Ex-nun convicted of Betty Argañaraz crime broke silence, but did not say where the body is

On Thursday, the judge in Tucumán rejected the request for conditional release presented by Marcos Fernández, whose previous identity was Nélida Fernández. He and Susana Acosta are both found guilty of the disappearance and crime of teacher Beatriz Argañaráz, which occurred on July 31, 2006. After the judgment, the two ex-novices who they have been imprisoned for 15 years, they will have to serve the remainder of their prison sentence until the end of the sentence.

// Tucumán: in prison, the ex-novices convicted of the crime of Betty Argañaraz got married

Fernández had argued in his proposal that he had the possibility of work in a taxi, since he was about to acquire a zero kilometer car. Despite Judge Carmen Rosa López’s setback, the detainee asked for the floor during the hearing and again dissociated himself, as he did with his wife, from the fact.

“We are still unfairly incarcerated for something we didn’t do, and it wasn’t until 2019 that they told us that they hadn’t given us any benefit because we hadn’t taken charge the crime. But there are also innocent people in prisons, ”Fernández stressed, and his testimony was reproduced by the media in Tucuman. “What I want is to get out of jail, not be like hostage of the prison service nor of Ms. Liliana Argañaraz, ”he added.

The response he received via Zoom from the judge was overwhelming. “He is serving a sentence”said the magistrate. And he retorted: “Yes, your honor, but we have already exceeded the deadlines which allow access to the benefit of parole.” The decision, however, had already been made and it was negative.

For her part, Liliana, the sister of the victim, also asked to speak in the virtual audience and wondered: “Expert opinions indicate that they have ended my sister’s life. Despite the 20-year sentence, they did not have empathy or repentance, they continue with fury, with the pain of do not say where is the body of my sister, in order to put an end to the ordeal that not only my family is going through, but all of Tucumán society ”.

“The sentence must be effective, there are no privileges, too many were these 14 years when they had a honeymoon inside the women’s prison, ”Argañaraz added in a radio interview after hearing the court’s decision.

The disappearance of Betty Argañaraz

Teacher Beatriz Argañaraz disappeared on July 31, 2006, when she was going to work at Colegio San Francisco, in the Barrio Norte district of Tucumán. According to the investigation by prosecutor Adriana Giannoni, the teacher was summoned before entering the school, by deception, to the department shared by former novices Nélida Fernández, now called Marcos, and Susana Acosta.

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As the case progressed, it was found that precisely at this location beaten to death. Betty’s body never appeared.

In December 2009, a court sentenced to 20 years in prison for having found them guilty of the crime of simple homicide against the teacher.

“They succeeded 14 years and almost six months that my sister disappeared, we lived through many terrible situations during these years, until the death of our mother, she died of sadness calling her her daughter ”, recalls Liliana, and concludes:“ The pain will be still there but we have to bring Betty back, give that peace which we also need as a family, our wish is that my sister rests and that we rest from this research ”.