Modesto lived in the Cienfuegos sector of Santiago, but his body was found in Valverde.
The story seems straight out of a mystery novel, but it happened in Valverde. A man disappears without a trace, and two days later, his wife receives an anonymous package with money, a credit card, and a note that, with chilling coldness, orders her: “Look for him in the canal, with this money buy him the box.”
The message seemed like a death notice, a kind of anticipated epitaph. However, the most disconcerting twist came afterwards: the person who had delivered that envelope was the missing man himself.
This was confirmed by the National Police when identifying Modesto Marmolejos del Rosario alias Quico, 52 years old, as the victim and, at the same time, the messenger of his own death. His body was found on October 8 in the waters of the Jicomé hydroelectric canal in Valverde, with signs of violence and tied feet and hands.
It all began on Saturday, October 4th, when Marmolejos left his residence in Santiago Oeste to fulfill his work day at a door-to-door shipping company. Since then, his family has not heard from him again.
Two days later, someone knocked on his wife, Yohanny Dilone’s, door and handed her an envelope. Inside was a cell phone, some keys, cash, and a credit card issued on September 30th, still unused. The note, handwritten, said:
“If they fired Jazmín, we’ll take care of getting Quico out. Look for him on the channel, buy him the box with this money.”
The phrase, brief and dry, seemed like a threat, but also a kind of confession. The authorities began the search in the irrigation canal, where Marmolejos’ lifeless body was finally found.
The investigations by the Central Directorate of Criminal Investigations (Dicrim), along with the Public Ministry, allowed for the reconstruction of the man’s final hours. Security cameras near his home recorded the moment when he himself, without showing signs of distress, handed over the envelope at his own house before disappearing again.
“En el proceso investigativo se ha podido establecer de manera inequívoca que es la misma persona quien llega a su residencia y deja allí un teléfono, un sobre con llaves y una tarjeta de crédito. No sabemos con qué objetivo, pero sí hizo ese enunciado”,
explicó el vocero de la Policía Nacional, coronel Diego Pesqueira, al confirmar la conexión.
A crime with no clear motive
Marmolejos, described by his colleagues as a quiet and responsible man, worked at a “shipping” company. Sources indicated that the mention of “Jazmín” in the note could refer to a recently dismissed coworker after an alleged discussion with him, although this line of investigation has not yet been officially confirmed.
So far, the authorities have not determined a motive. There were no signs of robbery or that the act was in response to a settling of scores or revenge. Everything points to a confusing staging, a calculated act with an enigmatic message that only aggravates the bewilderment.
The news has caused shock in Valverde and Santiago, where the case is discussed with disbelief. Why would a man leave a message in his own home that anticipates his death? Who really wrote the note? And what happened between the moment he handed over the envelope and the discovery of his body?
While investigators from the Public Ministry and technicians from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif) delve into the investigations, the unsettling image of an envelope, some keys, and a phrase that resonates like a funereal echo remains:
“With this money, buy the box for him.”
A message that crossed the threshold of the home to announce a crime that, somehow, the deceased himself seemed to deliver.
