Murder of Roxana Vargas

Roxana Vargas ( – July 2008) was a Venezuelan journalism student at the Universidad Católica Santa Rosa whose body was found on 14 July 2008 with a head wound in the Parque Caiza sector of Sucre Municipality, Miranda State. Vargas, aged 19, had last been seen on 12 July. She had been a patient of psychiatrist Edmundo Chirinos from October 2007 to April 2008.

Investigation

During the investigation, authorities reported evidence linking Chirinos with the student's death, including blood stains from Vargas in the psychiatrist's office and a blog kept by Roxana Vargas in which she discussed a romantic relationship with Chirinos. At Chirinos's residence, investigators reported finding 1,200 photographs and videos of women either naked or in underwear, many of whom were patients of the psychiatrist who appeared to have been sedated or asleep in the consulting room when the images were taken.

Conviction

Chirinos was detained on 1 August 2008. During the trial, 14 cases of women were mentioned who, according to the prosecution, had been raped by Chirinos while sedated during medical consultations.

In September 2010, the 5th Trial Court of Caracas sentenced Chirinos to 20 years in prison for homicide. Chirinos was incarcerated at Yare III prison. During his imprisonment, he suffered a stroke that produced a subdural edema. As a result, he reportedly had difficulty speaking and had to use a wheelchair. When Edmundo Chirinos left prison he was reported by El Universal to have walked out rather than left in a wheelchair, an outcome that the mother of victim Roxana Vargas described as an injustice. In March 2012, he was granted house arrest on grounds of his advanced age.

See also

• Edmundo Chirinos
• Femicide
• Violence against women