In Medellín they capture suspected murderers of two people from the LGBTIQ+ community

The authorities in Medellín are on alert, because so far this year six people from the LGBTIQ+ community have been killed in the city under strange circumstances, which has him thinking if it could be a patron. According to the Attorney General's Office, several of the bodies have been found tied hand and foot, with mechanical asphyxiation and signs of violence.

To date, the murders of Juan Danilo Bedoya Roman, Sahmir Javier González Sarmiento, Juan David López Alzate, Osvaldo Adolfo Botero Giraldo, Hernán Macias López and Gustavo Alberto Arango Jaramillo have been confirmed.

In most cases, victims were summoned through digital platforms to meet people and according to the first investigations, to agree on casual sexual encounters. The mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, said that the platform “Grindr” will be one of the applications intervened to find clues to these crimes.

On the afternoon of this Thursday, April 7, the investigating body confirmed the capture of two alleged perpetrators of the murders of Osvaldo Adolfo Botero and Gustavo Alberto Arango, which occurred in isolated events in January and February of this year.

Botero Giraldo, 45, was found lifeless inside an apartment in the La Castellana neighborhood on January 11, while Arango Jaramillo, 52, was found dead in a hotel room in the city center on February 1.

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The authorities have not yet released details of these captures. According to the Medellín Sectional Prosecutor's Office, joint working tables have been established with the judicial police of the CTI and the SIJIN police of the National Police, to speed up the investigative processes of each of these cases.

The Attorney General of the Nation, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, stressed that, “a team under the coordination of the deputy prosecutor is advancing in a line of investigation, which considers the analysis of the cases as a whole. As a result, the Medellín Sectional Directorate has formed a special task force that will be supported by prosecutors with experience in this type of crime and articulation of work with the central level of the Public Prosecutor's Office,” said the official.

In this regard, “the facts are investigated taking into account the sexual orientation of the victims and seeking to determine whether or not this was related to the occurrence of the events, without ruling out other possible motives”, the statement issued by the Attorney General's Office reads.

In order to clarify these facts, the local authorities offered a reward of up to 80 million pesos for information leading to the capture of those responsible. In the same way, they invited the members of this community to report any event that could threaten their life or physical integrity.

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“We reiterate the invitation to come and make use of the Medellín 123 social emergency line, Módulo Diverso, to report any action or situation that threatens or endangers the life, integrity and security of the LGBTIQ+ population, as well as the lines set up by the National Police to disseminate information related to murders of these citizens”, they emphasized.

Between 2020 and 2021, 98 LGBTIQ+ people were killed in Colombia, as reported by the Ombudsman's Office. Most of these acts of violence were recorded in departments of the Colombian Caribbean, with 28 cases, followed by Antioquia, with 15, Valle del Cauca, with 8, the Coffee Region, with 7, and in other areas of the country a total of 19 cases.

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