Germán Cáceres, accused of murdering his wife, is transferred by Interpol agents, on January 3, 2023. Presidency of Ecuador (AFP)
One of the most wanted men in Ecuador was hiding behind the bar of a hostel bar on the beaches of Palomino, in northern Colombia.
Germán Cáceres left his country over the Rumichaca bridge, at the other end of where he was found, and no one stopped him.
He managed to cross the border before the court issued an arrest warrant against him for the murder of his wife, lawyer María Belén Bernal.
Cáceres escaped while they were still looking for Bernal, 34, who disappeared on September 11 at the Quito Higher Police School, where he was an instructor.
When she was found dead, thrown from her in a ravine near the police station, the officer had already launched her escape plan.
On December 30, he was captured in La Guajira and this week he was expelled from Colombian territory.
Cáceres, 29, was waiting for him in his country with two legal proceedings and a mother who for three months had a question stuck in her chest: "Why did he kill my daughter, who loved him so much?"
Elizabeth Otavalo was waiting for the lieutenant to arrive so that he would respond, but she was not allowed to approach him.
The defendant arrived in Quito on the afternoon of January 3, guarded by a contingent of Interpol officers and officials from Colombia and Ecuador, and was transferred to the La Roca maximum security prison in Guayaquil.
Germán Cáceres, at the bar of the hostel on the beaches of Palomino (northern Colombia) on the left.
On the right, in the image of the search poster.RR.
H.H.
The main suspect in the murder of the lawyer María Belén Bernal tried to change his physical appearance: he grew his beard and mustache, gained weight and looked darker than in the photos with which the authorities were looking for him, dressed in a suit and with the short hair.
The first alert that he had fled to Colombia went off a few days after the Ecuadorian police confirmed that he had escaped.
On the night of September 29, the news circulated on social networks that he had been detained in La Hormiga, on the border with Ecuador.
But soon, the authorities had to deny it, they still had not managed to catch the alleged femicide, for whom they offered a reward of $20,000.
Germán Cáceres is facing criminal proceedings for the murder of María Belén, who entered the Police College of the Ecuadorian capital at dawn on September 11 last year, where he was on duty that night.
According to the records, Bernal entered her vehicle minutes after midnight and the next day her husband left the institution in the same car without registering María Belén's departure.
After 11 days of searching, her remains were found in the ravine of a hill that is behind the police center.
Two other officers are accused of having heard that Bernal was asking for help and not doing anything to help her.
In a photograph released by the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Interior, Germán Cáceres arrives at the Quito (Ecuador) international airport, on January 3. INTERIOR MINISTRY (INTERIOR MINISTRY EFE)
Cáceres is also being investigated for the alleged crime of procedural fraud.
The Prosecutor's Office is investigating possible irregularities in the Police School, which that night allowed the entry of a civilian outside the established hours, and violated all the protocols that were supposed to be in the barracks.
The Prosecutor's Office has collected testimonies to try to reconstruct what happened that night.
"They were arguing.
Hits were heard and she was yelling for help, they're going to kill me," said a cadet, who says he heard Cáceres dragging something across the floor.
"She took two steps and you could hear something hitting the stands, every two steps hit the stands."
Another witness has said that he saw the officer loading a bundle wrapped in a blanket into a car.
Bernal's femicide was the crime that ended up breaking the patience of Ecuadorians who, by September, when the news broke, already had 264 murders of women.
Feminist and human rights groups took to the streets to demand justice.
The country was infected with the same indignation and demanded answers from the Government, which was maneuvering to control the outbreak within the police structure due to a chain of omissions in the lawyer's case, which have not yet been clarified.
After the discovery of the woman's body, the president, Guillermo Lasso, announced the removal of the Interior Minister, Patricio Carrillo, gave the police commander a week to find Cáceres and called for the dismissal of two generals for their omissions in the case.
Three months later, all continue in their positions.
Cáceres could face a maximum penalty for femicide, which is 26 years in prison, and another eight years for procedural fraud for hiding the victim's body.
In total, 35 years, the maximum sentence in Ecuadorian law.
Before fleeing to Colombia, the ex-policeman told the court that the last time he saw her wife was when he left her on a Quito street to catch a taxi.
According to him, both left the police station at the same time, but the discovery of a sandal and the woman's bag at the station derailed his version and made him one of the most wanted men in Ecuador.
With information from Carolina Mella, from Ecuador.
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