BUENOS AIRES — Shocked and in tears, relatives yesterday laid to rest two women and a girl whose live-streamed torture and murder caused an outcry in Argentina, where activists are planning a weekend protest against femicide.
The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda Del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.
The crime, which investigators have tied to narco activity, was perpetrated live on Instagram and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.
Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van last Friday night, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating a gang code, and as a warning to others.
Police discovered the Instagram broadcast after one of four detainees — two men and two women — revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, security minister for Buenos Aires province.
In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”
Argentine media are reporting the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, beat and suffocated the victims.
Yesterday, dozens of people accompanied a mourning procession to a cemetery outside the capital where a private burial for Verdi and Del Castillo was held.
Gutierrez was laid to rest in a different location.
“We can’t stop crying,” the cousins’ grandfather, identified only as Antonio, told LN+ television.