A thug sent his 16-year-old girlfriend’s mum a message from the teenager’s phone saying “I’m going far away with him, there I will be happy” before shooting her dead.

Victim Agustina Ibanez was shot in the head at an under-construction house in the rural area of Pozo Suni in Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina, on 14th May.

Her mum, Veronica Orellana, had received a message on her mobile phone from Agustina’s number saying: “I’m going far away with him, there I will be happy.”

When she read the message, she knew that her daughter was in danger and left her home in Fernandez – around six kilometres away – in a hurry to find her.

Veronica later told local media: “The message said ‘Vero’. She never called me that. And she wasn’t one to write messages; she always sent voice notes.”

After arriving at the house, which had no lights, in the middle of the woods, she came across the grim sight of her daughter’s body.

Next to the dead teenager, Agustina’s boyfriend, 23-year-old Gustavo Santillan, was writhing in agony on the floor with a gunshot wound to the temple.

He was taken to the Comprehensive Health Centre in Banda but was declared brain dead on arrival. His legal death was certified early on 16th May.

Investigators believe that Santillan – nicknamed Pasty – shot himself after killing Agustina.

Officers from Homicide and Complex Crimes Division in Banda seized a .32 calibre revolver from the crime scene.

Relatives and witnesses told how Agustina had been in a relationship with Santillan until 2021.

Prosecutor Pilar Gallo from the Gender and Family Violence Unit told local media: “The mother, according to what some neighbours had told her, had suspicions that she had got back together with him.”

She discarded the possible explanation of a suicide pact, telling local media: “He had been imprisoned for eight months because he tried to strangle her three times.”

Investigators suspect that Santillan sent the cryptic message to Veronica from Agustina’s phone.

At the same time – at 9.59pm on Sunday – he is suspected to have updated Agustina’s WhatsApp picture to a snap of the couple smiling.

He also changed her status to: “You were everything, my love, but destiny led us to be happy far away, where we couldn’t reach where we wanted to. I love you, Pasty.”

Her body was found two hours later.

Veronica told local media: “On another occasion, he pointed the same revolver at her with which he killed her now.”

He was due to go on trial over the incident, according to Gallo.

Veronica said: “She denied the relationship. She didn’t want to be with him, but he threatened her.”

Agustina’s friend Tamara told local media that two days before the killing, Santillan had approached both of them while they were walking on a rural path and had held a knife to Agustina’s neck.

The under-construction house where Agustina was killed belonged to her family.

Veronica had decided to search for her daughter there because she knew that the teenager had a key to it.

Gallo said: “It was just a room in the middle of the woods. There was no light, no neighbours. That’s why we couldn’t interview anyone at the scene.”

The case has now been closed due to the death of the sole suspect. The prosecutor said: “We have no one to charge.”