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The prosecution prepares its strategy that
will help explain the *** of Luis Andres Colmenares.
Meanwhile the defense of Laura Moreno and Jessy Quintero does the same thing.
One of the priorities of the prosecutor will be
to refute that Colmenares commited suicide or that his death was accidental.
One would think that you have more and more reasons and tools
to try to show that it was an homicide.
This is with evidence, here you have to prove everything.
Everything that we say here we have to prove, everything,
absolutely everything, even the name we have to prove.
And how will he do it ?
Even if there is still no definitive date for the start of the trial
the prosecutor knows he has to work fast
Before knowing his strategy, it is important to resume what has happened until now.
One year and three months have passed since the night of October 31st 2010,
when Luigi, as his mother affectionately called him,
went out with friends to a club located in a building in the north of Bogota.
This was the last night of his life.
At this moment, it was concluded that his death was a suicide, since that woman, Laura Moreno,
his supposed girlfriend, said and still maintains that that night
she saw him throwing himself into the Virrey canal in the north of the capital.
But inexplicably, his corpse was only discovered 17 hours after
and was inspected by the medical examiner
Days later he was buried in his hometown: Villanueva, Guajira.
I remember that day like it was yesterday, it was horrible
the story could have ended there, but that was not the case
Nine months later this is what happened
I said NO,
my son did not throw himself into the Virrey canal, he did not commit suicide. Something happened to him.
It is for those reasons that the prosecution orders Luis’ exhumation
The prosecution placed a recognized individual, expert in the field, in charge of this examination:
Maximo Duque former director of Forensic Medicine
now the owner of a private firm of forensic investigation
Maximo Duque found wounds on Luis’ palate
as well as indications that he had been dragged along (the ground) among other type of injuries
All these people have told the law in their versions that
Luis Colmenares fell into the Virrey Canal
Why does Luis Colmenares have so many injuries on his face?
In June 2011, a public prosecutor is appointed to head the investigation.
His name: Antonio Luis Gonzalez.
According to those who know him, he is described as an experienced professional and incorruptible.
The findings of Máximo Duque were very conclusive,
which made the public prosecutor think that there were few reasons to believe
that this death was a suicide or an accident. According to him, someone did this to Luis Colmenares
The witnesses were the ones who were trying to say that he had fallen into the Virrey canal
But later, once I take over the case, is when we start exploring a different thesis
and today we label it a homicide
The public prosecutor begins to undermine the version of Laura Moreno and Jessy Quintero,
another friend of Luis Colmenares, who was also at the party the night of his death
They are linked to the process...
the public prosecutor felt that there were some contradictions on their initial testimonies
A judge issues their preventive detention, and they are placed in house arrest … their current condition
At the same time, the Colmenares Family hires well-known criminal attorney, Jaime Lombana, in order to represent them
As long as I am the lawyer, I will not let this case go unpunished
Lombana seeks to undermine the validity of the first autopsy performed by the coroner
And indicates the negligence of Dr. Lesly Rodriguez, the person in charge of performing the autopsy
She failed to tell the truth. There were 7 fractures to his skull, not just one
Any objective observer would realize that. This ruled out the version that it was a suicide
Shortly after, Rodriguez admitted to the newspaper El Tiempo
that when she received the body of Colmenares ...
“Each coroner performs an average of 8 to10 autopsies per week
and if they have to work during the weekend this number increases(…)
There are only a few coroners compared to the number of bodies that the we see every day
And the directors are aware of this situation"
During the following weeks the theory that
this was neither a suicide or an accident grew rapidly
Nonetheless, Septimo Dia was able to interview Jessy Quintero’s lawyer this week
who argues that there was no homicide
Are we talking about a suicide or a ***?, what is your version?
Neither suicide nor ***, this was an unfortunate accident and that's the truth.
You are not… I mean, I ask anyone:
Why would two girls like Laura and Jessy prefer to go to jail and be convicted
to cover up for someone else?
If they knew something they would have already said it.
The media and the prosecutor put a lot of pressure on them
but if they haven't said anything different it's because they don't know.
It's neither a *** nor a suicide.
By October of last year the prosecutor Gonzalez wasn't able to obtain much information
He sensed that there was a "pact of silence" between Laura,
Jessy and the friends who were with Luis that night at the party
what were they trying to hide?
what you will hear are secret recording of telephone conversations, carried out by the prosecution
between Laura Moreno and her friends, made by the prosecution.
