More than two decades ago, Sergio Gastón "Bin Laden" Ortiz hung up the uniform of the Misiones Police to venture into the world of crime. Until this week, he had been linked to dozens of assaults in this province and that of Corrientes, but now he is wanted for killing a man and cutting his body with a grinder.
Everyone believed that the former policeman, now 50, was still behind bars in Corrientes, where in September last year he was arrested for leading a gang that assaulted several commercial premises. But "Bin Laden," also known as "Chiquito," managed to get a release from prison and return to Misiones.
In August of last year, Ortiz moved into the home of a relative who lives in the Popular neighborhood of the city of Corrientes. It didn't take long for him to link up with two other criminals and study the possible targets of surgical robberies.
The Justice charged them with two robberies of supermarkets in the Industrial and Ponce neighborhoods, as well as a collection center in the Pirayuí neighborhood and a lubricant center. Security camera footage was key to finding the gang. A search found the clothes worn by "Bin Laden" in some of the hits.
Now his legal situation is much more complicated. A judge asked for his arrest because he is the main suspect in the murder of Marcos Adalberto "Pelado" Martínez (49), who lived in a house that had become a tenement, on Juan Manuel Fangio Avenue, in a neighborhood of relocated people in Yacyretá.
The investigation was triggered on Friday night when a young woman decided to go to the apartment, worried because she had not seen her father for more than two weeks and in recent days he had not responded to his WhatsApp messages either. What is not yet clear is whether "bin Laden" was living in the apartment or just visited it frequently.
The woman, who had the keys to access the building, found herself in a brutal scenario. Blood stains and the remains of the severed corpse had been wrapped in bags and placed in a refrigerator.
Sergio "Bin Laden" Ortiz, a former police officer with a long history of robberies, now linked to a crime.
The experts who arrived at the scene with the police estimated that the crime occurred two or three weeks ago. The state of decomposition and dismemberment of the corpse not only made it difficult to identify the victim, but also the possible cause of death. A DNA study will determine with certainty if it is Martinez, as everyone suspects.
The police seized two knives with blood stains at the scene, but also a grinder that was connected to an electrical outlet in the house. Everything indicates that it was the element used to cut the corpse and thus be able to put it in the refrigerator, from which some shelves were previously removed.
"We found bones and a jelly-like substance," said one of the researchers. "It's going to be very difficult to establish the cause of death," he added.
Ortiz's frequent presence in the house is not the only element that investigators have. Some neighbors said they saw him driving the victim's motorcycle and family members said the man had a small safe in which he kept the money he collected from renting rooms. That chest disappeared from the building along with "Bin Laden."
The investigation of the case was carried out by Investigating Judge Ricardo Walter Balor and prosecutor René Casals. The magistrate has already ordered the arrest and the release of the last image of the suspect.
Ortiz became a "polythief" in 2003, when he was linked to the assault on a Spanish businessman in the Villa Sarita neighborhood of Posadas.
The policeman, along with a police commissioner and another accomplice, knew that the victim had collected a large sum of money, but they did not find the loot in the house. That's why they loaded him into their car and took him to the company, but the whole plan collapsed when the "bell" crossed paths with a patrol car and fled. As soon as he was arrested, he betrayed the gang.
In 2009 he was linked to the foiled assault on a businessman at night in Posadas when he arrived at his home. Ortiz and his accomplice fired at least two shots at Carlos Espindola's car, who sped off and fled. For that act, "Bin Laden" was sentenced to six years in prison.
EMJ