Rocio Barletta, the missing girl, was found dead

Argentina, April 6, 2012

Rocio Soledad Barletta is the 11 year old girl that went yesterday at 12:30 pm to buy cigarettes for his mother in the neighborhood Ameghino in the North of the city of Cordoba and since then she disappeared.

The prosecutor who deals with the case, District 4, Turn 3, Maria Dolores Romero Diaz reported this morning that “the girl was found around 3:30 am dead” and that “a suspect, was arrested at his home in High Alberdi in Cordoba Capital. He has criminal records but not for sexual offenses.”

The man has a history of theft at a home ‘for a year and a half or two’ and another drug, for about a year.

Rocío’s body was found this morning with traces of burns on his body and researches assumed that she was smothered in the power station near El Diquecito in the area of La Calera.

According to the newspaper La Voz, “sources of research, added that now must determine whether the child was the victim of a sexual offense before being strangled and then partially burned, apparently to remove evidence, although the details will be announced after the autopsy.”

The newspaper said that “The suspect is 26 years old and used to do ‘informally’ work as a mechanic, as neighbors said. The police chief, Sergio Comugnaro said that the contributions of the neighbors were important to locate the suspect and find the girl.

His family said, based on the testimony of a neighbor, that she got into a dark car where there was a man. Since last night, police looked for her intensely.

‘I do not know what happened, because I have no enemies,” said Raul Antonio Barletta, father of the girl, when asked about an alleged revenge as a motive.