[Sportschosun Jang Jong-ho] A woman in her 20s who was just weeks away from giving birth was abducted and brutally killed in Colombia, shocking the public.
The local community was further stunned after her unborn baby disappeared.
According to foreign media outlets including the New York Post, Maria Camila Potosi, 21, who lived in Polvorines near Cali in southwestern Colombia, went missing after she was last seen on the back of a motorcycle on the 15th, local time.
She was eight months pregnant and only weeks away from giving birth to her first child.
Potosi was found dead on the 20th, several days after she disappeared, about 6 kilometers from her home.
Police said the body, which had been covered with several blankets, showed multiple stab wounds.
Investigators believe the suspect forcibly removed Potosi's fetus before fleeing. They are also focusing on the possibility that at least four people were involved in the crime. Cali authorities have offered a $62,000 reward for information leading to the case's resolution and the arrest of the suspects.
Potosi's mother told a local broadcaster, "I still have not given up hope that my granddaughter is alive," and pleaded, "If the people who have the baby still have a conscience, please return her."
According to the family, Potosi was staying at her boyfriend's family home on the day she disappeared.
She left home after receiving a call from a woman she had met at a recent pregnancy group, who told her, "Let's go together to pick up a baby gift."
The woman was later identified in released CCTV footage as the person who drove the motorcycle carrying Potosi.
Potosi's older sister said, "My younger sister had a prenatal appointment that day," adding, "The baby's father went to the meeting place to pick her up, but he started worrying when she wasn't there."
Police are now tracking the suspects' whereabouts while continuing to investigate whether the fetus survived and how the crime was carried out.
Jang Jong-ho, bellho@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
