“Everything he did afterwards was terrible,” he told Télam Fabián Longhi, referring to the defendant Pablo Achard (44), whom he described as “psychopath”, “perverse” and “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”, since he “organized the wake” of his brother and “he hugged everyone” while “crying inconsolably”.
“In the family we are all destroyed. They killed me a bit. Marcelo was my father sometimes, my best friend, we played rugby together. They ruined my life,” said the victim’s brother.
On January 13, Marcelo was found murdered at the access to the La Choza area, on the border between Luján and General Las Heras, in the northwest of Greater Buenos Aires.
His body lay in the bed of his Ford Ranger truck stopped in some pasture, about 15 meters from a rural road that intersects with provincial route 47.
According to the results of the autopsy, the victim died due to a maneuver that caused her neck to be broken and, in addition, it was established that she had a facial injury probably caused by a punch or punch, detailed the judicial spokespersons.
The investigations determined that Marcelo’s cell phone was inside the truck, while in the vicinity of the La Choza stream bridge, one kilometer from the place where the truck was found, traces of dragging were detected.
Initially, the investigators believed that the ex-rugby player had left his field located in the town of Tomás Jofré at 1:35 p.m. that day for Navarro with 180,000 pesos with which he planned to buy two steers, although scientific evidence ruled out that clue, later of a legal medical report that determined that the victim could not have left his field alive.
In this context, they were arrested for the fact Ramón Roberto Flores (41), landlord of the field that the ex-rugby player rented; and Pablo Achard (44), Marcelo’s friend and partner, who had been the last person to see the ex-rugby player.
Both suspects are currently being prosecuted with preventive detention for the crime of “simple homicide” and the case has already been brought to trial, although the date for the start of the debate remains to be confirmed, judicial sources told Télam.
In this sense, the spokespersons revealed that in recent months the victim’s partner twice requested the prison’s restraint and was denied, while Flores made a request to go to a prison located in the province of Chaco – where he is from – and his application was also rejected.
“The case is being brought to trial, which was confirmed by the Appeals Chamber. Achard will be tried by an Oral Court, while Flores asked that the criminal process be discussed in a jury trial,” a source with access told Télam. to the file.
For his part, after being arrested, Achard acknowledged having helped Flores discard the body of the Vilo club president in his statement before the investigating prosecutor in the case, Mariana Suárez.
However, he assured that he was innocent and pointed to the landlord as the main person responsible for Marcelo’s death, after discovering an alleged infidelity between him and his wife.
In this regard, the victim’s brother denied that version, although he admitted that he still does not understand the reason for the crime and linked it to money linked to the sale of cattle.
“We don’t know why they killed him, we are in doubt as to what happened. We are still shocked,” Fabián said, adding his opinion: “I think it has to do with the sale of calves. Some time after the fact, about twenty of them disappeared. They were owned by my brother.”
In turn, the victim’s brother indicated that he knew the defendant Achard, who worked as a security officer for the Vilo club, and revealed that it was he who organized Marcelo’s funeral, in which “he cried inconsolably” with the family of the deceased
“He was not my friend, but I saw him often because he worked at the club. He sold us the whole story. Everything he did afterwards was terrible, he organized the wake. Disastrous things about this kid, a perverse and psychopath: he hugged everyone in the wake, he cried inconsolably”, Fabián recalled about the defendant, whom he classified as “a wolf in the skin of a lamb”.
Finally, Fabián expressed his disagreement with the cover of the act – “simple homicide” – and asked that it be changed to “aggravated homicide” because he understands that it was a planned murder, which would contemplate a greater sentence for the accused.
“There are wiretaps in which it is suggested that they are preparing the issue. We are sure that it was premeditated,” he said. telam.
“They ruined my life,” said the brother of former rugby player Marcelo Longhi, murdered a year ago