The authorities are investigating whether the murder of the university professor is part of a series of homicides with the same modus operandi.
News Colombia.
Bogotá is going through days of shock after the confirmation of the murder of university professor Neill Felipe Cubides, a case that combines disappearance, suspicious financial movements and a discovery that has set off the alarms of the authorities due to its similarity to other recent crimes in the capital.
Cubides, a professor at the Externado University of Colombia and an official with experience in the Attorney General’s Office, was reported missing on the night of January 15.
His last known trace was recorded by security cameras around the El Country Clinic, in the north of Bogotá, where he had accompanied his son to a medical emergency.
According to his wife, Denis Alfaro, after completing the minor’s medical care, she suggested that he return home to rest, since he had to complete his work day the next day. The professor left the pediatric emergency area, crossed Highway 15 and boarded a taxi. From that moment on, he did not communicate with his family again. Continue reading: What happened after the taxi: keys to the murder of Professor Neill Cubides
While anguish grew among those close to him, a new signal raised alarm bells. In the early hours of Friday, January 16, just hours after his disappearance, Cubides’ bank accounts registered unusual movements.
According to information known to his wife and later confirmed by authorities, two money withdrawals were made for values of two and four million pesos, in addition to a purchase close to 250,000 pesos, all in a period of less than half an hour.
For his family, these movements reinforced from the beginning the hypothesis that the teacher had been the victim of a kidnapping under the modality known as a millionaire walk. “I don’t understand why they didn’t release him,” said his wife days before his death was confirmed, in statements to the media.
The discovery of the body occurred on the morning of Friday, January 16, when a passerby alerted the Police about a body that was still on fire on a rural road in the Soches village, in the town of Usme, south of Bogotá. Upon arriving at the scene, the authorities found the charred remains of an adult man, without identification documents and with his clothes completely burned.
Due to the condition of the body, the identification process was not immediate. The National Institute of Legal Medicine needed several days of forensic analysis to confirm that it was Neill Felipe Cubides. The news was ratified on January 19, four days after his disappearance, generating a wave of pain and indignation in the academic community and citizens.
The Externado de Colombia University publicly mourned the death of the professor and asked for respect for the investigative process. The Faculty of Social Communication and Journalism declared three days of mourning, highlighting the academic and human impact that Cubides left among colleagues and students.
At the same time, the authorities are advancing a line of investigation that has generated special concern: the possible relationship of this crime with at least four other similar cases registered in Bogotá. According to information known to the authorities, these events would share common characteristics, such as the use of taxis, withdrawals of money under duress, and subsequent murders of the victims.
The mayor of Bogotá, Carlos Fernando Galán, assured that the Sectional Prosecutor’s Office activated a special investigation group together with the CTI and the Metropolitan Police, with the aim of identifying and capturing those responsible. The district administration reiterated that the existence of a criminal structure dedicated to this type of crime is not ruled out.
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