The Metropolitan Homicide Brigade of the Investigative Police (PDI) preliminarily ruled out third-party involvement in the death of a 22-year-old man. His body was found on Sunday in an irrigation canal in the El Arrayán area of the municipality of Lo Barnechea.
According to Cooperativa, the body was found inside the El Ají irrigation canal, near Los Refugios Road. Relatives and people close to him searched the area throughout the morning until they found him. La Tercera, meanwhile, reported that the discovery took place on Sunday afternoon.
The young man had been unreachable since Saturday night. That day, he had met with a group of friends in El Arrayán and did not return home. According to information gathered by investigators, the group lost contact with him during the night or early morning.
Unable to locate him, his friends returned to the place where they had last seen him. Meanwhile, his family raised the alarm that he had not arrived home. It was during that search that they found his body inside the canal.
Commissioner Javier Campos of the Metropolitan Homicide Brigade explained that detectives worked at the scene alongside experts from the Central Forensic Laboratory. A police physician also performed an external examination.
"For now, based on the discovery and on the external medical examination performed by the police physician, third-party involvement has been ruled out," the officer said. Detectives also confirmed that the young man still had all his belongings when he was found.
The sources do not specify how the young man ended up in the canal. Those circumstances remain under investigation, and his identity has not been publicly disclosed.
The PDI continues to take statements and canvass residents to identify potential witnesses and reconstruct the hours before the discovery. It is also seeking to contact other people who spent time with the victim. The case was assigned to the Eastern Flagrancy Prosecutor’s Office, which will have to establish the cause of death.
