The Heartbreaking Case of Marina Menegazzo and Maria Jose Coni. True Crime Documentary

this story originates in 2016 in the Argentine city of Mendoza on January 10th 2016 21-year-old Marina menago and 22-year-old Maria Jose Cony went on a long awaited journey however it eventually became one of Latin America's most high-profile investigations over the past decade in 2016 22-year-old Maria Jose Cony studied economics at the National University of kuyo and 21-year-old Marina manazo studied speech therapy at the Akon kaga University both girls worked as Volunteers in an organization that helped people forced to live on the street for one reason or another friends and acquaintances described them as two very cheerful girls who were very close to their families Marina manazo and Maria Jose con went on a trip with two other friends with whom they eventually split up the girls set off on January 10th one could follow their route by looking through Maria Jose con's Instagram posts on January 13th the girls were in the Peruvian city of Cusco this ancient city is the former capital of the Inca Empire the next day January 14th an image was published also taken in Cusco the following image was published on January 15th the picture was taken on a Railway Bridge near the Machu Picchu hydroelectric power plant Machu Picchu is an ancient Inca City that people call the city above the clouds it is one of the most famous attractions in Peru and is part of the UNESCO world heritage list judging by the activity on Instagram the girls stayed in the area for several days on January 18th Maria posted two more photos from there on January 19th the girl said goodbye to the city of Cusco by posting this image 4 days later on January 23rd the girls were already in equit Maria posted a picture taken on the beach of Monita for the next 10 days the girls traveled along the coast of Ecuador and then went into the Inland on February 4th Maria posted this image taken in San Antonio and on February 6th a photo from bos on February 10th Maria posted a photo showing all four girls the journey that began on January 10th was ending and it was a kind of farewell post as two girls from this company were returning home to Argentina Maria Jose Cony and Marina manazo still had about 10 days of vacation they were in no hurry to return home instead they returned to montanita which was the beginning of their acquaintance with Ecuador on February 22nd Maria posted a photo of herself with Marina this post was the last on her Instagram account on February 22nd the girls also contacted their families in Argentina they said they would soon be home they had to take a bus from Ecuador to the Peruvian city of Lima spend the night at their friend's house and fly from Lima to Santiago the capital of Chile on February 25th from there they would take the bus to their native Mendoza in Argentina at the same time the girls warned their relatives that it would be difficult to contact them by phone for a couple of days due to a poor signal however their relatives couldn't contact the girls either in a couple of days or later there was no activity on Maria and Marina's social media accounts and their relatives began to worry Marina's sister was the first to bring attention to this case on social media she posted a photo of two girls with the following phrase my sister and her friend disappeared on Monday the 22nd in Monita Ecuador please spread this information the girls families wanted to know if they had left the country and boarded the flight however they couldn't get a response from the airline Representatives the latter stated they would disclos this information only after the families provided a court order moreover the friends in whose house the girls planned to spend the night before departure said they didn't appear therefore the relatives of Maria and Marina called the emergency service in Ecuador and reported The Disappearance they also contacted the Consulate of Argentina and asked for help the Consulate intervened in the case on February 27th Argentina's authorities sent Fingerprints of both girls to Ecuador and they did it for a reason a few days before on February 25th an unidentified woman's body was found in montanita and transported to guil comparing the fingerprints obtained from the Argentine police with the Fingerprints of an unidentified body they established that this body belonged to Maria Jose Con on Saturday February 27th after examining the place where they found Maria's body the police found the body of Marina manazo it was only 43 yards from Maria's body both bodies were in plastic bags wrapped with duct tape according to the information voiced by the Ecuadorian police they didn't find Marina's body right away because the criminal tried to hide it by putting something on top of it during the autopsy the medical expert established that Maria Jose con died from blunt force trauma to the Head she had injuries described as genital by the Ecuadorian authorities and a broken femur and a toe moreover marks on Maria's wrists indicated that she was tied up Marina menago died from six stab wounds to the neck she had the same spots on her wrists which meant she was tied up too according to the reports the girls died on February 23rd toxicological analysis showed that their blood contained a large amount of the drug used in psychiatric treatment given the circumstances of the death the police concluded that the girls did not voluntarily take this drug and perhaps they did not even know that they had taken it it meant someone could have mixed it into their food or drinks but just 24 hours after discovering the second body there was a new development in this case and it caused a mixed reaction among the girls families the president and the minister of the interior of Ecuador announced that the police had solved the case they arrested 33-year-old Alberto sugundo Mina Pon and 39-year-old Aurelio Eduardo Rodriguez who pleaded guilty and told how the events unfolded the police found blood stains in the house of one of the accused Mina ponts Marina's mobile phone backpack and other items were near the house the most strange thing apart from the quick arrest was the instant confession of the two men it caused a resonance among the people who followed this case the men told their version of everything that happened Ecuador's minister of the Interior Jose Serrano said the girls left the hotel where they rented a room on February 22nd at 2:00 p.m. someone stole all their money at the hotel so they planned to hitchhike to Lima