This teen woman and mum of one has been found dead inside her freezer five months after she went missing – with investigators believing she was stabbed to death by her boyfriend with a screwdriver.
The dead body of 19-year-old Ana Gabriela Medina Blanco was found at her home in the community of Ciudad Bendita in the municipality of Santiago Marino in the northern Venezuelan state of Aragua on the afternoon of Thursday, 29th July.
She was the mother of a four-year-old son.
It was the young woman’s ex-partner who found Ana Gabriela’s naked body inside her freezer in the foetal position with her hands tied, her head between her legs, and her arms crossed forming an ‘X’.
Investigators later found she had multiple – possibly over 50 – stab wounds all over her body, which they believe were inflicted with a screwdriver.
Her ex-partner, who was not named and who is believed to be her son’s father, said he had been looking for Ana Gabriela for some time, and her neighbours reported last seeing her in February.
As the young woman often travelled to the capital, Caracas, no alarm bells were raised over her disappearance.
Her stepfather also told local media that he had moved to a different part of the country and only maintained sporadic contact with her.
However, as time went on, Ana Gabriela’s ex-partner decided to take matters into his own hands and enter her home to see if he could find any clues about her disappearance.
When he entered the property, he was met by a stench, so he looked in the fridge and then the freezer, where he came across the grim scene. He then went straight to the police.
Ana Gabriela had a new boyfriend, whom her neighbours described as “very jealous and abusive”, reporting that the pair often fought.
Local media named him simply as Josue and said he hailed from Caracas. He is currently the prime suspect in the young woman’s murder and he is believed to be on the run.
Investigators are currently analysing fingerprints left on the freezer, which may definitively link him to the crime.
