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LA PLATA, Buenos Aires Province . On the second day of the trial for Tehuel's disappearance, which began yesterday, Priscilla M. was the last in a long line of witnesses. The prosecution, led by Juan Pablo Caniggia, asked her:

-You maintained communication from the time Tehuel disappeared until Ramos was arrested. I ask you: Where is Tehuel? 

-No, I don't know. I have nothing to do with it. 

Minutes later, the police entered and she was arrested for giving false testimony. 

On the second day of the trial against Luis Ramos, accused of aggravated homicide due to a hate crime (transhomicide), eight people testified, including neighbors and relatives of Ramos. The last to take the stand before the Oral Criminal Court No. 2 of La Plata was Priscila M. 

She began by saying she worked cleaning and caring for Ramos's mother, and ended by admitting to having had a "sort of romantic relationship" with him. Then, she was asked to read aloud the WhatsApp messages she had exchanged with Ramos from the day Tehuel disappeared until Ramos's arrest. 

WhatsApp messages with Ramos

On March 14, 2021 , at 5:24 a.m., almost three days after Tehuel was seen alive , she wrote to him: How can you not expect me to worry, God, keep me updated .

There were other messages that asked him to read them, but since he didn't, they were read by the lawyer representing Tehuel's mother, Norma Nahuelcurá.  

-Love, we'll get through this. If you didn't do anything, there's nothing to worry about (...) I love you so much, sweetheart.  

-Stay calm. 

-I can't stay calm, love. 

Priscilla contradicted herself several times. The trial prosecutor, Juan Pablo Caniggia, had asked her how she had Ramos saved in her phone. “I think as Luis,” she said, but it was later discovered that he was listed as “sweetheart.” Furthermore, the messages were recovered from Ramos's phone because she had deleted them. 

After almost an hour of questions from the judges, the female judge, the prosecution, and the plaintiff, she said: “We had a sort of romantic relationship.” 

Priscila M. always maintained that she did not know Tehuel. But near the end of her testimony, one of the judges asked her if Ramos had mentioned Tehuel to her, and she replied that he had once told her he knew a “boy-girl.” Judge Hoerr pressed her to explain the context of that conversation, but she did not respond. 

In response to the few questions posed by the public defender, Natalia Argenti, the witness claimed to remember everything. However, when questioned by the defense attorney for Tehuel's mother, Cristian Ariel González, or by the prosecution, or by the judges, she claimed to have no recollection. Other witnesses were also read excerpts from their 2021 statements given at police stations or prosecutor's offices because of inconsistencies. But Priscilla's case seemed different. 

Priscila M. was arrested for perjury during the trial

“It was established during the hearing that the witness was reluctant (refused to provide information). This prompted countless questions. She repeatedly claimed not to remember. She answered time and again, 'I don't remember.' Initially, she downplayed her relationship with the accused, but the messages revealed the opposite,” the Court, composed of Claudio Joaquin Bernard, Silvia Hoerr, and Ramiro Fernández Lorenzo, decided. “Her immediate arrest is ordered,” they concluded. 

“Today I feel more relieved than yesterday. The witness who gave false testimony knew what she was doing. She didn't say everything she said was written down. Maybe she'll say something more,” Norma Nahuelcurá, Tehuel's mother, Presentes

He stole pills from his uncle and threatened his cousin with a knife

Before Priscila M.'s statement, seven witnesses spoke, including an aunt by marriage and a cousin of Luis Ramos. They placed him fleeing from the police at an uncle's house in Dock Sud. Both recounted that Ramos stole psychiatric medication from an uncle and threatened his cousin with a knife to prevent her from telling the police he was there. He hadn't visited them in over 15 years. 

“The accused is my cousin, my father’s nephew. I was in my room, because I live with my parents in Dock Sud. There was a knock on my window, and it was him. (…) He stayed two nights. At one point, the DDI (Departmental Investigation Directorate) came and knocked on the door. I went outside, and he followed me out into the yard and told me not to say anything,” Celeste R. told the court. She admitted that she lied to the police because her cousin was threatening her with a knife: “I said I wasn’t there. Minutes before, when we went outside, he was high on pills, drugged up. He told me, ‘Don’t say anything, I’ve known you since you were little, I’m not here.’ And he had a knife.” 

Susana C., Ramos's aunt by marriage, said: “He stayed two nights. We drank mate, chatted, the most normal thing. My husband is on psychiatric medication. I was taking care of my father-in-law and my daughter called me to come over, because he (Ramos) had taken some of my husband's pills and had gotten high.” 

She later recounted that when she arrived, she saw him “high on my husband’s pills, which are incredibly difficult for me to get. I snatched his backpack and saw that he had perfumes, things to sell, and a knife.” He had also stolen her disability card. “I told him: Go to hell. I kicked him out, and he left,” Susana C. said. 

More stories complicate matters for Ramos

Another neighbor recounted that someone told her they had seen a bucket of blood at the cart drivers' house, and warned: "They are the ones who are detained now." 

A second neighbor said that Ramos gave him a mattress, which he accepted. Later, he learned about the search for Tehuel and called the police to come and look for him. 

A third witness recounted seeing “the accused passing by with the missing person” from the corner of his house. “The accused was throwing rocks at some kids in the plaza. He was with the girl ,” said Ricardo G. Several witnesses referred to Tehuel as “the girl .”

Alejandro S., another neighbor, said he shared “some wine” with Ramos, but they weren't friends. He had never seen Tehuel. He later recounted that one day he returned home and found Ramos in the bathtub: “He was sitting in my bathtub. He said to me: Please don't report me, I didn't do anything, I didn't kill her. I didn't know anything . I went to the freezer and took out a jug of wine. He seemed very nervous, he was trembling. I said to him: What happened, man? He said: I didn't do anything .”

“I went to Diego’s house, my neighbor. I told him: ‘ That crazy guy is in here, something happened .’ I went to his house and there were all the police. I didn’t know the girl, I don’t use cell phones. All of this completely surprises me.”

Another boy who was playing soccer on the neighborhood field, Mario D., also testified about Ramos's attack, as another witness recounted yesterday. “We had just finished playing soccer, the guy started attacking us, and all the kids from the neighborhood started chasing him. He was walking normally with a girl. He had a knife. It was around 7:30 or 8:00. She was wearing a black jacket, hooded. I didn't know her. The kids said that she had supposedly come to play on the field a couple of times,” said Mario D.
He added, “I didn't know him. Some kids said they knew him as Luiggi. The police were there a week later. They said a girl .” It was Tehuel.