Horrifying murder combined with police negligence: How Sheyla Cóndor was killed in Peru | International

Last Wednesday, a 26-year-old woman named Sheyla Mayumi Cóndor Torres went missing. She left her home in the Santa Anita district in eastern Lima and strangely did not come to her uncle and aunt’s restaurant, where she worked as a cashier. Her family started looking for her the same night, but at the local police station they told them that “she is of legal age, she must have gone with a boyfriend and will return soon.” “These things happen.” His mother, Elsa Torres Vivanco, insisted, but the police chief refused to file the parents’ complaint. Shocked by the police’s negligence, the woman continued the investigation on her own. He had a bad premonition.

On Friday, a friend of Sheyla’s logged into her computer and realized she had left her WhatsApp open. His last conversation was with a man named Darwin Condori. In the messages, it was revealed that the man invited her to his home in the Comas area and she accepted because she wanted to meet his dog. He told her he would only stay until 4pm, but she insisted on having a drink. These were the last images of Sheyla captured by security cameras: entering the Las Praderas apartment building with a small white dog, accompanied by a thin man with a serious expression on his face.

The victim’s family returned to the Santa Anita police station, hoping that having concrete information about the victim’s possible location would raise the alarm and law enforcement would begin searching for him. However, the officer on duty told them that this was not his authority and that they should go to the police station closest to where the woman was last seen. Obstacles continued at the Santa Luzmila police station. Authorities tried to dissuade the parents, saying they could face defamation lawsuits if their daughters came forward. By then, it was already known who Darwin Marx Condori Antezana was: a 25-year-old petty officer third class who belonged to the Terna Group, an intelligence regiment with camouflage skills and now part of the Agency. Green Squadron, a police unit that fights petty crimes and small-scale crimes drug trafficking.

Meanwhile, a police officer telephoned Darwin Condori to ask about Sheyla’s whereabouts. He asked for permission, saying he was leaving home on Wednesday afternoon. The victim’s relatives later said that this call warned him and gave him time to escape. They broke into the police officer’s house early Sunday morning after some neighbors of the Las Praderas apartment building in Comas complained about a bad smell coming from one of the towers. It was mother Elsa who found her daughter’s dismembered remains in a suitcase under the bed and in a package in the bathroom. There was no trace the murderer.

“They didn’t pay attention to me. Maybe we would go that day. I already knew where my daughter was. “Only God knows if I will find him alive,” Elsa laments, wracked with grief. Police raided the apartment and arrested a woman who was renting one of the rooms and five men, all of whom were students at the Maritime Institute of Higher Education in Marine Technologies. They claim they were in a meeting and didn’t notice anything strange in the apartment. They were later released on the instructions of the prosecutor’s office.

When Darwin Condori’s past was made public, anger grew. He was accused by three women in early 2023. was drugged and raped by himself and another police officer. One of them even described his tragedy on television without showing his face. At the time, Condori was in jail for only two weeks and then continued to patrol the streets. “We waited for this situation to happen, for that young woman to be killed and dismembered. “I don’t know why the justice system, why the judge didn’t do anything, why they only detained him for 15 days, released him and rejoined the police force,” said one of the victims.

A mass march was held in the Comas region to protest the murder of Sheyla Cóndor and the actions of police officers who obstructed the investigation. Feminist organizations raised their voices on social media Underlining that they do not feel safe against the institution that is supposed to protect them. Former Women’s Minister Gloria Montenegro said: “The police are unfortunately contaminated. It is a sexist and misogynistic institution, and even more so in rural areas of the Andes. “Women who come to the station after being beaten are told to go home, nothing more.”

On Tuesday morning, Darwin Condori was found dead, tied to a TV rack inside a hostel in the San Juan de Lurigancho area. There was a deep wound on one of his wrists. His badge and papers were on his bedside table, and he left a letter that has not yet been made public. His gun was not found. A video was leaked on social media showing police officers finding him, cutting the belt binding him, laying him on the bed and later taking him to hospital, where his death was confirmed. Experts think that the crime scene was contaminated and the police should wait for forensic experts and the prosecutor on duty.

The incident raised suspicions in the family of Sheyla Cóndor, who filed a report with the police due to various irregularities. “It must be confirmed whether this was a premeditated murder, that is, a murder to silence him, or, on the contrary, a suicide,” said Aaron Alemán, the victim’s lawyer. Journalist Manuela Camacho, herself a victim of harassment, also expressed her doubts clearly: “Nothing can fit the death of a petty officer who committed femicide, and it will not be enough to silence us. We want to know who his accomplices were, who covered it up, and what else he knew because it was too urgent to know. We are tired of the police belittling our complaints. “They don’t look out for us, they don’t care, but they protect themselves,” he said.

Sheyla Cóndor was buried Tuesday at the Angel de La Paz cemetery in her hometown of Tarma in Junín province. As for Darwin Condori, the Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered that no respect be shown to the petty officer’s funeral, and police officers were also banned from attending the funeral.

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