As they watch over the remains of the 28-year-old woman murdered in Villa Zabaleta, other testimonies complicate the fugitive

As the femicide investigation progresses, the remains of Ferni Palace Cristina Ayala (28), the woman of Paraguayan nationality and mother of a 10-year-old boy, shot twice in the neighborhood of Zavaleta de Barracas, began to be veiled this afternoon in a common dining room, where the victim had worked for eight years. For the crime they were looking for their partner Stephen Rojas, a 44-year-old pawnbroker, also born in the neighboring country, who benefits from an exit ban and a national and international arrest warrant. He is charged with ahomicide aggravated by the use of a firearm and mediated by gender-based violence”.

The ceremony takes place from 4:30 p.m. in the dining room.little train of life”, located on California Street between Luna and Montesquieu de la Villa 21-24, south of the city of Buenos Aires, a few blocks from the house that the victim shared with the fugitive. Ayala Palacios’ body had been moved there shortly before, after the autopsy. As his family and friends watched over his remains, researchers They found the suspect’s car parked on a street close to the area.

He White Honda Civic He was found after a 911 call made by a neighbor, who recognized him thanks to the photos that went viral on the networks and alerted to the appearance of the vehicle. He himself had an active kidnapping request across the country since the day of the crime, suspecting that the alleged murderer could have fled in his vehicle. After meeting a mechanic, city police officers learned that the car had been in his workshop since February 14 and that he had taken it out onto the streets today as some spare parts had arrived.

Hours before the Honda Civic appeared, one of Ferni’s sisters pointed to the prosecutor’s work Paul RecchiniHead of the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 44, who asked the judge Mariano Iturralde —of court no. 16 of the same jurisdiction— to issue an arrest warrant to find and arrest Rojas. “We still have no news of his fate. It seems to me that the prosecutor is not doing his job well because, so far, they have not asked for the cameras from the neighbor. I do not know the face of the prosecutor , he never came to us and said, “I’ll take care of it”. So, if you don’t do anything, I demand that you put in your batteries. For us, there is no doubt: Esteban Rojas killed Ferni”, he said in dialogue with NT.

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In tune, the mother of the victim demanded the speed of the investigation. “I hope they find this murderer quickly, there is no doubt that it was him (Esteban Rojas)Rose said. He also claimed he knew the suspect was ‘checking his daughter’s phone’ and that she told him she wanted to leave the country because hehe was “very jealous”.

This Wednesday, as part of the femicide investigation, the fugitive loan shark’s ex-partner testified before detectives City Police Homicide Division and she said she also suffered physical, psychological and economic abuse from Esteban Rojas, who gave her an apartment in the building where the murder took place on the condition that she had no company of men.

The statement, issued by telam, was provided by a woman identified as “L” – her identity will be saved to preserve it – who said she had a two-year-old daughter in common with the defendant. In his account, the witness said that his relationship with Rojas ended in August 2021, after frequent episodes of “gender violence” that the now fugitive exercised against him.

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‘L’ described Rojas as a ‘very jealous’ man. She also explained that, although the man gave her an apartment to live with his daughter, she lived “in danger” since he himself had warned her that he would “kick her out” of the house if she was going to the place with another man.

Regarding Rojas’ relationship with Ayala, the ex-partner and neighbor of the accused explained that they had been dating for eight months and that “at first glance, it was clear that they got along well”. At the end of his statement, the witness indicated that the accused has another 22-year-old son, who lives in Paraguayand provided information that Rojas’ mother lives in the 21-24 neighborhood of Barracas, which has already been raided, with negative results.

That of “L” is one of the many testimonies that the municipal police take from the environment of the couple, at the request of the National Criminal and Correctional Judge No. 16, Mariano Iturralde, and the Prosecutor 44 of the same jurisdiction. , Pablo Recchini, both in charge of the judicial file.

Although in the last hours versions emerged that the accused planned to appear before the investigators, judicial sources told telam that no lawyer or other person contacted the court or the prosecutor’s office to announce that Rojas was about to go to court or to the headquarters of the homicide division located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.

This happened in the early hours of February 19, on the first floor of house 187 in Lavardén Street, block 18, in the 21-24 Zavaleta neighborhood, located in Barracas, but was discovered almost 24 hours laterlast Monday morning.

Officers from the 4D Neighborhood Police Station were called to the scene and verified that Ayala had been murdered, after two of the victim’s sisters, who hours earlier had filed a complaint asking where she was, pressed the apartment door with the help of a neighbor and find the body.

Upon entering the house, troops found Ferni’s body lying in a room, face up, dressed in bedding, and with at least two bullet wounds in the chest.

After conducting a testimonial investigation, investigators identified the now fugitive Rojas, who was a companion of the victim and was seen arguing with her outside the nightclub, as a possible suspect in the crime.Radio Studioof the Constitución district, Sunday morning.

The victim’s family told the press and investigators that a comment about an ex-partner of Ferni’s, made that night by a friend of the victim and which angered Rojas, could have been the motive. femicide. Some neighbors have already said that that morning they saw the two arrive at their home in the Zavaleta neighborhood, but they saw Rojas leaving the building alone and driving off in his car.

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