Global Courant 2023-04-27 20:17:54
After nine days of oral trial, Juan José Murúa was found guilty by the Justice of Villa Dolores who sentenced him to life imprisonment for the double homicide of the young Marisol Reartes and her little daughter, which occurred in the Cordoba town of Los Pozos, in the valley of Traslasierra, in Córdoba; during February 2014.
The unanimously convicted man, who was present in the Villa Dolores courts listening to the ruling, has been serving prison since 2018 for another femicide previously committed in San Luis, in 2009.
In the case of Marisol Reartes, Murúa was found guilty of “homicide qualified by the bond, for mediating gender violence”; and of the “simple homicide” with reference to the girl.
The event shocked the Cordoba town, which for years called for justice for the disappearance of Marisol and her daughter. Only a part of the body of the 18-year-old teenager appeared, while the body of Luz Morena Olivera (2 years old) was never found.
Córdoba: the courts in Villa Dolores witnessed nine days of oral proceedings. Photo: the Voice
The young Marisol and her daughter disappeared in Traslasierra on February 2, 2014 and the investigation lasted four years without much progress. The police investigations indicated that the criminal beat the young woman and her little girl to death. And that he then threw the bodies into the La Viña dam.
There were countless searches and even inspection of the area with divers in the lake, but the bodies were not found.
On November 1, 2018, almost five years after the murders, they found Marisol’s skull and that allowed the prosecution to work on the hypothesis of a double crime.
“You had no right to screw up our lives as you did, we never did anything to you, may God and the Virgin forgive you, because I will never forgive you. She was the most beautiful and good person there was,” was the testimony of Gloria Reartes, the victim’s sister during the oral trial.
With moist eyes and her gaze fixed on that accused neighbor, Gloria vented her anger and indignation in the final stretch of the trial. Outside the courts, hundreds of people clamored with banners and chants “Justice for Marisol,” according to La Voz.
Córdoba: relatives and close friends of the victims awaiting the ruling with banners requesting Justice. Photo: The Voice
Just under two hours of deliberation the jury had to convict the defendant. Murúa denied the accusations. He affirmed that he would never have done “that”, and victimized himself by saying that “the Justice had not listened to him”.
The truth is that despite the conviction, it is not known where he left the bodies.
“There are no witnesses who have seen him directly, there is no security camera that has filmed him committing the act, but there are enormous indications that he committed the crimes, if those indications are convergent and unequivocal, it is a valid way to reach the truth. real truth”, said the prosecutor of the Chamber, Sergio Cuello.
Marisol Reartes and her daughter Luz disappeared in February 2014.
The prosecutor indicated that there was a very strong indication to accuse the finally convicted, “motivational”, since Marisol emotionally moved away from him and rejected him.
In his argument, the plaintiff lawyer Eduardo Cúneo affirmed that, logically, the death of the two-year-old girl included the figure of treachery. Both the complainant and the prosecutor requested life imprisonment for the accused.
The technical court was made up of Santiago Camogli, Carlos Escudero and Facundo Gil.
The record of the double femicide
When Reartes and her little daughter disappeared, no one knew that Murúa, in 2009, had killed Brenda Arias in a town north of San Luis.
The case was only clarified during 2018 when that femicide was confirmed, and the defendant was sentenced to 38 years in prison.
Murúa’s record is extensive. Since 2003, he received various sentences and prisons for gender violence, sexual abuse and robbery.
Murúa received a life sentence for the femicide of Marisol Reartes and her 2-year-old daughter. Photo: The Voice
The defendant’s brothers agreed that Murúa was successful with women. Although this success went hand in hand with violence: it was known that he could not bear any kind of denial.
The story of the femicide and his victim is sealed by family ties: they grew up as neighbors in the town of Los Hornillos.
When Reartes was 16 years old, she was the mother of a girl, the product of her relationship with Damian Oliva, another young man from the area, with whom she did not continue the relationship.
On February 2, 2014, the teenager left her mother’s house with Luz in her arms towards Route 14. They were never heard from again. The Fiat Duna de Murúa was sighted that morning in the sector.
Hours before, the phrase “I can’t take it anymore, I want to go” appeared on Marisol’s Facebook. Later it would be known that this publication had been written by Murúa who had access to the Reartes social network. She did it to mislead. A modus operandi that he used in 2009, when he killed Brenda Arias.
In both cases, Murúa was “solidarity” with the relatives of his victims, and pretended to collaborate in the respective searches.
Now, the Justice put an end to a case that overshadowed the town of Traslasierra for years.