The first one is between Laura Moreno and Juan Pablo Valderrama, a close friend of Luis Colmenares
Laura: Hi Juanpis Juan Pablo: Hi Lauris, how are you doing?
Laura: I’m ok, and you? Juan Pablo: Well.. not too bad,
my parents told me that …tomorrow I have an interview with the prosecutor
Laura: Listen, Juanpis, don't worry. You've got nothing to do with this, neither do I.
I saw what happened, but I've got nothing to do with this either.
The next conversation is between Jessy Quintero and the same man: Juan Pablo
Juan Pablo: They called me again soon after, they told me to go back”
Jessy: ***,…what did you tell them?
Juan Pablo: Nothing. They asked me about everything
Where did you meet Laura Moreno? Where did you meet Jessy Quintero?
Jessy: They asked you about Jessy Quintero? Why? ***…
Juan Pablo: I believe that what I told them is not going to help them at all”
I would just say... I don’t know
Jessy: Me too, last time I just said “I don’t know, I don’t know”
The next conversation is between Juan Pablo and a stranger
Gogoto: I told him:
I hope you don’t forget, and that you did that night torments you for the rest of your life
Juan Pablo: Did you say that?
Gogoto: Then, I told him: You’d better not forget that you wanted to leave, you ***!
...black *** there. Wasn’t that what you said?, ***!… that's what I told him.
These sort of conversations make the prosecutor believe that
Luis Colmenares’s friends have evidence that they don’t want to reveal.
The question is: why?
Amidst all this, something unexpected hindered the investigation
“This morning a warrant was issued for the arrest of two women accused of obstructing the course of justice”
in the case of the young university student
who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Bogota”
Prosecutor Gonzalez knew that the two women were trying to have him removed from the case
The women were Maria del Pilar Gomez and Ayde Acevedo.
Several conversations between them were recorded by the prosecutor’s office.
"I have all the information about the first investigation.
What was and wasn't said, when and by whom. I have it all"
The prosecutor says that for over a month he was under a lot of pressure
from senior officials in his department
There is corruption in this case!”
She could have only obtained that information from two possible sources:
The CTI or from Prosecutor 298.
She is not entitled to read the report for such a case, in which she is not the lawyer.
Nestor Armando Novoa, Director of the National Prosecutor’s Office,
was named throughout the media as one of the individuals most interested in
having a new prosecutor assigned to the case.
“As Director, I have no influence over such a change.
I'm only in charge of carrying out internal procedure, and nothing else”
And who were these two ladies?
Maria del Pilar Gómez is the mother of Carlos Cardenas
And…who is Carlos Cardenas?
He is Laura Moreno’s ex-boyfriend
And what was he doing that tragic night?
The answer is given in his own words in a statement taken by the prosecution in May 2011
"I went out with a friend called Camila Romero and since it was raining heavily that day
we went inside the ‘PentHouse’ nightclub. The place was crowded"
‘Penthouse’ is the name of the nightclub where Colmenares was partying that night
“I went inside and stayed on the second floor of the disco.
There I could see one of her (Laura Moreno’s) friends because
when I was ready to leave I met Gogoto by the stairs”
However, five months after saying that he was in the same nightclub as Luis that tragic evening,
Carlos Cardenas changed his story.
I don´t have the faintest idea, because I wasn’t at the scene,
nor do I know anything of the matter
But after saying in the beginning that he was at the same party as Luis Colmenares,
then denying it months later,
last Thursday Carlos Cardenas changed his story again
Now he says that he was at the party
So, were you at the party the whole night?
I wasn’t at the party all n... I was at the same place,
but I wasn’t with him, I was with a girl friend
Contradictions like these have led the prosecutor to become more suspicious,
as the case continues to unravel.
If Carlos Cardenas was at the same nightclub where Luis Colmenares was partying,
and his mother was trying to have the prosecutor replaced using her powerful connections,
How is he linked to Luis’ death
The fact that Cardenas and Laura Moreno got back together in May 2011, needs to be highlighted
The Prosecutor has had some difficulty finding clues
His resources are limited
In December, 2011, Laura Moreno was interviewed by EL ESPECTADOR (a Colombian newspaper)
and she stood by her version that Colmenares jumped into the Virrey canal
On December 18th, 2011, in SEMANA (a Colombian journal), Jaime Granados claimed that
it couldn’t be discarded the possibility that the guy
had been murdered in a muggin or street fight with someone else.
