Colombian justice has brought an end to the murder of Alessandro Coatti , the Italian biologist killed in Santa Marta last April. After months of intense investigations and collaboration between Colombian police and Italian investigators, Uber driver Etilvio Torres García , the young man who allegedly lured Coatti into a trap through a dating app, has been arrested.
The arrest, which took place in the Las Vegas neighborhood of Santa Marta, closes the loop on the seven members of the gang responsible for the crime. Torres García was identified thanks to a crucial photograph , taken while he was walking with the victim along the city's waterfront, shortly before the two took a taxi to the El Pando neighborhood, where the biologist was drugged, robbed, and killed . When the officers captured him, he was watching a soccer match and was wearing the same clothes as those pictured.
According to El Tiempo , Uber allegedly arranged the meeting with Coatti by pretending to be a romantic date. In reality, it was the first step in a criminal plan orchestrated by the gang, which had already been fully identified. Colonel Jaime Ríos , commander of the Santa Marta Metropolitan Police, praised the investigators' work, emphasizing that the capture of the seventh member represents "an act of justice owed to Alessandro Coatti's family and the Italian people." A case that has shocked two countries and which, with this latest arrest, finally finds its judicial conclusion—restoring the dignity of a full truth to the biologist's memory.
Alessandro Coatti's situation is truly tragic, but it's good that justice has finally been served. We hope this arrest brings some comfort to his family and all those who knew him. Cooperation between police forces is important.