Shock in Uruguay over murder of young man after showing car to potential buyer

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The young man lived in Montevideo and had advertised his car for sale through Marketplace, the social network’s buying and selling platform. According to reports, the buyer had expressed interest in the car on two other occasions and, once again, wanted to meet Lucas to discuss the Volkswagen Gol again.

Lucas’ family and friends reported him missing on Monday at 9 PM, when they realized he had not returned. In addition, they became suspicious when they saw that the alleged buyer had deleted his data from Facebook.

As the car had GPS, the family tried to unsuccessfully locate it because it was deactivated. Relatives and friends began to share information on social networks to help find him. “They took him and the car. Share. Recently disappeared,” read the post along with a photo of Lucas and three cell phone numbers.

During the police search, one of the phones rang. It was someone asking for a ransom for Lucas, claiming that he had been kidnapped. The call came from Mexico.

While this is not ruled out, it is possible that someone took advantage of the situation and called one of the listed phones to ask for money. The family did not agree to pay the 100,000 Uruguayan pesos (almost US$2,270) demanded by a voice with a foreign accent.

On Tuesday, police found the young man’s body next to the vehicle in the home of the 20-year-old alleged buyer, where his mother and sister also lived. He is currently the main suspect in the homicide and was arrested, as well as his family, placed at the disposal of the Prosecutor’s Office to determine if the two women who lived with him were also involved in the crime.

Yesterday afternoon an anonymous letter that Facebook users decided to share went viral. “Today a country is crying. And I write this, with this lump in my throat and so many tears that I can barely see,” says a fragment of the published text, with a request to “copy and paste.”

“I did not know you. You were not my brother, nor my cousin, nor the friend of a friend. But you could have been. And if it hurts me, I don’t want to imagine the pain that your mother, your friends, and all the hearts that you have touched closely must be going through,” the text reads.

The main suspect in the crime will be brought before the Prosecutor’s Office to testify this Friday. At the moment it is presumed that the cause of Lucas’ death was strangulation, although forensic tests are still pending to determine it.