Facundo Astudillo Castro: his mother's anguish on her most difficult day

Natalia Iocco

08/25/2020 - 17:17

• Clarín.com
• Police

When Cristina Castro (42) entered the premises of the former ESMA, she did so without stopping. She crossed several meters of black fences that surrounded the road to the entrance to the place. She got out of the car with her friend and lawyer, Luciano Peretto, and quickly entered the building of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), in the Núñez neighborhood. Inside, she would go through one of the most difficult moments of the 117 days that she has been without knowing anything about her son, Facundo Astudillo Castro (22).

" It is very complex, but there is a lot of information ," Virginia Creimer, the expert on the part, told the woman and the two plaintiffs' lawyers, Peretto and Leandro Aparicio, at a time during the investigation, which started at 9:30 and continued after 5:30 p.m. .

Around 20 people entered the area for the autopsy of the skeletal remains found on August 15 in a crab in the Villarino Viejo area. Among them was the federal judge N ° 2 of Bahía Blanca, María Gabriela Marrón, who will be the one who will personally withdraw the result of the autopsy report, in a period that they estimated between 15 days to a month.

Cristina waited, surrounded by professionals from the Attorney General's Office and always supported by one of her lawyers, who said that it has been " the most difficult day " since Facundo's disappearance, for which they blame the Buenos Aires Police.

Dressed in black, with her hair collected, a blue chinstrap and a pink purse, the woman walked around the building a few times where they will define what happened to the body found and that it could be her son.

"Cristina is not in good spirits, she is very moved," her lawyers even said. She was barely seen through the fence that surrounded about 100 meters around the entrance to the former ESMA.

Lawyers Luciano Peretto (left) and Leandro Aparicio, outside the EAAF. Photo Juano Tesone.

The hours passed without much news. The doors opened to reveal some of the country's most renowned professionals, unrecognizable behind the disposable camisoles, bonnet and chinstraps. All bright white looking for a little air. Even the director of the EAAF, the forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider.

The diversity of professionals who participated in the expertise was such that even Nora Maidana, a specialist in Diatom analysis and a member of Conicet, was there to analyze microorganisms in the body that could contribute when analyzing cases of death by submergence.

The bone samples to be collated with the DNA of Facundo's parents were selected to be sent to the EAAF genetic laboratory in Córdoba. As anticipated by the lawyers representing the lawsuit, they could have results during the first days of September.

On the other hand, the preliminary autopsy report could take 15 to 30 days to be able to synthesize all the possible information from the analysis carried out.

In any case, they already anticipated that it will be "complex" to determine the causes of death, due to the lack of the arms and some teeth in the skeleton.

EMJ