Paula Santana had a dream: to be stewardess. He was studying at Inter Aviaton Services (Lasca) and had only a few months left to finish his studies. While he was preparing to be a stewardessworked at the company Integer Holdings Corp, where he was rapedmurdered and abandoned in a sewer.
Paula She worked at night, coming in at 11:00 p.m. and finishing her shift at 6:00 a.m. During the day, she slept and studied. At work, everything was going well, except for one thing: there was a coworker who allegedly harassed her. The young woman’s sister, Johanny Escalante, said that Paula had reported to Human Resources the harassmentHowever, the company authorities did not give it any importance.
It’s been more than 6 months since murder of the young and the justice Dominican is not able to shed light on the darkness of the events of that night. The case has been closed, the family The victim no longer has the strength to speak and some murderers are free, walking the streets.
He murder
On February 21, like every day, Paula He went to work. At 11:00 pm he arrived at his workplace. It seemed like a normal night: with the same people, the same place, the same weather. Everything was set up like the day before. However, something was going to happen and no one was going to witness it: no people, no cameras. Criminals went unpunished.
At about 1:30 a.m., beginning on February 21, Paula She left the office to go to the bathroom. That was the last time she was seen alive.
She was found dead that same day in a sewer belonging to the company, within the Las Américas free zone, in Santo Domingo Este. The body had signs of violence. According to the National Police report, it was raped and strangled by individuals who, to this day, more than 6 months later, remain free due to a investigation Poor police that doesn’t clarify anything.
The accused
In this story the lack of evidence complicates everything. When news of his death came out, there was a first suspect. It was Santos Manuel de Jesús Rosso, the 23-year-old who Paulawhen he was still alive, reported Human Resources for alleged harassmentHowever, the police disassociated him from the case because no evidence was found evidence against him. A person is innocent until proven guilty. If there is no evidencethere is no case. This is why the cameras were so important. security of the company Integer Holdings Corp.
The lawyer for the family of the murdered woman explained that in the recordings “two people are seen preparing a body, but they cannot be distinguished. Inacif cleaned up the system, but did not manage to make the people clearly visible so they could be identified.”
The first mistake of the company was to ignore a complaint from harassment of an employee. The second, to have a system of security that does not protect workers. Paula He was the victim of two executioners. Curiously, two people were not at their posts that night.
Both suspects who spent months fulfilling preventive
That night, Paula She left around 1:30 a.m. to go to the bathroom, which was the last time she was seen alive, and there were two Integer Holdings Corp employees who were not at their posts.
“Both Joaquin Alexander Hidalgo, who serves as security on that plant, like the young Alex Elvin Cruz, who found the lifeless body of Paula in the sewer, were identified as the people who in the early hours of February 21 were not at their jobs,” indicated the document requesting the coercive measure.
They two were the main ones suspects of the murderFirst, because they were not at work at the time of the crime. Second, because two people were seen on the recordings. Two strange coincidences.
However, none of them could be tried, due to lack of evidence. They served prison time preventive for more than 6 months. They were granted freedom on September 12, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office will file the case.
The company, for its part, was sanctioned by the Ministry of Labor for “serious and very serious violations in security and health at work”. In addition, it was ordered not to use the company’s warehouse where the incident occurred, “as a way of guaranteeing the security of the other workers.”
The family He doesn’t want to talk
After six months of investigation police, the family There are still no answers to the questions of the deceased. All he knows is that Paula She was murdered, possibly at the hands of two executioners (based on the recordings of security), who are still free.
The police, after more than half a year investigating the case, have not been able to shed light on dark events that ended the life of an innocent woman. With this injustice, family of Paula no longer wants to do statements public. It’s difficult, especially when you know that your daughter’s murderers are free, unpunished, anonymous.
Free Newspaper contacted the lawyer of the familyMarcos Josías Alcántara, to assess the resolution that dictated the Public Prosecutor’s Office in which the case is archived.
Alcántara explained that “what this expresses archive provisional is that it does not have evidence sufficient, conclusive and reliable for a direct accusation against these young men (the accused Joaquín Alexander Hidalgo and Alex Elvin Cruz.”
Furthermore, he understands that the prosecuting body only relied on the Inacif report. “A investigation It is not only based on the Inacif report, there are ways to investigate because there are more people and there is a company with many employees,” he added.
On February 21st Paula Santana was murdered and the justicesix months after the event, is unable to offer conclusions. An injustice that has left two murderers free, unpunished, and exposes the capacity of investigation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
