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It took the Chilean Public Prosecutor's Office three years to identify Víctor Pulgar as the murderer of Nicole Saavedra, the 23-year-old lesbian who was kidnapped, beaten, and tortured to death in the last week of June 2016. Five years after the crime and an investigation that changed prosecutors four times, Pulgar has still not been convicted.

Nicole was last seen alive on the morning of June 18. 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.

Her family embarked on an admirable crusade to demand justice, especially her cousin, María Bahamondes. Today, she is charged with public disorder along with four other women, and they face up to four years in prison for occupying the Quillota Prosecutor's Office at the end of a march commemorating the third anniversary of Nicole's murder.

How is the case progressing?

The Justice Department decided to start the trial against Pulgar on August 6, after a first preparatory hearing held on June 2, and several postponements to be able to carry it out.

That hearing was broadcast online, and important events transpired: the Quillota Prosecutor's Office requested life imprisonment without parole for the crimes of rape and homicide, in addition to 15 years in prison for kidnapping and 540 days for simple theft. That day, Judge Nancy Riffo read part of the case file, and when she began to describe how Nicole was murdered, the broadcast was muted out of respect for the victim. But the family members, present in the courtroom, had to hear everything and, for the first time, learned the details of what happened when the young woman disappeared after boarding a minibus driven by Pulgar.

“I was the only one in the family who dealt with this horror and all the details alone for all these years. I wanted to protect the others, especially my aunt, Nicole’s mother. But I could only do that up to that point,” María told Presentes.

Starting August 6th, the estimated timeframe they were given to learn the sentence is three weeks. This has María anxious and crossing her fingers that the start of the trial won't be postponed, as has happened before. Also, because the date would be symbolic: Nicole would turn 28 on August 9th.

“I hope that what happens there will be a birthday present for her, and that at the end of all this we can achieve a life sentence,” he said.

"We believe there is an accomplice who is free."

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

Pulgar was located after a series of forensic investigations involving Nicole's cell phone, which had been missing since her disappearance and was finally found in the possession of a relative of the driver. According to the investigation, he sold it to her after murdering her. The search for that phone was one of the family's first demands, but at the time they were ignored.

The case is now closed and they are awaiting sentencing. But María is not content with the fact that they are getting closer to that day. She asserts that they will continue working with Silvana del Valle, the family's lawyer, because they have evidence that could lead to another person: "We believe there is an accomplice of Víctor Pulgar who is free. This doesn't end here.".

Criminalized

The justice system that took so long to reach Nicole's killer is the same one that, in response to recurring protests, charged relatives and friends of the victim with "damages and disturbances" committed during a demonstration.

On the morning of Wednesday, June 23, and after two months of having broken the agreement they had reached at the beginning of the year with the five women being prosecuted, the Prosecutor's Office reaffirmed its accusation, despite having "weak evidence," according to María, of the crimes they were charged with.

The agreement stipulated that the defendants would paint a mural on the facade of the Quillota Local Prosecutor's Office in exchange for avoiding prosecution. "We don't have the consent of the prosecutor's office staff, so we can't install a mural that goes against the wishes of those who work there," said prosecutor Elizardo Tapia.

The trial date for the five activists is still unknown. But María is outraged because there's a possibility it could even be before the trial of Nicole's killer begins. " Who will pay first? Víctor Pulgar or the five of us who are only demanding justice?" she said as she left Wednesday's hearing.