His main testimony will be Maximo Duque’s testimony,
who analyzed the exhumation
and who is going to present a detailed analysis of his findings
that would challenge the version of an accident
In december, 2011, prosecutor Gonzalez interrogated Carlos Cárdenas
but he was not able to get much information out of him
It is his constitutional right to remain silent
Instead of decreasing the versions and hypothesis in this case sometimes they increase,
the truth is still far away
Do you believe this is going to be a long process?
To find out the truth about a crime in Colombia…
you need to take the case of the Palace of Justice siege in order to find the answer to that question
the process did not advance much between December and January 2012
This week, the lawyers of Laura Moreno and Jessy Quintero
tried to persuade the judge Eduardo Moyano to let them free
claiming the terms had expired
but the judge didn’t accept the petition.
The terms haven’t expired,
therefore this court doesn’t agree to the petition of freedom
requested by the lawyers of Laura Milena Moreno Ramírez y Jessy Mercedes Quintero Moreno.
What we have seen here is that the law has prevailed over the “leguleyismos”
and that justice will come, we believe in it.
But Colmenares’ triumph spirit will be challenged, a strenuous judgment is coming
In order for the Prosecutor, his team, the Colmenares family, and their lawyer Jaime Lombana
to establish that there has been a homicide committed and identify those guilty,
they will have to demonstrate
that Laura Moreno’s original version of the events of that night is false:
Journalist: What we can expect from now on?
The next step is the Prosecutor’s Office formal accusation
Journalist: Do you know when that is likely to happen?
Prosecutor: It won’t go past February 4th. No later than that
Journalist: What is going to happen after February 4th?
Well, the Judge holds a hearing.
Could you please explain the process for the public to understand?
How does the trial start and how does it work?
The defense presents their evidence. The prosecution presents theirs.
The victim[’s family] also can submit evidence through the prosecution
All the evidence is presented and debated at the trial
and from that the Judge will make a decision to acquit or convict.
For the defense, representing Laura Moreno and Jessy Quintero
and others implicated, to demonstrate that it was a suicide, or an accident
they would have to prove that Laura Moreno’s original account is both true and verifiable.
“Nobody wanted to hurt Colmenares
Unfortunately he falls in the canal and sustains a fracture and drowns".
For both sides this is a big challenge.
“I am setting a precedent here in front of the cameras, because of the dangerous nature of this process
and the circumstances around it
distortions to the post mortem report
the loss of the camera and video evidence, and other evidence at the scene of the crime,
alteration to the evidence. Those are factors that should be taken into consideration"
“Many authorities have said many things that don’t reflect reality
and we are going to demonstrate this at the trial.
Certainly, both parties will submit new evidence,
which has been reserved for the best strategic moment at the trial.
The prosecution will open by trying to demonstrate that Laura Moreno’s original account
about Luis Colmenares’s supposed jump into Virrey’s Canal is false.
His principal source is the Bogotá fire brigade’s report,
as they were the first to attend the emergency, in the early hours of 31st of October 2010.
The report the prosecution received from the fire brigade stated that
they arrived to the scene at this point in the canal at about 4:00 to 4:15am.
The report stated that they started an exhaustive search along the Virrey Canal, from top to bottom,
where the grass is and both above and below, but there were no signs of anything unusual.
Also, they reported that if there had been a body there,
the current of the canal at the time, approximately 20cm high,
could not have moved a body of Mr Colmenares’s size and weight,
which was by the way quite a large body, towards the 15th Street tunnel.
Despite this, they checked the tunnel with their flashlights
and from there they continued an internal search
and concluded that there was nothing at all there.
The final conclusion of the report is that, if a body had been there at that moment,
the fire brigade would have found it.
“The fire brigade stated that they arrived at about 4:45am,
how do you explain that they didn’t find a body?
“Because the member of the fire brigade didn’t go into Virrey Canal to look for the body
and we are going to demonstrate this at the trial.
