A model, a singer, and a student who went missing in Ecuador while on vacation have been discovered dead and buried in a shallow grave with their throats slashed and signs of torture on their bodies.
Denisse Reyna, 19, Yuliana Macias, 21, and Nayeli Tapia, 22, were found dead near the Esmeraldas River near Quininde, Ecuador, a week ago.
The girls were located 80 kilometers from their home in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, where they had been missing since April 4.
On the evening of the same day, authorities were notified that the three girls had not returned home or gotten in touch with their families.
Some local fishermen discovered the grisly find after seeing a dog investigating the side of a river. The sights they beheld left them in shock. When they smelled something foul, they called the authorities.
The shallow grave was excavated, and the bodies of the young women were removed by law enforcement officers who were called to the scene.
The local news in the Esmeraldas Province reported that their corpses had been chained, their throats had been cut open, and their mouths had been taped shut.
The authorities are currently making every attempt to find the individual or people responsible for the awful killings, while the families of the deceased implore the public not to assume that their loved ones’ deaths were connected to the drug trade.
Diego Velastegui, a member of the police force in Quininde, told the local press that the perpetrators were young and were wearing bathing suits and “beach attire.”
Investigators at the crime scene were convinced the women had been tortured after discovering bruises and signs that they had been bound and gagged.
The victims’ loved ones claim they were told about persons they were supposed to meet, but they have no idea who they are.
The women were murdered on April 5 in Malimpia, a small village in the rural parish of Quininde, according to the preliminary results of the inquiry.
Reports indicate that investigators have tracked down the hired car used to bring the young women to the crime scene.
