Overview
- The sentence was handed down in late June 2026 when a Santa Fe tribunal imposed prison perpetua after the defendant accepted a juicio abreviado.
- Prosecutors say Mario Andrés Cena went to Vanesa Troncoso’s home, sexually assaulted her, asphyxiated her and set the mattress on fire on September 7, 2024.
- Police identified and arrested Cena the same day using neighbors’ testimony and security camera records and later linked him to an earlier conviction for abusing the victim as a child.
- Cena had served about ten years for sexually abusing Vanesa when she was a minor and was released roughly a year before the 2024 murder, a fact that family and authorities cited during the proceedings.
- The prosecution and Vanesa’s relatives publicly accepted the plea and sentence, and the case has renewed focus on lethal gender violence and questions about recidivism and supervision after release.