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On the fourth day of the trial seeking to clarify what happened to Tehuel de la Torre—who remains missing—eleven experts and police officers testified. They had participated in the raid on the home of Luis Ramos—charged as an accomplice in the homicide—and in the forensic analysis that reconstructed the young man's last known locations.

The witnesses were called by the prosecution, led by Juan Pablo Caniggia.

The cameras and the jacket

During the first search of the defendant's home, forensic experts collected crucial evidence that allowed the case to proceed to trial, even though Tehuel remains missing: a cell phone case, a piece of fabric "like a mattress," bloodstains on a wall, and the remains of a blue and red jacket with white details, which had been burned.

The jacket's characteristics are similar to the one Tehuel was wearing the last time he was seen, and they also allowed witness Sofía V., an official with the La Plata DDI (Departmental Investigation Directorate), to track him using security camera footage from a local Chinese supermarket.

When asked by the prosecution if she remembered the clothing the missing person was wearing, she said yes, "because he had a very distinctive blue jacket with white stripes on the front and a red hood." She emphasized that this allowed her to recognize him because it was the same jacket the young man was wearing in the missing person's photo.

The witness was shown images of the traces found in Ramos's house, to see if she could identify them as the jacket Tehuel was wearing in the last record in which he is seen, and she said she could not do so because "it was very destroyed".

Evidence collection

At the hearing, forensic experts Piro, Paz, and Navamuel also testified, explaining how the evidence was discovered using photographs collected in the case.

Outside the house, they found the back cover of a Motorola phone and the remains of a jacket—a fragment of burnt fabric—on a privet hedge. Inside the house, on a yellow wall above a wood-burning stove (where they found two condom wrappers), they identified small reddish-brown stains that were visible to the naked eye.
These stains were analyzed by biochemist Darío Flores, who testified that day, and he determined that they were samples consistent with human blood.

In the vicinity of Ramos's house, they also found two condoms which, when consulted by the Prosecutor's Office, they could not specify whether or not they had been used; and a "number of dogs" that caught the attention of the experts: "the dogs were all over the property, some tied up, others loose," one of the investigated parties stated.

Traces in the cloud

Among the expert reports included in the case being reviewed by the Oral Criminal Court No. 2 of La Plata, a photo was found on one of the examined phones showing Montes – also charged as a co-perpetrator of murder, with a trial date pending – Ramos, and Tehuel.

Carlos Gianni Nouzelles, a computer expert, testified during the hearing that he was able to recover data from Tehuel's phone by accessing the young man's Gmail account. This allowed him – using data stored in the cloud, inaccessible to the general public – to determine that the young man's last connection time was after midnight on March 12.

The demolished house and the knife in the backpack

Luis Alberto Ramos was arrested on March 23, 2021, in Avellaneda. Police officers located him after tracking him down in Wilde, Dock Sud, and back to Wilde—near the home of his ex-partner and their children. That day, Ramos appeared to be
“under the influence of alcohol or some kind of drug,” stated Officer González. He also confirmed that the accused “did not resist” but was “very disheveled, he hadn’t showered in days”; they put him in the patrol car and Ramos “fell asleep.” Among his belongings, they found a knife and pills.

The last witness of the day was Guillermo Galván, head of the Scientific Police of San Vicente, who participated in several of the forensic examinations in the case and testified that “in one of the interventions to carry out an examination, when we arrived, the house (of Ramos) had been demolished.”

The trial hearings will continue on Friday the 19th, and the prosecution hopes that police will be able to locate one of the witnesses in the case who failed to appear to testify and could not be found at his home. Twelve witnesses will testify in an attempt to clarify what happened to Tehuel de la Torre.