Four years without Nicole: a little closer to achieving justice for the young lesbian

Four years after the murder of Nicole Saavedra, for the first time the family of the young Chilean lesbian arrives at this date with the feeling that Justice is a little closer.

June 18, 2020

By Airam Fernández, from Santiago, Chile

Photos: Presentes Archive/Josean Rivera/AF/Bahamondes family

On the fourth anniversary of Nicole Saavedra's murder, for the first time the family of the young Chilean lesbian arrives at this date with the feeling that justice is a little closer.

Nicole was last seen alive on the morning of June 18, 2016. The night before, she had been at a party until dawn, when she left for her home in El Melón, but she never arrived. On June 25, her body was found in the Los Aromos Reservoir in Limache. The autopsy confirmed that she died from multiple skull and facial traumas and that she had been raped before being murdered.

On January 6, 2020, the Quillota Guarantee Court charged Víctor Pulgar with simple theft, kidnapping, rape, and homicide in connection with Nicole's murder. Pulgar was already in custody serving two sentences: the first for the rape and sexual abuse of a girl under 14 years old, and the second, an eight-year sentence, for a rape committed in November 2016, five months after Nicole's murder.

163 days have passed of the 180 set by the Quillota Guarantee Court for the investigation that will allow for an oral trial. The family believes the deadline will be extended due to the pandemic. But they say they are waiting calmly, because for Nicole's murder, Pulgar faces a life sentence.

Nicole's family's struggle

After three years of changes in prosecutors and an investigation that made almost no progress, authorities tracked down Pulgar after redirecting their strategies. They found Nicole's cell phone in the possession of a relative of Pulgar. When they conducted a DNA test, they determined his connection to the crime, with a sample matching those found on the body of the 23-year-old Chilean woman.

“With everything that’s happened in recent months, we’re doing better. But these dates bring everything up again. There are days when I break down,” María Bahamondes, the victim’s cousin, told Presentes.

Bahamondes also spearheaded the search for justice, organizing protests and exhausting all local avenues to bring the case to light. She led the occupation of the Quillota Prosecutor's Office in June of last year as a pressure tactic during the third anniversary of her cousin's murder, given the lack of investigative action. This incident led to her testifying before the Investigative Police and in court as a suspect.

“The struggle of the family and the struggle of feminist groups was fundamental in finding Nicole’s killer, but I am still considered a suspect and that is very unfair. They are persecuting me in a way they didn’t persecute her killer,” she claims.

Lesbian feminist tributes and remembrance on social media

Starting this Wednesday, June 17, her family and a group of organized lesbians and feminists are remembering her with activities on social media and platforms like YouTube, given the impossibility of going out into the streets due to the advance of Covid-19 and the quarantines decreed by the Chilean government.
The documentary "Camionas", made by Daniela Contador and Carolina Millalen, is online and available since yesterday, and today at 6 pm they will launch a lesbian poetry collection.
On Sunday the 21st, the family will visit the Los Aromos reservoir, the place where her body was found lifeless. “It will be a very special moment,” says Bahamondes. To allow loved ones to be present in some way, they will be live-streaming the memorial service on the Instagram account @justiciaparanicole

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