TDoR 2022 / 2022 / January / 28 / Alexa Valle Landaverde


Alexa Valle Landaverde

Age 22

28 Jan 2022
Quezaltepeque, La Libertad (El Salvador)
Murdered

TDoR list ref: tgeu/tdor2022/28-Jan-2022/Alexa Valle Landaverde

Alexa Valle Landaverde
Alexa Valle Landaverde [photo: twitter.com]

Alexa's body was found in a well on Friday 28th January 2022 and identified 3 days later. She had been missing since Friday 10th December 2021.

Subsequently José Elías Hernández Morales was arrested in connection with her disappearance and murder.

San Salvador, El Salvador. Salvadoran authorities confirmed the crime of Alexa Valle Landaverde, a 22-year-old trans woman who had been reported as a missing person since the second week of December 2021. The alleged perpetrator will be prosecuted for the crime of deprivation of liberty. This is the first murder against the LGBTI population in the Central American country.

According to her family, Valle Landaverde left the house she shared with her mother on Friday, December 10. After she stopped communicating her mother set out to search for her.

A relative told Presentes that Alexa left with her partner early in the morning from her home located in the municipality of Quezaltepeque, about 21 kilometers north of the capital. At the end of the day, they tried to communicate with her, but her phone was turned off.

The director of the police, Mauricio Arriaza, reported on Friday, January 28, about the discovery of human remains, presumably Alexa. But it was not until Monday the 31st that forensic authorities carried out a DNA test to confirm the identity of the victim. “We are announcing the arrest of José Elías Hernández Morales for the crime of disappearance of persons, who on December 11, 2021 in Quezaltepeque deprived the young GAVL, known as Alexa, of liberty,” said the police director, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas to the press.

During the event, Arriaza misgendered Alexa. Valle Landaverde's human remains were found in a dry well in the municipality of Ciudad Arce, 26 kilometers west of the last site where she was seen. “At the scene a dried-up well was located where human remains were found, which will undergo DNA analysis and thus determine if they belong to the victim,” reported the prosecution.

The Public Ministry reported on Tuesday that José Elías Hernández Morales is accused of the crime of deprivation of persons. Investigations suggest that Hernández Morales invited Alexa to have dinner with him on the day of her disappearance.

In February 2023 Morales was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder.

https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/sepultan-mujer-trans-desaparecida-encontrada-pozo-ciudad-arce/933028/2022/

https://www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Identifican-restos-de-Alexa-Landaverde-mujer-trans-desaparecida-en-diciembre-en-El-Salvador-20220302-0089.html

https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/desaparecidos-transexuales-alexa-homicidio-zapotitan/923108/2022/

https://agenciapresentes.org/2022/02/02/identifican-restos-de-mujer-trans-luego-de-varios-dias-desaparecida-en-el-salvador/

https://www.contrapunto.com.sv/encuentran-cadaver-en-pozo-buscan-paradero-de-mujer-trans-alexa-landaverde/

https://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/nacional/desaparecidos-transexuales-alexa-homicidio-zapotitan/923108/2022/

https://twitter.com/FGR_SV/status/1487173662746849282

https://twitter.com/ASPIDHARCOIRIS/status/1470509491535941641

Report added: 3 Feb 2022. Last updated: 13 Jul 2023

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