A murderer who hid out in the South American rainforest for over 20 years to avoid prison for gunning down his pregnant wife has been told he’ll soon walk free again — because the statute of limitations for his crime has expired.
Ramón Ángel Abregú, 70, emerged from the Chaco Salteño jungle in October — 22 years after he escaped from a van taking him to prison, where he was to serve 20 years for fatally shooting his wife, Eva Falcón, when she was seven months pregnant.
He appears to only reemerge because he calculated that the statute of limitations was up — which the justices of Tierra del Fuego confirmed Tuesday.
However, he remains in custody for now, with the decision sent to Argentina’s Superior Court of Justice for final approval.
Tuesday’s decision confirmed the prediction by Abregú’s lawyer, Alejandro De la Riva, who said when he handed himself in that “the statute of limitations is 20 years, which is the time in which he managed to remain a fugitive living in hiding.”
“He served his sentence that way,” his lawyer claimed of his time as a fugitive in rainforests, according to the Argentine newspaper Clarín.
Abregú had ambushed his pregnant wife in January 2000 with a 9mm pistol in her Rio Grande home, shooting her dead as she tried to escape.
He was convicted of femicide, an intentional killing with gender-related motivations.
Months after his sentencing, Abregú escaped to Chile on a truck heading toward the Sebastián Border Crossing.
There were three officers guarding 23 inmates at the time, and by the time they noticed he had escaped, he had been gone half the day.
He would later reenter the country, hiding out in the Northern Province in the rainforests in Salteno Chaco, which is home to wild pumas, deer and vampire bats.
