Teenage girl and two young women tortured to death on livestream
Trigger warning: This article has disturbing content, including mentions of extreme violence.
A 15-year-old girl and two female cousins were tortured to death in a property dubbed "House of Horrors" in Argentina, with the spine-chilling murders livestreamed on social media.
The Buenos Aires Herald reported that Lara Morena Gutierrez, 15; Brenda del Castillo, 20; and Morena Verdi, 20, were last seen on CCTV footage taken at 9:29 p.m. on Sept. 19 getting into a white pickup truck.
Forensic experts concluded that the victims were murdered six to 10 hours after they were last seen on CCTV, as reported by La Nacion.
Police tracked the victims via the cellphone signal of one of the young women, finding the dismembered bodies at around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, buried in a garden behind a house in the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires. Because of the extent of the mutilation on the bodies, Buenos Aires Herald reported the victims’ families identified them by tattoos and clothing.
According to investigators, five fingers on the left hand of Gutierrez, the teen, had been cut off; one ear was also amputated before her throat was cut. Verdi’s face was heavily beaten before her neck was broken. Del Castillo was stabbed several times on the neck, punched in the face, then fatally bludgeoned, crushing her face. Once she was dead, her killers slashed open her abdomen.
Police have arrested four people connected to the triple femicide, as reported by La Nacion. One of those arrested, a woman, admitted to police that while she took part in the murders, a Peruvian drug trafficker and his gang were the main perpetrators.
The drug leader is currently at large.
Per authorities, the victims were familiar with the suburban neighborhood, having gone there before and befriending members of a drug gang. On the night of their disappearance, they agreed to go to a house in the neighborhood on the context of attending a party. But police said it was a trap.
One of the victims supposedly stole a stash of cocaine from the leader of a drug gang, who then planned the triple murder and broadcast it live on social media as a warning. Authorities said 45 people apparently watched it on Instagram.
The gang leader reportedly told the viewers, “This is what happens to anyone who steals drugs from me.”
