A former soldier kills the wrong young man trying to avenge his daughter’s death
Luis Oscar Ledesma, a retired military veteran of the Army and the Falklands War, was arrested by police on charges of murdering a couple in October 1999 in revenge for the death of his daughter over a traffic accident in March of that year. The worst part is that Ledesma got the wrong guy, killing a boy who had nothing to do with the girl’s death.
On 28 March 1999, Elizabeth (20) sneaked out to go clubbing with a cousin and two youngsters to Carlos Paz, Cordoba. They returned exhausted and cheerful, when the Fiat 147 they were in overturned on a curve. Her three companions survived. Ledesma, ravaged by grief, vowed revenge against the car’s driver, Enzo Romero (22).
In October, a man driving a Peugeot 504 intercepted a Traffic from the company Arcor, with two employees on board. He got out with a 9mm pistol, leaned out the Traffic’s window, and asked “Who is Romero? ” And at that moment the boy who was on the passenger side, identified as Damian Romero, 18, ”paralyzed.” According to investigators, the man said: “With your life you’re going to pay for my daughter’s”, and killed him with a shot in the head.
That day, the young man paid with his life the odd coincidence of having the same last name of Ledesma’s enemy, and working in the same company.
Ledesma is accused of manslaughter and, according to the prosecutor, “to this lawsuit may only be added treachery” because it was committed before the 2005 Penal Reform. The prosecutor has two years to send him to trial, because if he doesn’t, the cause will prescribe.
According to investigations, after Damian Romero’s murder, on 29 October 1999, Ledesma and his wife left the town. They headed to a placid small town called Villa Las Rosas, 11 km from Villa Dolores. They settled -according to researchers- in a country house of the criminal’s mother.
To arrest him they tricked him into coming to the police station in order to sign an alleged notification for an old contravention. As soon as he entered the headquarters two policemen from the Homicide Division of Cordoba arrested him.