The Cicpc reported on the capture of the alleged murderer of journalist Kalinina Ortega (81), a crime perpetrated in 2016. The information was disseminated on Friday night on the Cicpc’s Instagram account where it states that the procedure was carried out by agents assigned to the Homicide Investigations Division.
The detainee was identified as Armando Ricci Degiosti (71), captured in the state of Bolívar, “after determining in a technical-scientific manner his responsibility in the homicide of journalist Kalinina Ortega (81), which occurred in 2016 in her home located on Peñalver Avenue, San Bernardino parish, Caracas, her skeletal remains being located in 2022.”
The report indicates that Armando Ricci was a friend of the social communicator, he even stayed at her home where he did gardening work. The scientific police determined that on the day of the incident they had a strong argument, which became aggressive. In the middle of the fight, the subject took an empty bottle and hit Kalinina hard on the head, leaving her lifeless.
Once he murdered her, the man wrapped the body in sheets, dug a hole in the back of the house to bury it with earth and place a fruit tree on top, the Cicpc described.
Subsequently, the subject cleaned the property where there was blood and then seized several objects and fled the scene. He disposed of all the evidence in a local trash container.
On February 26, 2022, bone pieces corresponding to the body of Kalinina Ortega were discovered, which were in an improvised grave in the house where she lived located in San Bernardino. A stray dog dug the grave, bringing up the bones. The “tomb” was located in an area where an avocado tree was planted that Kalinina cared for with great zeal, according to testimony collected by Últimas Noticias in the aforementioned farm named Antonietta.
The occupants of the house reported the incident to the police authorities who transferred the bones to the National Forensic Sciences Service (Senamef) located in Bello Monte. Nine days later, the forensic experts notified the relatives that the remains found indeed corresponded to those of the journalist.
Kalinina’s relatives buried her on March 16 of that year, 2022, in the Cementerio del Este, La Guairita, El Hatillo municipality (Miranda).
In Kalinina’s house, where her remains were found, she had 15 cats, three macaws, a dog and a parrot, said a friend of the journalist. They presume that the journalist disappeared between September 15 and October 5, 2016. On that occasion, Gerxy Dávila, a friend, approached Kalinina’s house and did not hear the noise of the animals. “With the help of Policaracas we entered the house and found nothing. The parrot’s feathers were there,” he recalled.
During those days, Armando Ricci, the man whom Kalinina gave accommodation to help him prune a fan palm and an avocado, also disappeared. That is precisely the subject whose arrest the Cicpc announced on Friday night and presented him as the murderer of Kalinina Ortega.
