Two years after the Tomasito crime, the case that shocked Chile and remains an unpunished mystery

He unsolved crime of ThomasBravoA child under the age of three who was lost for nine days and later found dead near his home in the Caripilún sector of the Biobío region continues to cause shock and amazement in Chile, near two years after the fateful events.

The case dates back to February 17, 2021 when the minor He disappeared in the Caripilun sector, in the municipality of Arauco, located in southern Chile. The boy was with his great-uncle, Jorge Escobarto search for animals in a nearby area.

According to Escobar, he went out with Tomás to look for calves and cows, visiting the property of “La Mano”. However, at a time when man had to carry animals, he lost sight of the child.

This led to an unprecedented operation to search for Tomás Bravo. A camp with research specialists was set up, the community turned to the child, but none of it worked. Thus, on February 26, Tomás Bravo was found dead in a ditch on the Raqui River, and prosecutor José Ortiz put forward the theory that his death was not accidental because “the manner of discovery clearly involves the intervention a third”.

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All eyes quickly turned to Escobar, who was arrested. However, the case would take an unprecedented turn in March 2021 when He was released because there were no “incriminated elements” or evidence that was collected (or found) from the accused’s clothing, inside his vehicle or at his home that could link him to the murder”.

His release, meanwhile, has caused the case to fall into a spiral of theories, investigations and proceedings that have yet to come to fruition. On October 14, 2021, a court added three additional months to the investigation pending the results of a procedure entrusted abroad, such as an expertise on tests with genetic material at the University of Saint-Jacques -de-Compostelle, Spain. This is the third time the investigation has been extended.

In December 2022, the Chilean judicial authorities received the results of a foreign expertise, which apparently gave different results from the autopsy performed by the Legal Medical Service, who said the child’s death was caused by hypothermia and starvation. In this sense, it is important to emphasize that this is a case that still has no culprits, this was granted by Judge Ingrid Hernández Román after the last resolution, i.e. an extension of the investigative work for a period of 30 days, which would end on February 27according to prosecutor Marcela Cartagena, who last made this request.

On the other hand, the minor’s mother, Estefanía Gutiérrez, made a heartbreaking and moving publicationOr recalled the tragic disappearance and death of his son: “Dear son, another month without you was added yesterday… A year and 11 months since they gave us the worst warning, that broke my heart in two, that I would never see you alive again.“Begins the woman, writing on her social networks.

”Another day trying to hold me down in a miserable life full of evil and hypocrisy. This fight has been so hard, son, and I don’t know why… Almost two years with way more downsides than upsides… Having to deal with a million things, just for asking for something. ‘also just for you, which is to get ‘justice’, but even that has been so despicable with us”supported Estefanía Hernández.

The absence of justice and a clear idea of ​​what happened to Tomás Bravo awakens a feeling of despair and anguish in the family. “We are desperate, it is an anguish that is growing day by day and without answers it is worse. We need concrete and transparent answers, conclusive scientific evidence, which is not by hypothesis, by statistics or because it seemed to them, “said the family of little Tomás Bravo.

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