Transvesticide: Chicho was murdered with 14 stab wounds in La Plata

La Chicho, a 49-year-old trans woman, was murdered with 14 stab wounds in La Plata on October 26.

October 31, 2019

(News in progress))

By Rosario Marina, from La Plata

The black and white video capturing the death of La Chicho Chirinos, a 49-year-old trans woman, was filmed at a funeral home. The killer, Tomás Cerletti, attacks from behind, kicks her, and stabs her again. The brutality is palpable in the silent footage. La Chicho falls to the ground, but Cerletti continues stabbing her several more times. Finally, he leaves her lying there and walks away.

It was early Saturday morning, October 26th, in the area of the La Plata bus terminal. Someone called 911. The crime had occurred right on the sidewalk, with no attempt to hide.

The director of San Martín Hospital, Alberto Urban, explained: "He was admitted at 4:45 a.m. on Saturday, and died from hypovolemic shock in the early hours of Sunday. In other words: he bled to death from the stab wounds."

Cerletti is 22 years old and is in jail, accused of aggravated homicide with cruelty and premeditation . The police found it easy: they only had to follow the blood and arrived at a door. They opened it and saw a man washing bloody clothes. It was Tomás's father.

There were also weapons at the location: a .22 caliber rifle; a 12-gauge shotgun; a .22 caliber revolver (all three with no visible serial numbers); a pistol and three magazines; projectiles of various calibers; two 5.5mm air rifles; and two marijuana plants. In the nursery with the plants was the knife with which Tomás Cerletti had killed La Chicho minutes earlier. The father was charged with illegal possession of firearms.

From the police rumor

“By noon on Saturday, the accused was already in custody. In the afternoon, we requested his detention from Judge Marcela Garmendia. He refused to testify,” the prosecutor in the case, Marcelo Romero, told Presentes . Initial reports about why Cerletti murdered La Chicho suggested a comment: “The guy told me how handsome I was, and I stabbed him,” said a man who was being held at the police station, according to Cerletti. The police took note.

In all the media outlets that reported the story, no one mentioned that she was a trans woman. The media referred to her as "a homosexual." And they explained: "He killed her because she told him 'you're so handsome.'" That phrase, which someone had overheard at the police station, was the one the police used to try to establish a motive for the crime.

The prosecutor considered that version of events, but didn't give it much credence: "There's such viciousness that it doesn't fit with a compliment," he explained. For the court, the motive wasn't clear, and it still isn't. The only information the Buenos Aires police obtained about La Chicho, through Facebook, was that "she was 42 years old and a member of anarchist groups." This information was incorrect: La Chicho was 49 years old and not a member of any group.

“It could have happened to me”

The other women who survive by working as sex workers near the La Plata bus terminal are afraid. “If that guy is released, we’ll be in danger. He lives around the corner from my house,” one of them told Presentes. They say they only knew La Chicho briefly. They found out through the media. They saw the security camera footage. And now they’re terrified: “It could have happened to me,” they think.

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