but this version was refuted by the owner of the hotel who claimed that no one stole from the girls Maria and Marina families also didn't believe this story after all they had credit cards with them therefore the girls would use them in case of financial problems and yet there was no activity on the cards perhaps someone stole both their cash and credit cards still we can use the funds in the account without having the card for example girls could pay for a trip online but they didn't then according to Ecuador's minister of the Interior the girls went into one of the bars and asked for a couple of glasses of water to quench their thirst the bars owner confirmed this version saying she gave the girls water because they had no money it will remain unclear whether someone actually stole all the money from Maria and Marina revealing the further development of events the minister referred to the testimony of suspects who let me remind you fully admitted their guilt so Pon said that on that day at about 8:00 p.m. Rodriguez told him about two Argentinian girls in a bar they approached the girls together and started a conversation during which Marina and Maria said they were hitchhiking to Lima because they didn't have money for a bus and this version also raises a lot of questions the girls had bought plane tickets from Lima to Santiago in Chile why would they save money on credit cards and try to hitchhike more than 1,000 miles knowing they could miss the plane as previously mentioned they bought the tickets for February 25th and this conversation ation according to Pon took place on the evening of February 22nd sounds dubious right but on the other hand Witnesses found by the local police confirmed all these strange versions since it was already late and the girls needed somewhere to spend the night but had no money for a hotel or hostel Pon offered them to spend the night at his house the girls agreed the police found a taxi driver who confirmed he drove Marina Maria and pon to this home this picture shows the house where Pon lived next following the information voiced by the Ecuadorian authorities Pon returned to the bar and started drinking with Rodriguez Marina and Maria were alone in the house at that time the heavily drunk men returned home at about 2:30 a.m. but Maria and Marina were not there the police found out that the girls went to a store near the house to buy soda the exact type of the drink remains unknown the police again found a witness who confirmed this a store cashier if this is true it means the girl still had some cash according to pont's testimony when the girls returned to the house he stayed in the room with Maria Coney and Rodriguez was in another room with Marina Manago Pon admitted that he wanted to persuade Maria Coney to intimacy but she resisted and tried to leave the house then he grabbed a stick and hit the girl on the head from which she died instantly at the same time he heard a scream from the other room entering the room he saw that Rodriguez had taken Marina manago's life Rodriguez left the house immediately after that according to Pon he started thinking about how to get rid of the bodies Pon tried to clean up all traces in the house and wrap the bodies in plastic bags and duct tape in the afternoon he borrowed a cart from someone he knew and took them to a wasteland near the ocean shore about 440 yards from home let me remind you again that everything mentioned is the official version of the Ecuadorian authorities at the same time there was no explanation of where the marks on the girl's wrists came from there was also no explanation for the toxicological analysis that said the blood of both girls contained traces of a potent drug given all the circumstances and inconsistencies in the case the girls family started doubting the version presented by the Ecuadorian authorities they believed this case could be related to human trafficking and that the Ecuadorian authorities were covering for someone Marina and Maria's families had several reasons for doubt firstly the girls ran out of money but did not use credit cards secondly they were under the influence of drugs the only people who saw Maria and Marina that day were the ones who confirmed the authorities version the bars owner a taxi driver and a cashier who allegedly sold sold the girl soda and the town had 5,000 residents also the families could not understand why the bodies were found with a difference of two days while they were 43 yards from each other moreover it seemed strange that Maria and Marina turned to Pon and Rodriguez for help there are always a lot of Argentine tourists in Monita and it would be more logical for the girls to approach a person from their country and ask for help the brother of one of the victims said he saw used syringes lying on the flooor when the Ecuadorian police brought him to the crime scene when he asked about them they magically disappeared moreover those syringes weren't even in crime scene photos and the experts who examined the place denied their existence according to the family the two men were just a cover for something bigger such as human trafficking the authorities scheduled a second autopsy and a new toxicological examination in addition it turned out that both defendants repeatedly changed their version of events according to one version Mina Pon denied that he and Rodriguez committed this crime he stated that the man who took the girl's lives was an illegal substance dealer of Venezuelan origin who lived in the area the only thing he knew about the man was that his pseudonym was El chamo the police detained this man however the latter stated he had nothing to do with what happened and was ready to take a polygraph test or give his DNA sample he wanted to prove he wasn't in that house at all several DNA samples were found at the crime scene DNA from Mina Pont DNA from the two dead girls and several unidentified samples these unidentified samples did not belong to Rodriguez the alleged second perpetrator nor to El chamo who was ruled out as a suspect after undergoing all DNA tests after the second autopsy conducted by experts from Argentina it it became clear that both girls were in such a state that they could not defend themselves before their deaths they were both forced into intimacy the autopsy also gave other details Maria Jose had bruises and scratches only on one side of her body as if someone had thrown her out of a moving car A new toxicological analysis again confirmed that both girls were under the influence of a potent drug