It seemed like a scene straight out of a Hollywood movie. On March 21, a violent crime occurred on Route 5 South, near the commune of San Francisco de Mostazal, in the O’Higgins Region. That day, after 6:00 p.m., a fruit businessman residing in the Valparaíso area was shot dead while driving his vehicle, heading towards Santiago.
The material authors of the incident, according to the prosecutor’s investigation, are two individuals who were traveling on a motorcycle. In fact, the subjects fired the shots in full motion: they positioned the motorcycle next to the window of the businessman’s truck and one of them fired about 10 shots. Four of them hit the victim directly, who lost his life instantly. The vehicle ended up colliding with a truck, which in turn collided with another vehicle.
In the first instance, the prosecutor’s office had been alerted by a chain collision on Route 5 South. After a little while they would learn of the complexity of the case. The Public Ministry, specifically the Ecoh Group, ordered that the Homicide Brigade (BH) of the PDI Rancagua will carry out the investigative procedures. In that sense, yesterday three people were arrested and formalized for the completed crimes of qualified homicide and criminal association: two women and a man. The accused, all Chileans, were remanded in preventive detention.
The genesis of the crime, which would take the form of a hitman, began to take shape days before. According to the information handled by the Public Ministry, the perpetrators of the murder hatched a plan through which they followed up on the victim. That day, the businessman arrived for a business meeting at a Shell service center, located in San Francisco de Mostazal. With that knowledge, one of the detainees drove a truck following the route taken by the victim. He parked in a vacant spot near the compound and the occupants waited. At one point, knowing that the meeting was coming to an end, a motorcycle with two occupants descended from the truck: the driver and another subject who would be the perpetrator of the shots.
Quickly, the subjects on motorcycles followed the businessman’s vehicle until they caught up with him and shot him. They then fled in an unknown direction. The prosecution is working to find the identity of these subjects, who are still free. It is estimated that the motorcycle would be assembled from parts taken from different models. Until now, the prosecutor’s office has carried out procedures such as reviewing cameras and inspecting calls.
The detained subject is an associate of the victim, while the other captured woman would be the one who provided the truck with which the crime was committed. The prosecution investigated transfers of the accused, but it has yet to be determined if there was a payment for the murder.
The regional prosecutor of O’Higgins, Aquiles Cubillos, noted: “This is a contract homicide for economic reasons where hitmen were hired to carry out this homicide.”. The prosecutor explained that the case involves “debts, but also businesses that were involved. Therefore, their perception is a significant amount of money.” Cubillos commented that the murdered businessman has “several businesses in the Sixth Region.”
The operation to carry out the three arrests was carried out after simultaneous raids carried out in nine homes in different communes of the Metropolitan Region and where 120 PDI detectives participated. The operation allowed the seizure of species associated with other crimes, such as robberies, in addition to cocaine base and cocaine hydrochloride valued at 1.1 million pesos.
“There has been very hard work here by our Ecoh team, the Sacfi prosecutor’s office (Criminal Analysis System and Investigative Focus) and the Investigative Police where various investigative procedures have been carried out. Through a very important task of call traffic, wiretapping, and searching for surveillance cameras, we have been able to collect enough information to ultimately have these three individuals formalized,” added the prosecutor.
One of those arrested has a police record for various crimes and two of them are involved in various types of robberies. The Barn Guarantee Court decreed 120 days of investigation. All of the detainees have addresses in the capital.
The prosecutor’s office points out that in the last period there has been one case per month related to organized crime.
