Two months without Tehuel: the pact of silence of the detainees Montes and Ramos
The two detainees were the last people to see the young trans man from San Vicente. The family insists: “Let them talk, let them tell us where Tehuel is.”
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Two months have passed since Tehuel De la Torre was last seen. He disappeared in Alejandro Korn , Buenos Aires, on the night of March 11. The search team believes the two detainees, who remain silent, hold the key to finding him. Distressed by the long wait, the young trans man's family is leading the protests and demanding that they speak out.
“We feel powerless and angry because what we want is for them to talk, to tell us where Tehuel is. They were with him. We want them to talk; one of those two people has to speak so we can find my brother,” Verónica Alarcón, Tehuel’s sister, told Presentes.
He continued: “My family is devastated by all this. Hours and days keep passing without knowing where Tehuel is, and it’s truly agonizing. All I ask of (Luis Alberto) Ramos and (Oscar) Montes is that they talk, nothing more. They have to talk.”
First lies
Initially, Ramos and Montes were questioned as witnesses about whether they had seen Tehuel, and both denied it. Ramos was arrested on March 23, and Montes on March 27. Both refused to testify. The case is being handled by prosecutor Karina Guyot of the Decentralized Functional Instruction Unit (UFI) of San Vicente.
Despite their grief, the family hasn't lost hope and insists that anyone with information about the young man should contact 911 or 147. Today, at 4 p.m. in San Vicente, they will lead a torchlight march to demand Tehuel's safe return.
The last strong lead the family has is the discovery of a photo of Tehuel with Luis Alberto Ramos and Oscar Montes, taken at Ramos's house on the last day his family saw him . This image was recovered thanks to forensic analysis of the cell phones of the detainees and Tehuel on April 30th.
The expert reports
“According to the investigators, Montes and Ramos’s cell phones are being examined; that process is still ongoing,” Tehuel’s sister explained, adding that many aspects of the case are not being made public to protect the investigation. “We’re waiting to hear if they’ve found any new leads,” she said.
Verónica Alarcón explained that no hypothesis has been ruled out, but she couldn't provide details about the lines of inquiry the Prosecutor's Office is pursuing because she doesn't have them. However, she insisted that "if anyone knows anything about Tehuel, please speak up, call 911 or 147. It's very important for us to know something so we can find him."
Alejandro Korn, the last known whereabouts
There are two bus lines that run from San Vicente to Alejandro Korn – about 10 kilometers away – the 404 and the 79. They depart from different locations in San Vicente, but both arrive at the same stop where Tehuel was supposed to get off, on Presidente Perón Avenue near Arcuri Street. This is how journalist Daniel Rosales, director of Al Sur Web – a long-established media outlet in San Vicente – described it to Presentes.
That corner is the entrance to the La Esperanza neighborhood. From there, sources close to the investigation confirm that the young man walked about 10 blocks to reach the address he was heading to, the house where the first person arrested in the case lived (Luis Alberto Ramos, who, according to Tehuel's girlfriend, had offered him a job as a waiter). "The first person arrested is known as one of the neighborhood 'thugs,' a guy involved in illegal activities and with a serious criminal record," Rosales stated.
From there, they walked about three blocks to the home of the man who turned out to be the second person arrested: Oscar Montes. “Montes comes from a family that has lived in the area for many years; it’s the Villa Coll neighborhood, next to La Esperanza. He’s a cardboard collector and was Ramos’s accomplice,” said the journalist from San Vicente.
The homes of the two detainees are located in very poor neighborhoods of Alejandro Korn. Dirt roads, numerous vacant lots, and makeshift soccer fields complete the picture of the last few blocks that, according to sources very close to the investigation, Tehuel traveled through.
Although five raids were carried out in the area in search of evidence that might provide a clue to Tehuel's whereabouts, there has been very little concrete progress in the last month. The results of the forensic analysis are still pending.
To provide data
The Ministry of Security, through the Provincial Directorate for the Registry of Missing Persons , is offering a reward of between one million five hundred thousand pesos ($1,500,000) and two million pesos ($2,000,000) "to anyone who provides information leading to the whereabouts of 21-year-old Tehuel de La Torre, last seen on March 11 in San Vicente." The announcement states that the identity and confidentiality of any information provided will be guaranteed .
The last time Tehuel was seen, he was wearing gray pants, a white short-sleeved shirt, a blue jacket, a cap, and blue sneakers. He has a stocky build, fair skin, short dark hair, and is about 5 feet 5 inches tall.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact the San Vicente Decentralized Prosecutor's Office by phone at 0221-429-3015 or by email at perdes@mseg.gba.gov.ar. You can also call 911.
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