All she did was illuminate inside the tunnel on the surface of the water,
When Colmenares’ body was in the tunnel
in a hole that is deeper than the level of the water.
The body got stuck there and this will be demonstrated at the trial.
Why does Luis Colmenares has so many injuries to his face?
But this will be just the start [of the process].
For the prosecutor to get a conviction,
he will have to start by demonstrating that it was neither suicide or accident.
The prosecution has much evidence,
one of them being the testimony of Lesly Rodriguez.
She is the forensic examiner who carried out the first inspection of the body soon after his death.
In her initial account, she indicated that the body had signs of having been pulled through the water,
which in some way back ups Laura’s theory that he jumped into the canal.
But now Rodriguez recognized at the hearing that she made a mistake
and that there were no signs of Colmenares’ body being washed away by the water
But yet, even with such evidence, to try to demonstrate that it wasn’t suicide or accident,
he will have to convince the judge as to why it is homicide.
The evidence he has will be used to demonstrate that Colmenares’s body had been manipulated
and placed in Virrey’s canal, hours after his death.
His main evidence will be the testimony of Maximo Duque who analyzed the exhumation
and who will present a detailed analysis, that would challenge the version of an accident
And if he is successful in proving that it was a homicide
what comes after is the great challenge to identify the individual or individuals responsible”
In order to do that the attorney general of the nation Viviane Morales assigned
an assistant prosecutor and 14 additional investigators
It is a difficult task that awaits him
El periodista de Caracol televisión Julián Rios
has been covering the process from the start
Do you think there will be surprises?
Even though we know that the prosecution has done great things for the investigation,
the research is going very slowly,
while the investigator of the defense, Laura Moreno and Jessy Mercedes,
are able to establish things much faster, because they are moving much faster
because they have a great team of recognized lawyers, and a team of investigators”
also recognized that are going as fast as they can.
that means that there is going to be a lot of things happening during the next few hearings
there are big questions and concerns that haunt this case
What evidences will the defense show to support the first version told by Laura?
that Colmenares left the nightclub, ate a hot dog
and suddenly ran towards the Virrey canal, where he supposedly jumped into.
Why did Maria del Pilar Gomez, the mother of Carlos Cardenas try to change the prosecutor?
And what does Carlos Cardenas have to do with all this?
How to explain the results of the exhumation done by Maximo Duque
that contrasts dramatically with the forensic necropsy
And if, as many believe, there is a hidden power trying
to prevent the truth from coming to public light ...where does it come from?
Someone in the Moreno family wants to talk to the press and tell their version...
This week, Séptimo día tried to find some answers with the family of Laura Moreno
who was in a diligence in the office of the public prosecutor.
Mr. Moreno would you like to talk to the media?
Does anyone from Moreno family want to talk to the media?
and speak to Colombia and tell us what your version is?
You have the opportunity to do it...
But it was not easy
Finally, it was not the lawyer of Laura Moreno who said some declarations.
Nonetheless, it was Jessy Quintero´s lawyer the one who offered this explanation:
“It is not in the Medias where we must make the defense;
we must make the defense in the face of the judicial podiums.
You are not going to acquit my client.
For that reason, I, Silvio Quiñonez have said to my client not to speak.
In the social networks, there are diverse groups that actively defend a side or another.
Thousands of commentaries, accusations and pseudo-conclusions are published every day.
Many supporters, in favor and against attend the hearings in the office of the public prosecutor .
There is mutual intimidation, intentions are keeping up
and amidst all,
there is someone who will not be present…at least physically. -I miss him very much...
Every time I travel to teach my classes…because he was the one that would pick me up at the airport
If Luis Andrés Colmenares were alive today, he would be 22 years old
Every time when I arrive, and get off the plane, I look for him
And just like the friends with whom he shared the last night of his life,
he would soon be graduating from the University of the Andes, with his whole life ahead of him
“I don’t know if I will ever get used to it"
Prosecutor Gonzalez, admits that the social pressure and the media
have helped in some way to clarify certain facts.
The truth and justice will depend to a large extent on him.
In order for the trial to start
both sides must present their evidence in front of a judge
and if all goes well, the trial would begin in two to three months
The judge has not been assigned yet, and this is just beginning.
As of today, Septimo Dia will be providing regular reports about
what will happen in relation to this much talked-about process