crime scene trying to steal a passerby’s cellphone. “The foreigner was captured by the surveillance cameras of the hotel where the homicide was committed, which facilitated his prosecution for the crime of aggravated homicide,” said the prosecution.
The fourth apparently solved case is that of Andrés Felipe Arboleda, although his murder took place in the municipality of La Sino, a neighboring town of Medellín, south of the Valle de Aburrá. On March 8, the 25-year-old freshman was antithetical in a stream with at least 80 stab wounds, including about 15 in the neck.
On April 7, the prosecution filed a complaint for aggravated murder with brutality against Duván Andrés Patiño Zapata, who did not accept the charges and was protected by an insurance measure in his possibility of residing.
The nine cases recorded from January to expiration had various characteristics in general, many men were assaulted and suffocated, although others were injured by murder.
The doubts of LGBTI groups in Medellín are whether the cases are linked. There is no evidence of a serial killer by members of the town’s community, but they are asking that he not be taken down. Additionally, they urge people to be careful who they date, given that several of the deaths occurred after they set up meetings through a dating app.
This newspaper questioned the prosecution and replied that the investigation had revealed in most cases that there was “resulting exploitation of sexual orientation to rob the victims who, on certain occasions, were murdered”.
The Prosecution replied that it is all a question of investigation and that there are currently several cases in progress and at the investigation stage, “on which information cannot be given in this regard because it would disrupt the process and delay investigation and arrest of the alleged perpetrators.”
(More good news: a woman was allegedly murdered by her wife in Bello, Antioquia
However, police and even suspended mayor Daniel Quintero himself have revealed that one of the methods murderers use is to contact their victims through the Grindr app, which is used to arrange sexual encounters or strike up a friendship.
In this regard, the Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated that contacts had already been made with this platform to obtain any material evidence, but without giving further details.
For now, it’s still quiet whether the arrested men are convicted or released. The five other pending cases, such as that of Juan David López, whose principle still calms reason, are also in default.
davidstrasse
WEATHER CORRESPONDENTS
MEDELLIN
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