used in psychiatric treatment this drug suppresses the will of a person what happened next next caused a residance throughout Latin America unfortunately as it often happens people made the girls responsible for their deaths moreover they were blamed not only by ordinary internet users but also by well-known public people one of those who believed the girls were to blame for what happened to them was the deputy minister of Tourism of Ecuador Maria Christina radera during the same days as the news about the death of Maria and Marina appeared Berlin held a fair dedicated to tourism there Riva daa gave an interview to a German news agency in which she said that given the way the girls traveled something had to happen to them sooner or later she also added that she had never been to Monita since this place did not correspond to her social status it was essentially victim blaming at the state level and that is a very sad fact after Riva daera gave this interview the Ecuadorian government apologized to the families of Maria and Marina and fired the woman one of the most condemned people was the Argentine psychiatrist Hugo nartin who called the girls favorable victims mentioning that such people make other people commit crimes after a firestorm of criticism the doctor claimed that people had misunderstood him and that he never absolved criminals of responsibility in response to hundreds of comments on the internet that the girls were to blame for what happened to them a student from Paraguay Guadalupe aosta wrote a post on Facebook on behalf of Maria and Marina it went viral and had 700,000 reposts in the first week after publication yesterday I was killed the post began with these words I refused to be touched and they cracked my skull open with a stick like waste they put me in a black plastic bag wrapped with duct tape and threw me on the beach where they found found me a few hours later but the humiliation that followed was worse than death after they found my lifeless body no one asked who ended my dreams hopes and life no instead they started asking me useless questions what clothes were you wearing why were you alone why would a woman travel alone you were in a dangerous area what did you expect they told our parents we must have taken something forbidden and that we must have done something wrong after I died I realized I was not equal to a man the fact that I died was my mistake and it will always be so but if the headline said about two dead young male travelers people would Express their condolences with their fake and hypocritical double standard speech they would demand the highest penalty for criminals but it is different when you're a woman I ask you on behalf of myself and other women silenced by the world I ask you for every woman with a crushed life and dreams Raise Your Voice let's fight I will be next to you in spirit and I promise that one day there will be so many of us that there won't be enough bags in the world to shut us all up the trial began on August 8th 2016 there were many failures in the case the prosecutor changed three times which significantly delayed the process the prosecution presented witness statements and more than 200 physical evidence from the crime scene the police found some of the girl's belongings biological fluids and phones in the house where the crime occurred and next to it during the trial Pon declared his innocence and said he had confessed under pressure from the police and this only strengthened the belief of the girl's families that the Ecuadorian authorities were hiding something Rodriguez also changed his testimony by claiming that some Colombian dealers of banned substances were involved in the girl's deaths during the first week of the trial the prosecutor stated that he suspected other persons of involvement in the case since the police had found three more samples of male DNA at the scene along with the DNA of Rodriguez and Pon the court sentenced both Alberto Pon and Eduardo Rodriguez to 40 years in prison the maximum sentence under the laws of Ecuador in November 2016 the Ecuadorian authorities announced that they had arrested another person whose DNA they found at the crime scene this man was 34-year-old Jose Luis Perez Castro his defense argued that he lived in this house a few weeks before the incident and they found his blood on the wall because of a dental infection he had suffered he allegedly just spat on the wall the lawyers also said that the reason the police found his DNA on the girl's bodies was because they had touched a piece of furniture or things that he had also touched earlier this man's defense began to crumble when dentist came to testify as it turned out Castro did reach out to him but it was only 2 weeks after the police discovered Marina and Maria's bodies he asked the dentist to give him a note about a dental infection however the doctor refused to write it because he didn't find any health problems after examining Castro in the end the dentist just kicked him out the patient wanted a medical certificate but for there to be pain there must be some kind of disease but I didn't see that that when I checked the dentist stated the man's defense collapsed after these words while awaiting trial and contrary to prison rules Castro appeared on social networks referring to the situation that put him behind bars I am waiting for this Injustice happening to me all this time to end I have great faith that God will lead me out of this with Victory Castro said on his social media account despite denying his guilt to the end Jose Luis Castro just like Alberto Pon and Eduardo Rodriguez was sentenced to 40 years in prison the girls families doubted the story presented by the Ecuadorian authorities even considering that the families ensured that police officers from Argentina participated in the investigation the version of the Ecuadorian authorities has not changed in any way according to the assurances of the Ecuadorian police the search for other men whose samples the police found in the house continues to this day

Channel: Checkered Sky - True Crime

Views: 261,104

Keywords: True, crime, true crime, true crime documentary, Marina Menegazzo, Maria Jose Coni, true crime channel, The Heartbreaking Case, investigation, detective, disappearance, girl disappeared, crime investigation, case solved, solved, disappearance of girl solved, detective stories, documentary, Case, crime documentary, true crime 2023

Id: cxFWrI6uapQ

Length: 21min 2sec (1262 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 20 2023