Man, 22, confesses to family member of killing his 8-year-old cousin as autopsy reveals the helpless girl was raped, beaten and burned, police say
- Sergio Ramón Oliveira was detained Sunday by cops in Argentina in connection with the killing of Guadalupe Ezaiza
- The 22-year-old Paraguayan national reportedly beat, sexually assaulted and burned his eight-year-old cousin inside his home in the borough of Lobos
- Ezaiza's mother filed a missing person's report with the police after Oliveira failed to bring her back home after picking her up to take her to a birthday party
- Oliveira was supposed to pick up his daughter and take both children to the party but never showed up at his child's home
A 22-year-old man is under arrest after allegedly admitting to a family member to the gruesome killing of his eight-year-old cousin over the weekend, an incident that shook all of Argentina.
Sergio Ramón Oliveira was detained by the police Monday in Lobos, a city in the province of Buenos Aires, a day after he allegedly raped, beat and burned Guadalupe Ezaiza.
Authorities said they found Ezaiza's burnt body leaning against a wall.
Local news outlets reported that Oliveira, a Paraguayan national, visited Ezaiza's home on Sunday and was granted permission by her mother to take the child to a birthday party with his daughter. The suspect planned to stop by another family member's home to pick up his daughter but never made it there.
Guadalupe Ezaiza (pictured) was reportedly murdered by her 22-year-old cousin on Sunday hours after he picked her up at her home in Lobos, Argentina, to take her to a birthday party with his daughter. The confessed killer allegedly sexually abused her and burned her body over a stove
Sergio Ramón Oliveira visited a family member's home in Lobos, a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, and admitted to killing his eight-year-old cousin, Guadalupe Ezaiza, on Sunday
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Patricia Hortel, the lead prosecutor in the investigation, revealed that Ezaiza scratched Oliveira while he punched her during the attack.
Hortel said investigators discovered that Oliveira incinerated his cousin's body over a stove and attempted to cover up the evidence by placing a gas tank near the stove in an attempt to set the apartment on fire.
'There was at least one attempt [of sexual abuse] and this girl opposed it and tried to defend herself,' an investigator told Argentine news outlet Cronica.
'The victim has multiple blows of fist and the accused has scratches. He killed her by setting her on fire and sat her on the stove to erase every trace of the crime he had committed.'
Oliveira has refused to talk to the police and is being held on homicide and attempted rape charges
Police reports indicate Oliveira visited the home of another family member and allegedly said, 'I really messed up, I couldn't do anything for the girl.'
Oliveira has declined to answer any questions from the police and is being held on homicide and attempted rape charges.
Ezaiza's murder took place after Naim Vera, 19, confessed to killing his 24-year-old girlfriend Brenda Micaela Gordillo on Saturday.
Vera allegedly pushed Gordillo down a flight of stairs and then wrapped her body with a blanket before placing it over a grill. He dumped parts of the decomposed body inside a dumpster outside his family's uninhabited home and left the rest of the remains scattered on the side of a road eight miles away, authorities said.
At least 63 women and girls have been killed in the first 62 days of 2020 in Argentina. The South American nation reported 2,749 femicides in the last decade, including 327 in 2019.
