Veronica Zapana S. / La Paz
Ángel Apaza, 25, who before dying confessed how his girlfriend Vanesa was murdered, erased and burned evidence, according to the Police. In addition, according to the authorities of the institution of order, the Prosecutor’s Office did not issue the arrest warrant on time, despite having evidence against the accused and released him after giving his statement in January.
The family filed the complaint of Vanesa’s disappearance on December 30 before the Special Force to Fight Crime (Felcc) of El Alto.
After the complaint, the Police began the investigation and arrived at the home of Apaza, who was the main suspect in the disappearance of the young woman. “There it was evidenced that there were blood stains, which were discovered with luminescence tests. For that reason they sealed her room, ”explained Police Commander General Jhonny Aguilera.
Given this finding, on January 10, the Prosecutor’s Office summoned Ángel to testify, but he was released. “Why at that time did the prosecutor who had been handling the case up to that point, Roxana C., not order his arrest, since it was already known that the luminescence test indicated that there were blood stains in her house,” he explained. asked another police chief.
“We know that he unsealed the property, bleached his carpet, burned his mattress and washed the walls. These are the justifying elements of conduct that is punishable,” added Aguilera.
From the La Paz Prosecutor’s Office it was indicated that information on the subject will be given today.
The police commander said that he has all the elements to say that “it is a case of femicide.” One of the most important elements refers to the fact that Ángel “erased the evidence”.
More than two months passed and Vanesa did not appear, the investigations did not advance. It was reported in the media that two women who disappeared under “almost the same circumstances” were found by the human trafficking and smuggling division of the Felcc La Paz. Upon learning of the cases, Vanesa’s family decided to go to that police unit on April 6 in order to seek help to find the university student.
After 24 hours, the police officers from that unit found Ángel, which is why they asked the Public Ministry to issue an arrest warrant. “But the Prosecutor’s Office rejected it and that is why it was requested through the window. With 15 minutes to go before 7:00 p.m., they warned us that it should be carried out during office hours and on a business day,” said another police officer.
For this reason, the Police arrested Ángel and took him to the center’s Felcc “at his request” at 8:00 p.m. and declared until 11:30 p.m. It was in that interim that Vanesa’s boyfriend fell out of balance and was transferred to the Hospital de Clínicas. There he arrived with vital signs, but he passed away. “Her death of him was fortuitous.” The forensic medical report indicates that he died of bronchial aspiration and that he had no signs of violence.
Despite the forensic report, the Ombudsman’s Office is investigating the case as torture. In addition, the attorney general, Juan Lanchipa, reported that the investigation into that death has already begun. “We are waiting for the prosecutor to conclude his work,” he said and indicated that in the face of any doubt that may exist, there is the possibility of an autopsy.
The day of the crime
According to police information, 25-year-old Vanesa died on December 23, 2021, the same day she left home. She left her after saying that she had to withdraw the money that her father had sent her for her law degree from the Public University of El Alto. She only needed a few paperwork to obtain the document for completing her studies.
She met Angel, her boyfriend. According to relatives, the couple had already ended their relationship six months ago. But the young people kept seeing each other.
Both arranged a meeting for December 23 with the idea of celebrating Vanesa’s birthday. She was celebrating her birth anniversary two days later, on the 25th.
“They met at the crossing to Río Seco and bought two combos of alcoholic beverages. They both went to Ángel’s home,” a police source told Página Siete.
In the room, according to Ángel’s statement, “there were supposedly two other people”, but he went to the bathroom and when he returned to the room, Vanesa had already been hit on the head with a bottle and was bleeding.
In his statement, Ángel reported that the other people then took the body away in a taxi-type vehicle.
According to the testimony of (Ángel), those people “did not tell him where they would take Vanesa’s body,” said the police officer.
“At that time, (Ángel) manipulated Vanesa’s cell phone and sent messages to her family. He pretended to be the young woman indicating that she was going to work in Spain or Chile, ”said the authority.
The messages were sent to María, Vanesa’s sister. She said that when she received the texts, she “began to feel the worst” and she realized that the person she wrote “was not her sister.”
The prosecutor did not order his arrest despite evidence
