An influencer has allegedly been murdered by a besotted friend.
Catalina Gutiérrez, 21, was found dead in a Renault Clio in a car park.
Her body was partially burned in the back seat, according to reports.
She last posted on Instagram for her 100,000 followers just hours before her alleged murder.
Gutiérrez shared a photo of an invitation to a Friendship Day party at the Patio Olmos shopping centre in Córdoba City, Argentina, taking place today (19 Jul).
The victim, who defined herself as a ‘public figure’, also had 36,000 followers on TikTok.
She was last seen leaving her home to meet up with pals at the same shopping centre on the evening of 17 July.
After leaving her house, she sent an audio message to her boyfriend to let him know she was on her way.
When she failed to show up or answer messages, her friends informed her family.
Her relatives grew more concerned as the hours passed and her sister began to track her movements with Apple’s Location services.
After midnight, she noticed that the victim’s iPhone signal has remained fixed at 3900 Pedro Echagüe Street in Córdoba.
The sister informed the police and the macabre discovery took place.
The authorities quickly ruled out the possibility of a homicide during a robbery as none of the victim’s valuables had gone missing.
Investigators started interviewing her friends and family members to gather information.
One friend, named as architecture student Néstor Soto, then allegedly broke down and confessed to the crime.
The victim was his classmate at the National University of Córdoba.
They suspect he was obsessed with the influencer despite the fact she had a boyfriend.
The police stated: “As he made his statement, he contradicted himself.
“From one moment to the next, he suddenly admitted that he killed her.
“He said she was ‘the love of his life’.”
The suspect said he asked the victim to stop by his home to pick him up on the way to the shopping centre.
Investigators suspect he beat the victim in his house until she was unconscious.
Believing she was dead, he drove to the car park and reportedly set fire to the vehicle.
However, the blaze did not spread and the victim was probably killed by carbon monoxide poisoning.
The police are still waiting for the autopsy results to confirm her exact cause of death, as reported on Need To Know.
Soto has not yet appeared before a judge and currently remains in police custody.
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