On Wednesday, March 30, the guilt of three men and one woman was announced for their participation in the murder of a businessman in the municipality of Concón, located 130 kilometers from Santiago de Chile. They risk up to 20 years.
The homicide came to light on May 18 in 2020, the day on which Alejandro Correa was shot dead in the front yard of his home in Concón. Eventually it was discovered that the incident would have been a hit man, due to the use of land owned by the victim.
The Court's investigation found that in September 2019 Alejandro Correa filed a lawsuit for precarious accommodation against Renato López, who occupied land privately owned by the victim. Thus, Lopez decided to kill Correa and hired Victor Gutierrez, promising payment for the murder.
The hit man Victor Gutiérrez roamed the victim's home the day before the crime was committed, which was carried out in the company of Claudio Riveros, the driver of the car that drove them to the scene, as well as Melissa Palma, the hit man's partner. She inspected the surroundings of the home to facilitate the attack, on Avenida Bosques de Montemar, a few steps from the Albamar school and three kilometers from the nearest police station.
A year after the murder, the Investigative Police (PDI) arrested Victor Gutiérrez, who confessed to killing Correa. The Prosecutor in charge of the Stefan Kramar case of the Valparaiso Prosecutor's Office detailed the event
Gutiérrez “arrived carrying a firearm at approximately 08:15 a.m. at the victim's house and asked to speak to Alejandro Correa, pretending to be a worker in a neighboring building.”
“Faced with the victim's refusal to attend to him personally, the accused returned around 09:40 in order to accomplish his previously planned criminal purpose, finding the victim outside his home, who was in the company of Claudio Muzzio.”
Prosecutor Kramar added that “they were approached there with homicidal intent, at close range and using a revolver - a special 38-millimeter caliber Amminuis brand for whose bearing and holding the accused does not have any legal permission, and that said weapon was kept registered for theft - shot directly at Alejandro Correa, hitting one of the projectiles to his head, who died as a result of a left parietal gunshot wound”. Similarly, with homicidal intent, he shot Muzzio, without succeeding in injuring him.
The accused fled the scene, remaining at large for more than a year since the commission. The hit man was arrested in Quilpué, located 20 kilometers from Concón, on May 21, 2021.
Renato López is charged as author of the qualified homicide of Alejandro Correa and the Prosecutor's Office is asking for 20 years in prison; Víctor Gutiérrez is sentenced as the perpetrator of the crime of Alejandro Correa's qualified homicide and for simple homicide as an attack against Claudio Muzzio, in addition to carrying and illegal possession of firearms, and 20 years' imprisonment is requested; Claudio Riveros is convicted of simple homicide, in addition to carrying and receiving illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, risking 10 years in prison; Mellisa Palma is complicit in the murder, for which 15 years are demanded.
The case shocked the whole country, not only because of the brutality of the facts and the follow-up of the press, but because the oral trial was initially postponed, which was criticized by Correa's daughter.
The legal representative of the Correa family, Juan Pablo Hermosilla, said: “This is also going to be a wake-up call to the Chilean state, the Chilean justice system and its shortcomings, and the costs that lenity or ineptitude or corruption means in the state, and the costs that they bear when the justice system does not work well, leaves in freedom to persons who continue to commit crimes”.
Víctor Gutiérrez had a history of theft of firearms and reportedly confessed to committing another crime, in addition to confessing to being a hit man before the PDI, a fact that was reportedly confirmed during the trial by the Court.
The victim's daughter, Valentina Correa, argued that “we are facing the worst of humanity.” “As a family we are relieved that perhaps we would be coming to the end of a process that has been very long and very hard. While we will never fully understand how we got to this point, the important thing now is that the people involved have a sentence commensurate with the crimes they committed.”
“Getting here hasn't been easy. The hearings were postponed several times, as well as the start date of the trial. That is why it is so important that it begins today because it allows us to glimpse a final stretch that closes this painful chapter of our history.”
He remembered his father as a good man, a kind, loving, kind person, who never hurt anyone.
On her Twitter account, Valentina said that “after two years justice was served: there are no longer 4 accused, now they are 4 murderers. My dad was a good man who was unfortunate enough to cross paths with bad men.”
The reading of the judgment by the Court is scheduled for next Monday, April 18 at 1:00 p.m., where all the background of the investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office must be taken to rule on the final conviction.
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