The Prosecutor’s Office of the Mexican state of Morelos (central) will charge Francisco Javier Meléndez, alias El Trompas , with the crime of femicide and will seek a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison. He was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of the death of the Spanish student Claudia Tacoronte, who was stabbed last Saturday in the municipality of Cuautla, 120 kilometers south of Mexico City.
“The injuries that (the detainee) inflicted on Claudia allow us to establish that what happened was a femicide, because of the way it was done,” said the Morelos prosecutor, Fernando Blumenkron, at a press conference last Thursday from the Government Palace of Cuernavaca, the state capital.
The suspect was arrested five days after the crime
Blumenkron indicated that the Prosecutor’s Office will seek a 70-year prison sentence, the maximum penalty provided by state law, due to the manner in which the young woman was killed.
The prosecutor stated that the detainee stole Tacoronte’s mobile phone but explained that the characteristics of the injuries and the way she was attacked allow the prosecutor’s office to maintain the charge of femicide. “The Penal Code of our state establishes as one of the grounds for classifying an act as femicide the existence of such injuries,” he said.
He also ruled out that the crime had a sexual component, as some versions suggested, and announced new investigations to locate evidence related to the case, including Tacoronte’s mobile phone and the weapon used in the attack.
Previously, federal authorities reported the arrest of the alleged femicide perpetrator in Cuautla, where the crime occurred. The suspect was arrested five days after the crime and less than 30 hours after the Morelos Prosecutor’s Office issued a search and capture order against him on Wednesday.
Claudia Tacoronte’s father visits the crime scene in Morelos
Valentín Tacoronte, Claudia Tacoronte’s father, visited the Casa de la Cultura in Cuautla, the crime scene, this Friday shortly after the body of his daughter was handed over to him at the Morelos Prosecutor’s Office. Tacoronte went to Cuautla along with the Spanish consul in Mexico, Marcos Rodríguez, and Mexican officials from the state of Morelos, who spent a few minutes in silence at the scene, surrounded by candles and flowers.
“We have formally handed over Claudia’s body to her father, Mr. Valentín (…) We explained the procedure, the corresponding identification so that he can now take Claudia’s body. That was the procedure,” said the Morelos prosecutor, Fernando Blumenkron, to the media.
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