Overview
- Investigators say a 22-year-old woman and four children were found dead inside a burned house in Quitilipi after police concluded the fire was set to hide a sequence of killings.
- Police presented a provisional reconstruction in which the suspect allegedly strangled the woman, used a knife against three children and then set the fire while holding a six-month-old who likely died of smoke inhalation.
- Peritos seized a 27-centimeter knife with bloodstains, rope sections, a lighter, bloody bedding, three cell phones and clothing linked to the scene and hospital care for the detained man.
- The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Alberto Luis Ávalos, was found unconscious after an apparent suicide attempt, received medical care noting signs compatible with acute psychosis and possible drug intoxication, and was transferred to a regional penitentiary under surveillance.
- Fiscal Gustavo Valero ordered autopsies and toxicology tests for all five victims and the detainee and officials say final conclusions about cause and legal responsibility will depend on those forensic results.