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On Saturday, June 14, Roberto Monje, a gay man and defender of the rights of sexual diversity, was found murdered with several knife wounds in the bathroom of his house in Reconquista (Santa Fe) .

MAIN NOTE: Gay activist stabbed to death in Reconquista

Today, the suspected killer was arrested. He is 19-year-old CJV, who was identified by security cameras and a photo on social media. “Roberto was a very private person. As a result, I don't have a motive to confirm whether this was a robbery, a homicide, or a fight,” stated prosecutor Alejandro Rodríguez at the press conference he held today after the arrest, alongside the victim's sister and the head of the PDI (Chilean Investigative Police), Diego Costanzo.

Rodríguez confirmed that the alleged perpetrator entered Monje's home at 7:40 p.m. and left at 7:53 a.m. the following day. Security cameras from the streets and several businesses showed the suspect's route from Monje's home to within 30 meters of his residence.

The prosecutor also stated that “we were able to reach a successful conclusion thanks to a photo the victim shared on social media with a third party. Based on that photograph, the Criminal Investigation Agency was able to identify a suspect, and yesterday at 2:00 a.m. I made the decision to conduct a search of the likely perpetrator's residence. There, we found numerous personal items belonging to the victim, which lead us to believe he is almost certainly responsible.” Among the items found at the suspect's home were two pairs of sneakers and Roberto's cell phone.

Roberto was gay and had been active for several years in the civil association VOX, an NGO that has worked in the province of Santa Fe since 2001 for the civil and social rights of sexual diversity. His first public demonstrations in favor of LGBTQ+ rights and comprehensive sex education were in 2008, when Reconquista made the news because a school supervisor justified the mistreatment of a 12-year-old boy for being "effeminate." He eventually left the organization but never abandoned human rights causes.

The murder of Roberto deeply affected the entire community. Photos and messages were shared on social media for a man who was a part of many people's daily lives. "Those of us who knew Roberto for his activism in defense of the rights of sexual minorities are faced with this painful news and a situation that clearly demonstrates the persistence of hate crimes," posted the Frente Justicia por Vanesa Zabala (Justice for Vanesa Zabala Front), one of the organizations supporting the call for justice in Monje's murder, on their social media accounts.

READ MORE: Trial for the transphobic murder of Vanesa Zabala: life imprisonment for the killers