Amid the investigation into the murder of Catalina Gutiérrez, the influencer killed last Wednesday in Córdoba, her father, Marcelo Gutiérrez, revealed that the main suspect, Néstor Soto (21), appeared at the police station when the family learned of the femicide. “It’s macabre,” he commented about Soto, who was a friend of Catalina and the only person detained in the case.
Marcelo recounted that Soto pretended to be distraught when they were at the police station after reporting Catalina as missing and learning she had been found dead. “’Who could have done this crazy thing!’” the father recalled Soto saying, even embracing Catalina’s mother to offer comfort.
“He didn’t hug me, thank God, because I would have felt disgusted after all that happened. But he was there, present. We made the report at the police station, and we were all there, and he showed up. He even came with her boyfriend. It was something horrific, truly macabre. I don’t think you could see something like this even in a movie,” Marcelo told El Doce from Catalina’s former room.
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“He’s someone deranged who doesn’t deserve to live in this world,” said Marcelo, admitting he never suspected Soto was capable of such an act. Soto had been a trusted friend of Catalina for over three years. Marcelo couldn’t confirm if Soto had accomplices but suspected it was only a matter of time before the truth came out.
The relationship between Catalina Gutiérrez and Néstor Soto
The victim’s father, an architect like both his daughter and the suspect, remembered that Catalina frequently brought Soto to their house. “He used to come over… Anyone who comes with our children is supposed to be trustworthy,” he said.
“After more than three years of knowing each other, she would invite him to dinner, lunch, and even pick him up in her car late at night from nearby Barrio Jardín,” he detailed about the relationship between his daughter and her alleged murderer, whom she had picked up the night of her murder.
Marcelo pointed out that no one in the family had suspicions about the friend. “With Catalina, he spent some time; they studied, and he left. But he never made any comments, nor did Lucia (his other daughter). Perhaps my wife mentioned once, ‘This guy might be in love with you?’ (However, Catalina responded), ‘No, not at all.’ There was never anything,” he affirmed.
Furthermore, Marcelo mentioned that Soto was aware that Catalina had a formal boyfriend. “Consider the mind of a deranged person—because that same night (of the femicide), she was meeting with her boyfriend. It’s something only a deranged, sick person could do, someone who doesn’t deserve to live in this world. I want all the justice that he deserves for the atrocity he committed, to pay with the maximum penalty,” demanded the architect.
He also mentioned that neighbors had provided a large number of security camera recordings that captured the meeting between the alleged killer and the victim on the night of the crime. “Everything is filmed. Friends, people with businesses there were outraged, they had cameras and told me everything was seen. Now the police have it. At this point, it’s not that I don’t care, but I no longer have Catalina,” he emphasized.
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Marcelo Gutiérrez on Catalina’s Murder: “How to Move Forward?”
During the interview, Marcelo revealed that Catalina was studying architecture and in her free time, she was an influencer, something that made her “happy.” He also mentioned his wife always demanded their daughters to notify them when they arrived at their destinations to avoid incidents like phone or car thefts.
“I never imagined at 9:30 PM that something like this would happen with known people; it’s a horror, something indescribable; only a demented mind could do this,” he said about Soto.
And he talked about how they are coping: “The truth is, it’s terrible. I never imagined in my life my family would go through something like this; we are devastated. But partly in honor of Catalina and my daughter Lucia, who supports us to move forward.”
In relation to the femicide, Marcelo stated: “It’s a question my wife Eleonora and Lucia and I have discussed: how to move forward. There is no recipe, nothing in the world that helps to get out of this. I’ve taken it as if my daughter, who traveled a lot, left on a trip. I saw her for a short while early that day, we were installing a new TV, she was happy because her sister had one, and she didn’t. I came back and found this horror.”
“We are going to be more united than ever with Eleonora and Lucia, who is very strong, the sister who loved her so much. We will stay strong and be closer than ever in everything we do,” he said about their grieving process.
Finally, Marcelo reflected: “She had everything she wanted and was happy with what she did: her studies, her father, her sister, her boyfriend, and the things we could give her within our means.”
RV / Gi
