Remains of a woman missing for 37 days found in an Ecuadorian river

Ecuador.- The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office reported this Tuesday the discovery in a Quito river of the remains of Lizeth Bunshi, a 28-year-old woman who was reported missing 37 days ago after being with a supposed friend, the only person detained in this case.

The discovery was made during the afternoon, in the Machángara river; however, it could not be immediately determined that it was Bunshi, due to the advanced state of decomposition of the body.

Hours later, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had ordered a forensic odontology examination, which allowed confirming that the remains belonged to the young woman who went missing on July 19th.

In this case, the Prosecutor’s Office charged Cristian Villavicencio, an alleged friend of the woman who was reportedly the last person to see her, with the crime of involuntary disappearance; however, the lawyer for Bunshi’s family, Freddy Ron, stated that they will request that he be tried for femicide.

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The police arrested Villavicencio on July 22, after security camera footage and witnesses placed him with the victim before her disappearance, as reported at the time by the Prosecutor’s Office and the Minister of the Interior, John Reimberg. The court ordered his pretrial detention.

“Victims have the right to know what truly happened and to have prompt, timely justice without delays. In this case, it is a crime of femicide due to the witnesses who were able to observe what Cristian V. did to Lizeth Bunshi, how he dragged her and spoke to her with pejorative adjectives,” Ron assured local media.

A reconstruction of the events is scheduled for Sunday, a proceeding that, according to the family’s defense, will allow for the basis of the reformulation of charges against the suspect.

In Ecuador, a woman or girl is a victim of femicide every 22 hours, according to figures from human rights organizations, which in 2025 recorded 411 sexist murders, the highest statistic since records began.