The femicide of Jesica Galeano: a shot to the head and a mistake that incriminates her partner

In 2019 Jesica Galeano traveled to Misiones to continue her work in the National Gendarmerie. There she met Horacio Balbuena, her partner. This March 12, she was found dead with a shot to the head: she was inside her car in front of her house and at first there was talk of suicide, but as the hours went by the theory of a possible femicide arose, so that now the husband is detained.

The family of the 31-year-old victim is in no doubt as to what occurred on that fateful Sunday morning. “When I found out, I did not doubt, this man had all the traits that he could do harm, from the beginning I thought he was a femicide,” he told TN Fabián, Jesica’s brother.

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The story of how the woman’s body was discovered is shocking. Fabián said that Horacio, who is also a member of the same national force, woke up her 10-year-old son and took him to the Volkswagen Bora to see the body, as a way of showing him that his mother had made the decision to take his life. He thought she was an ideal alibi, but one detail incriminated him.

The Volkswagen Bora car in which they found the body of Jesica Galeano. (Photo: Misiones Police)

The autopsy revealed that the shot was fired with a 9-millimeter caliber pistol, the force’s regulation weapon. But what caught the investigators’ attention the most is that she was right-handed, and the revolver was on the left side. “My dead sister could not have moved the weapon,” Fabián declared.

“My nephew calls his (biological) father who is in Buenos Aires and tells him what happened. Horacio told him to call him to tell him what happened. My sister would never be capable of that,” she stated.

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He also said that neither he nor his family had much to do with the alleged 35-year-old femicide. One of the reasons would be that the man “took her away” from them.

The gendarme had three children

Jesica and Horacio had a daughter, one year and four months old, although the woman already had two other children, ages 7 and 10, with another couple. One of them, who was the one who saw the body, lived with both of them in Posadas, while the other is in Buenos Aires with his father.

Now the youngest is in charge of the Ombudsman for Minors and is in a home. “We also request the custody of my little niece, it is the containment that she needs,” Fabián requested.

Jesica Galeano worked in the National Gendarmerie for more than a decade. (Photo: courtesy Fabian Galeano)

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“If it does come out, we already have mobilizations prepared so that it does not come out. A person like this should not be on the street. We don’t want this to go unpunished,” she added.

Judge Mattos Miguel changed the cover of the cause of suicide to femicide and it is expected that next week there will be more news.