- GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
Two young cousins and a 15 year-old girl were tortured and killed in a video livestreamed to a warped audience.
Morena Verri and Brenda del Castillo, both 20, and Lara Gutiérrez, 15, disappeared on Friday after they were lured into a van with the promise of a party, according to Argentine authorities.
Their dismembered remains were found on Wednesday buried in the backyard of a home about 16 miles from Buenos Aires after police tracked their cellphones.
Police believe the women were taken to a house and accused of stealing drugs before they were horrifically tortured and killed on camera.
The victims’ torture and murder was broadcast live on a social media group to about 45 people, said officials, who have described the case as a ‘narco-femicide,’ as reported by CNN.
Gutierrez had the five fingers on her left hand and one ear cut off before she was killed, La Nacion reported.
Meanwhile del Castillo was stabbed to death before her abdomen was cut open.
Three Argentinian women were tortured and killed on a livestream after they were lured into a van on Friday near Buenos Aires
Morena Verri, 20, was one of the victims found dismembered and buried in the backyard of a home in a Buenos Aires suburb
Brenda del Castillo, 20, was stabbed to death before her abdomen was cut open, officials said
During the broadcast, someone was heard saying: ‘This is what happens to anyone who steals drugs from me.’
Six people have been arrested in connection with the killings, and police are still looking for six other suspects.
Officials believe the victims were targeted by a 22-year-old Peruvian drug trafficker known as ‘Pequeño J,’ real name Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, as reported by Infobae.
Officials said they believe the drug trafficker was trying to send a message to others with the broadcast of the killings.
While various reports said the murders were livestreamed on Instagram, Meta has denied this, telling People they have not found evidence it happened on their platform.
‘Our team continues to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate this horrific crime,’ Meta said.
‘I want them all behind bars,’ Brenda’s mother Paula said, according to CNN.
‘They tore my daughter away from me. My daughter was a good girl. And none of these three girls deserved to end up how they did.’
Lara Gutierrez, 15, had the five fingers on her left hand and one ear cut off before she was killed
Detectives said they believe the victims were targeted by a 22-year-old Peruvian drug trafficker known as ‘Pequeño J,’ real name Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano
Meanwhile the grandfather of del Castillo and Verdi said: ‘They have taken two beautiful young girls from our lives.
‘And not just that they took them… Do you know what those girls must have suffered, the pain they must have felt in their bodies? And now, we want to ask for justice, but what justice can we ask for, if they grab the guy that sells 100 grams of drugs but they don’t touch the people bringing it into the country?’
The murders have drawn outrage in Argentina, where activists organized a massive protest to highlight violence against women in the South American nation.
