"He went out to sell his vehicle and appeared buried": the body of the missing Dian official is found

The alleged murderer has been captured.

The body of Jhoan Mauricio Hernández, a DIAN official who had been missing since last Friday, July 26, was found in Pereira.

Hernández, 33 years old, who was a contractor for the entity, left Cartago, Valle del Cauca with the purpose of selling his vehicle and never returned.

“This was the key to finding the whereabouts of Jhoan Mauricio Hernández”

Hernández’s disappearance sparked an intense search that culminated in the discovery of his body, thanks to an anonymous tip that allowed the authorities to find the alleged perpetrator of the crime. According to the information received, the criminal was traveling in the official’s vehicle.

Investigators from Sijín and the GOES group of the Cartago Police carried out a raid on Carrera Cuarta between Calles 25 and 26 in the El Cofre neighborhood of the Puerto Caldas district.

There, they found Hernández’s body buried in the basement of a house, covered with cement slabs. The exhumation process, carried out by a specialized group from the CTI of the Prosecutor’s Office, allowed the body to be transferred to the Forensic Medicine in Pereira to determine the cause of his death.

During the investigation, which lasted eight days, the victim’s vehicle was located in an area of the El Cofre neighborhood.

Managing to identify Yanier Peñalosa as the main suspect of the homicide, who is now awaiting preliminary hearings.

For their part, the authorities are awaiting further details from the Attorney General’s Office regarding the investigation. According to human rights organizations in Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, this crime could be linked to a network dedicated to the theft of vehicles.

Human rights leader Eisenhower Zapata warned about the modus operandi of these networks: “First, the victim is made to trust through social networks or personal contacts, assuring them that the business is legitimate. Then, upon arriving at the location, they are subdued and disappear along with the vehicle, which is hidden to avoid being located.”