A 29-year-old farmer from eastern Colombia, wanted for the brutal murder of a cousin’s daughter who had romantically rejected him, was apprehended by police, local media reported on Tuesday.
In the small town of Onzaga, about 200 kilometers southeast of Bucaramanga, a 15-year-old girl was reported missing on June 3 after leaving her farm in search of avocados and yuccas for a family meal.
That day, the young girl had allegedly ran into the 29-year-old Leonardo Prada Quintero, who then accompanied her while trying to convince her to be his girlfriend. However, the girl refused, saying she was already in a relationship.
Prado, according to police sources, could not handle the rejection and murdered the girl with an axe, burying her limbs and torso in a shallow pit, which he then covered with rocks, located about four and a half hours from the girl’s house.
The next day, the parents of the girl asked Prada about the girl’s whereabouts, and the farmer, dressed in the same clothing as the day of the crime, told them that she had gone to see her boyfriend, an allegation that her boyfriend denied.
The body parts of the girl, except for her head, were later found by police investigators, who sent the evidence to the laboratory.
In the course of investigations by forensic and criminal scientists, Prada’s DNA was found on the body, and the farmer was captured by police on Sunday.
A police captain from Santander told reporters that although the crime itself seemed to be one of passion, the suspect himself coldly narrated the events to the police as he was being taken to the prosecutor’s office.
According to the police, Prada has confessed to the crime of murdering the girl and revealed the site where he buried her head.
Prada is currently being held in a prison in the town of Socorro, awaiting trial for the charge of aggravated homicide.