Overview
- Alejandro Ruffo, 52, was discovered hanged with a sheet in Cell 85 of Unidad Penitenciaria No. 34 in Melchor Romero, a Buenos Aires facility for inmates with mental‑health needs.
- Fellow inmates and staff attempted to resuscitate him after hearing alarms from Pavilion 4, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
- The La Plata prosecutor’s office UFI No. 3 opened a case labeled suicide and ordered an autopsy to formally establish the cause of death.
- Ruffo had been in preventive detention since August 5, 2025, charged with homicide triply aggravated by kinship, alevosia, and the aim of harming his partner, a framing known as femicidio vinculado.
- After the 2025 killing, he survived an initial suicide attempt, was treated at Hospital Gandulfo, and, according to medical reporting to the court, admitted he asphyxiated his son to “send a message” to the boy’s mother; the mother expressed shock, saying nothing brings back Joaquín.