Textures of Terror by Victoria Sanford

Author:Victoria Sanford
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520393455
Publisher: University of California Press

5

Paradise for Killers

I learned about the killing of women in Guatemala through my experience accompanying Jorge Velásquez in his search for justice in the 2005 murder of his beloved daughter, Claudina Isabel. Over the de-cade I accompanied Jorge, the case of Claudina Isabel passed through several different prosecutors and assistant prosecutors and traveled through four different offices until finally landing at the office of the special prosecutor for victims of murder, after much insistence by her father and the BBC special Killer’s Paradise that highlighted Claudina Isabel’s case. Given the dismal track record of the Prosecutor’s Office investigating homicides, it is not surprising that there was no effort whatsoever made to carry out any investigation during the first forty-eight hours after the murder—the very hours considered by experts to be vital in a murder investigation. The Prosecutor’s Office did not even interview Claudina Isabel’s family members until one month after her murder and only then because they sought out the Prosecutor’s Office to find out what was happening with Claudina Isabel’s case. As almost anyone who has ever watched a television crime show or read a novel about a police investigation knows, interviewing the victim’s family is a standard protocol of any murder investigation in order to eliminate them as the primary suspects.

The Prosecutor’s Office never sought out the friends and acquaintances that were last with Claudina Isabel to get their versions of what happened the night of her murder. No search was ever conducted of the vehicles in which Claudina Isabel is known to have traveled during the last twenty-four hours of her life. The only statements taken by the Prosecutor’s Office were those of individuals who voluntarily and randomly presented themselves to the Prosecutor’s Office to make a declaration. These statements were taken without ever having taken testimony from Claudina Isabel’s parents and without ever having developed any clear objectives for interviews in the investigation. No joint meetings have ever been held among investigators who have been involved in this case to develop strategic lines of investigation. This means that all statements have simply been recorded and taken at face value. No analysis of contradictions has ever been conducted. In fact, an investigator told me that the prosecution investigators are specifically “prohibited” from discussing cases with one another. This means that prosecution investigators can develop neither victim nor perpetrator profiles because they are not comparing crimes. In real murder investigations, especially when serial murders are involved, the only hope investigators have of capturing the perpetrator is to first develop victim profiles and then use these profiles to develop perpetrator profiles—and this is only possible through the comparison of cases.1

The Prosecutor’s Office has made no effort to locate any potential witnesses at the crime scene where Claudina Isabel’s body was found. The Prosecutor’s Office has not been able to develop a list of names of the people present at the party Claudina Isabel attended in the final hours of her life. Rather than interview everyone who is known to

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