After disappearing on May 23, Agostina Vega (14) was found dead this Saturday in an open field in the Ampliación Ferreyra neighborhood, in the south of Córdoba Capital.
The tragedy that has shocked the province of Córdoba reached its most feared outcome this Saturday, when authorities found the body of Agostina Madeleine Vega in an open field of 200 hectares in the Ampliación Ferreyra neighborhood, south of the capital.
After 7 days of a desperate search that began on May 23, the girl was located about 12 kilometers from the city center, in an area of grasslands that became the epicenter of the judicial investigation led by prosecutor Garzón. The pain is absolute: her mother, Melisa Heredia, collapsed upon receiving the news in the same home from which her daughter left a week ago never to return.
Agostina Madeleine Vega
Behind this horror emerges the figure of the main suspect and only detainee: Claudio Gabriel Barrelier, a 32-year-old man who is not a stranger to the current power. Barrelier is a public employee and an active militant of the current mayor Daniel Passerini, with whom he has photographs that demonstrate their political closeness.
This individual, who already had criminal records for theft and unlawful deprivation of liberty against an ex-partner, operated with the confidence granted by being a known figure to the family and ex-boyfriend of the victim's mother.
The political shielding of the accused extends to the halls of justice and the Deliberative Council. The defense of Claudio Gabriel Barrelier has fallen to lawyer Jorge Sánchez del Bianco, a member of the influential Ricardo Moreno & Associates Law Firm.
It is worth noting that Ricardo Moreno is not only the head of “Las 62 Peronist Organizations of Córdoba”, but also a Peronist councilor for the force Hacemos Unidos por Córdoba, the same political label as Passerini. This level of connections suggests a circle of complicities where the defenders of the perpetrator belong to the same political core as the provincial government.
Claudio Gabriel Barrelier and Daniel Passerini
Regarding the details of the crime, the central hypothesis holds that the minor was deceived by the suspect, who convinced her to go to his home on Juan del Campillo 800, in the Cofico neighborhood, under the false promise of “looking for a gift for her mother”.
Barrelier even paid for a taxi to arrange the meeting. Security cameras recorded both entering the house on Saturday night, marking the last image of Agostina alive. Justice is now investigating a possible sexual abuse and subsequent assault.
The behavior of Barrelier after the disappearance reveals an absolute coldness. According to the investigation, between Saturday and Monday, the accused desperately asked for money and a borrowed car. Finally, he obtained a black Ford Ka from a mistress he also deceived, claiming he needed the vehicle for work. Security cameras captured the moment he parked the car in front of his house and performed suspicious maneuvers, entering and exiting the home carrying “buckets or containers”.
Subsequently, the signals from his cell phone confirmed his presence in the Ampliación Ferreyra area, where he entered a blind spot for the cameras and remained for an hour before leaving. In light of the overwhelming evidence, during his second interrogation, the accused changed his story and acknowledged that the teenager had indeed entered his house.
