Overview
- An oral criminal trial with 17 defendants is under way in Corrientes and sessions on August 11–12 heard four pivotal witnesses who reconstructed the first hours after five‑year‑old Loan Peña vanished on June 13, 2024.
- María Leticia Risco, former SIFEBU coordinator, said Alerta Sofía was activated but that local comisario Walter Adrián Maciel rejected offered federal resources and showed reticence to share information during early searches.
- Neighbor Carlos Alberto Moreira testified he filmed the first footprints in sand and later in mud, kept the original videos, and sent them by WhatsApp to the viceintendente of 9 de Julio, prompting defense requests for a court reconstruction that prosecutors say is unproven.
- Dr. Cinthia Andrea Grimaldi told the court she treated María Victoria Caillava on June 14, 2024 and described a routine gynecological visit that contradicts Caillava’s earlier account about the purpose of her trip to Corrientes.
- Federal Police chief Martín Leonardo De Cristóbal detailed large federal deployments including about 150 PFA agents and roughly 500 personnel on the June 30 judge‑ordered rastrillaje and said an accident is the strongest hypothesis, even as prosecutors press criminal and obstruction charges.