Overview
- Judge Fernando Pinos Guevara granted preventive detention for eight core defendants and instructed that the file be sent to the federal court in Morón, which must now decide on jurisdiction.
- The referral cites suspected drug-trafficking links to the killings and an organized structure that investigators say goes beyond local scope.
- Joseph Freyser Cubas Zavaleta, known as “Señor J,” was formally questioned and charged as the alleged organizer; he denied involvement, disavowed ties to Los Pulpos, and said he previously served as a Peruvian police officer.
- Prosecutors state a co-accused identified him in a photo lineup, and they are examining a green notebook seized from his cell and records of a shared jail phone for potential evidence of planning.
- Investigators’ working hypothesis is that the women were abducted over allegedly stolen cocaine; recent steps include the arrest of Mónica Mujica for wiping a phone, the detention of “Pequeño J” in Peru, and Interpol notices for three fugitives.