Body of Colombian Child Missing Since February Found in Venezuela

BOGOTA – Colombian police reported Tuesday that the body of a 9-year-old Colombian boy, missing since last Feb. 10 from the municipality of Tibu in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander, has been found in Venezuela.

The youngster Luis Fernando Lambartines Calvo was found “dismembered and in an advanced state of decomposition” inside a bag in a grave at the Encontrados Municipal Cemetery in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, police said in a communique.

The discovery of the little boy was made public by an anonymous source seeking the reward of 10 million Colombian pesos (some $3,730) offered by the authorities to anyone who could help find him.

According to preliminary investigations, the day the child disappeared he was with a woman he called “aunt” and with whom he got into a black vehicle, police said.

From that moment the investigation began that led to the arrest of Adriana Dariana Portilla, former lover of the boy’s mother.

The first reports in Venezuelan media said the accused had demanded a ransom of 100 million Colombian pesos (some $37,278), about which the police have given no further details.

Upon hearing that someone had helped find the body, Portilla admitted what she had done and directed police to the exact location of the body, which was identified by the boy’s mother.

Colombia’s Caracol Radio has said that police are investigating “whether this is a crime of passion” or whether the woman had some other motive for killing the child