Following the death of Ariel Castillo, activists denounce organized crime targeting gay men on dating apps.
Ariel Castillo worked at the Teatro Colón, was 47 years old, and lived in San Martín. His killers are still at large. Activists denounce this as an organized crime group that targets gay men.
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Ariel Castillo, a 47-year-old man, died yesterday after being attacked in his home following a fake Tinder date. The assailant had three accomplices. The man entered Ariel's house in the San Martín district of Buenos Aires province, drugged him, and then, along with a gang, stole his belongings. They are still at large. "It's organized crime," said Pablo D'Elía, an activist and victim of a very similar attack in 2022.
The victim, who worked at the Teatro Colón, was hospitalized in intensive care in a coma after falling down the stairs as a result of the lack of reflexes caused by the substances that were administered to her.
The investigation is being carried out by prosecutor Ignacio Correa of Functional Instruction Unit 5 of the Judicial Department of San Martín, who has classified the case as “homicide criminis” (that is, a homicide to hide another crime) and “robbery”.
Last Friday, after connecting on Tinder and arranging a meeting, Ariel invited the man to his home, located at 3400 Castro Street in the Villa Libertad neighborhood of San Martín. Security camera footage shows both men getting out of the victim's car and entering the house, where the assailant drugged Ariel. He then allowed three accomplices to enter, with whom he stole Ariel's belongings, including the car they had arrived in, a gray Volkswagen Polo Track.
A friend of Ariel's found him early Saturday morning when he arrived worried after not receiving any answers to his messages and calls. When he entered, he noticed the chaos in the house and found him asleep. Upon waking, the victim recounted what had happened, and they both called 911. However, when Ariel tried to go back upstairs, he lost his balance due to the drug he had been given and fell down the stairs, hitting his head hard.
An ambulance from the San Martín Municipality's emergency services arrived at the scene and transported him to Thompson Hospital, where he was treated for ingestion of illicit substances and alcohol. Due to the severity of his condition, he was transferred to the Méndez Clinic.
There are currently no suspects because the criminals' faces are not visible in the security footage. They were wearing gloves and stole the victim's cell phone, judicial sources told Presentes . The sources also indicated that the investigation is ongoing to locate them.
The role of the media
The case received widespread coverage in national and provincial media in Argentina. In all or most of these outlets, the story was sensationalized, attempting to captivate audiences with the figure of a "black widow." Other cases were also included to provide context, in which the perpetrators were women, "black widows."
“When these other examples are given—which I also consider horrific and reprehensible crimes—the prejudiced decision to target a victim from the LGBTQ+ community is not made visible: choosing a gay man and posing as a gay man,” musician Pablo D'Elía Presentes , he was attacked in his home in the early morning hours by two men. They had contacted him through the dating app Grindr. They choked him, tried to drug him, and beat him. He posted about what happened to him on social media, and he began receiving messages from other victims who had experienced similar things .
On December 30th, the Oral Criminal Court No. 27 sentenced Leandro Reynoso to 12 years and 3 months in prison and Enzo Bustamante to 2 years suspended. In the abbreviated trial, they were found guilty of attacking five men and robbing their homes in the City of Buenos Aires in different months of 2022. They were convicted of robbery and aggravated assault motivated by hatred based on sexual orientation.
Although the conviction was based on five cases, the investigation found that 30 men were attacked by Reynoso using the same method during 2022. “I don’t know how many faggots I’ve robbed already. Haha. More than 30,” the convicted man said in a key audio recording in the investigation.
“It’s a hate crime”
“This was murder and a hate crime because there was a premeditated selection of the victim. These cynical people work in groups; they're gangs. They're not petty criminals. Leandro Reynoso had different victims and acted with different accomplices. We're talking about a lot of people. It's organized crime,” D'Elía emphasized, referring to the attack that Ariel and the others he met in recent years experienced.
Regarding the dangers surrounding dating apps, he considered that “men were raised as men (so) we weren't taught that caution, that care that feminism so strongly advocates, which is why we often take fewer precautions.” In this sense, journalist and activist Lucas Gutiérrez put together this ten-point guide for enjoying dating apps .
For D'Elía, the case is part of a broader context that seeks to dehumanize diverse groups. “We are experiencing a setback in terms of rights. They are taking away our right to exist. We have a government that compared us to lice, a president who says we are pedophiles. This context fuels these kinds of criminals. It's a profile of hatred toward gender and diversity. They are persecuting us, and we have a government that condones this persecution.”
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