Nayara’s escape lasted less than a week. The 16-year-old teenager had been wanted since last Tuesday for the crime of her boyfriend, Santiago Lopez Monti, 21, and was arrested in La Matanza, inside the house of her father – who is imprisoned in another case – and accompanied by her mother.
Case investigators were able to locate her after tracing a phone trace found in the prison where the father was being held. According to sources, the man has been housed in Ward 8 of Unit 40 of the Buenos Aires Prison Service (SPB) since last May.
In search of evidence, the judge ordered that his cell be searched and that the device he was using be kept. From this device, the police were able to trace his last contacts and his main contacts who finally directed the operation towards La Matanza.
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According to spokespersons, Nayara was arrested during an emergency procedure conducted at a house in Ferri del Pino. Nayara was with her mother, and according to sources in the case, she changed her appearance: she dyed her hair blonde to try to confuse investigators and not attract the attention of the neighborhood. The maneuver was of no use. When the officers entered, they found it hidden on the property, and it was immediately placed at the disposal of justice.
The crime she is accused of committing occurred at her home located at the intersection of Namunkura and Lithuania Streets in the Lanos area. She was the one who called 911 for help and claimed her partner had had an “accident” at the entry gate. When the ambulance arrived at the scene, the doctors confirmed that the young man had already died, and that this story did not fit reality.
Santiago had two piercings on the left side of his body: one below the nipple and the other a few centimeters below it. The same doctor who examined him concluded that the injuries were not consistent with him being stuck in a fence. These wounds were consistent with stab wounds to the chest, which immediately strengthened the hypothesis of an intentional attack.
In the same scene, witnesses described a teenager desperate to know what would happen to the body. While the doctor was examining Santiago, Nayara insisted, “Is he alive? Tell me which hospital you’re going to take him to.” Within minutes, and before any preventive measures were taken, the young woman took advantage of her inattention and fled the place. Since then, she remained on the run until her arrest in La Matanza.
In parallel, the victim’s family received direct confirmation. According to what they said, Santiago’s mother spoke to the teenager who told her: “I got into a fight with Santiago and I stabbed him,” and then sent her the address via WhatsApp so they could come and help him. This statement, in addition to the injuries discovered by the medical staff, ended up placing the girl as a prime suspect in the murder.
From there, a search operation was launched that lasted several days. Officers from Lanos Province carried out five raids at different addresses where it was believed the girl might be, all linked to family members and people around her. These measures were passive, but they allowed us to narrow down the map of possible shelters until evidence of the Lomas de Zamora prison emerged.
As the investigation progressed, Public Prosecutor Oscar Maidana, from the Lanos Sexual and Family Violence Prosecutor’s Office, ordered investigations at the crime scene and ordered the teenager’s arrest. Due to the age of the accused, the case was later transferred to the juvenile prosecutor, Juan Ignacio Collazo, who was in charge of the investigation.
Santiago was the youngest in the family and worked as a construction assistant with his father. He had been dating the young woman for just under a year, and according to his surroundings, the couple had been living together for a while at his mother’s house, until arguments and violent incidents led to the teenager being kicked out of the house. The relationship then continued, but centered in the home of Remedios de Escalada where the crime finally occurred.
With Nayara’s arrest, the case entered a new phase. Investigators are analyzing not only his responsibility in the murder, but also the possible cooperation that allowed him to hide for days, move between relatives’ homes and remain under the radar as the investigation progressed.
The juvenile prosecution must determine the specific charge, the criminal framework, and the steps to be followed within the framework of the special system applied on the basis of their age. Meanwhile, Santiago’s family hopes that the judicial reconstruction of the case will confirm what they consider has already been proven: that the attack was not an accident, that there was an organized escape, and that the arrest of the young woman is just the first stage of an operation that has just begun.
What should justice decide now?
The arrest of Naiara has launched the second part of the investigation, which is much more technical as the focus will be on reconstructing what happened inside Remedios de Escalada’s house and how the hours passed after the attack.
Experts are working on materials that have not yet been combined into the main file: studying possible traces of blood in different sectors of the house and reviewing items that could have been used to get rid of the knife, and which have not yet been found.
Investigators are also seeking to determine the exact escape route, a crucial step in understanding whether the minor acted alone or had assistance from third parties. The sequence of addresses he passed through, the vehicles that could have intervened, and the communications he made with his surroundings, are part of a puzzle that the prosecution is trying to put together before making new procedural decisions. Added to this is the need to determine why your family environment reacted in a coordinated way once the event occurred.