They sentenced Hugo “el Ninja” Hidalgo, accused of killing and burying a woman and her daughter in Ensenada

A popular jury sentenced this Friday Hugo Orlando “El Ninja” Hidalgo, accused of having murdered and buried in the patio of the house that he rented to Maruja Pérez Chacón (50) and her daughter Shirley Cielo Barrientos (15) in 2017. The vote was unanimous.

The court, made up of six men and six women, deliberated from 6:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. this Friday and resolved to declare the defendant solely responsible for the crimes committed in Ensenada.

Read also: They try the “Ninja” Hidalgo, accused of killing a woman and her daughter and burying them in the patio of her house

The prosecutor’s office, in charge of Leila Aguilar, had requested a sentence of life imprisonment, so now the judge will define how many years correspond to the convicted person in an upcoming hearing for cesura.

Hidalgo was accused of aggravated aggravated homicide for mediating gender violence with cruelty and treachery (with respect to Shirley) and of the same qualification with the addition of the link to the murder of his mother, Maruja Pérez Chacón.

The trial was by jury, in room A of the La Plata Criminal Court. (Photo: TN

On April 3, at 11 in the morning, the cessation hearing will take place. There are five days to offer evidence and treat aggravating or mitigating the sentence.

The trial against “the Ninja”

The debate that had a dozen citizens as a jury began on Monday at noon, at the headquarters of the Criminal Court of La Plata and lasted until this Friday night.

They were intense days, charged with great emotion and through which some 40 witnesses passed, including experts, relatives of the victims, former co-workers of the accused and relatives of the detainee.

Kimberly, Maruja’s daughter, together with the lawyer for the victim. (Photo: TN)

It also had the presence of Kimberly, daughter and sister of the victims, who traveled more than 3,000 kilometers to be at the trial and be able to see the face of the murderer, who throughout the process swore to be innocent, and even blamed his ex-partners. of having committed the crime saying that it was out of jealousy.

Also read: A testimony that incriminates him, a hasty escape and the skills: one by one, the evidence against “the Ninja”

The prosecutor who carried out the trial and the accusation was Leila Aguilar, while the lawyer who represented the family of the victims was Eduardo Montané. Both requested a life sentence for the murderer and assured from day one that he was solely responsible for the events.

Prosecutor Leila Aguilar, hugging the daughter of one of the victims. (Photo: TN)

Hidalgo’s defense was under the legal patronage of Lucas Bianco. The trial by juries was moderated by Judge Cecilia Sanucci, of the Oral and Criminal Court No. 1 of the Judicial Department of La Plata.

The evidence against Hidalgo was compelling and the testimonies of the professionals revealed that it was an act perpetrated with cruelty, mediated by the bond that Maruja and “El Ninja” kept almost secret. In the same way, he took advantage of the vulnerable situation of the victims to kill them in cold blood and bury them in the patio of his house.

An invitation that ended in tragedy

Maruja Pérez Chacón, 50 years old, and her daughter Shirley Cielo Barrientos, 15, both Peruvian nationals, disappeared on January 28, 2017 in Ensenada.

That night, both told their relatives that they were going to have a “picada” in the two-story house where “El Ninja” lived, in column 319 of the Piria neighborhood. He was the last to see them alive.

Maruja Chacón Pérez and Cielo Shirley Barrientos, the victims murdered in 2017. (Photo: Facebook / Maruja Chacón Pérez)

Their bodies were found on February 7, almost three feet underground. In the same place they found the belongings of the women, and the knife with which he killed them.

He killed Maruja with 15 stab wounds, but the mortal wound was very strong in the spinal cord. While Shirley was struck on the head by her, she stabbed her and buried her still alive, whereupon she died of suffocation. The minor was without underwear and wrapped in a black bag over a blanket, just like her mother.

A suspicious message and a hasty escape

After the fact, the main suspect escaped from the place, taking his things and selling everything he could in such a short time. Even the expert photos taken at his house show a rushed escape. “There were things left, but the most necessary things were not there. It is noticeable that he left quickly, thinking of going back to look for what was missing, ”said a criminalistics professional who gave testimony.

“He sent me a baton,” Hidalgo would have told one of his co-workers before escaping to the north of the country. The man resigned from his job as an electrician, bought a bus ticket and left on Sunday, January 4, 2017, at 3 in the morning, for Misiones. Before resigning, he told his colleagues that he “wasn’t going to get out of this very easily.”

Hugo Orlando Hidalgo, alias “El Ninja” is accused of a double femicide. He stabbed his mother to death and buried his daughter alive. (Photo: Carolina Villalba / TN)

“The last time I saw him he told me he was leaving because if they found him they would give him life. I asked him if he had killed someone and he replied that he had sent a baton, that he had ordered some people to disappear and that he was not going to get away easily from it,” said one of them in the testimony he gave during the trial.

Also read: “I have a gift for you”: they judge the femicide who cheated on her lover, picked her up and murdered her

A neighbor who lived next door to the defendant’s mother’s house also said that he crossed it the day before he ran away: “I saw him in anguish, with his eyes full of tears. He told me that he had a ticket to leave on Sunday at 3 am, but I didn’t ask him where he was going. What I did ask him was why and he told me that he had some little problems. He said that he would discard his cell phone and start a new life”.

It is believed that Hidalgo tried to seek refuge in Paraguay, where he had been imprisoned for human trafficking. “El Ninja” reached a hotel 45 kilometers from the city of El Dorado, where he was trapped.

With the intention of hiding a suggestive tattoo on one of his arms, he went out into the street wearing a long-sleeved shirt, in the middle of a heat wave. This caught the attention of the police officers, who recognized him and arrested him.