DNA tests have confirmed that Cecilia Strzyzowski’s blood was found at her in-laws’ home — they are currently in pre-trial detention with their son and four other alleged collaborators for her murder. 

Strzyzowski was last seen in Resistencia, Chaco province, on June 1. Her 19-year-old husband César Sena stands accused of femicide alongside his parents, Emerenciano Sena and Marcela Acuña. They and four other alleged collaborators are currently in custody. The Senas are a politically powerful family and police raids uncovered evidence — including the blood samples now confirmed to belong to Strzyzowski — at one of their properties. 

Four samples were collected from the floor of a bedroom, two from a bed frame and another three from fabric cut from a mattress that the Senas donated days after she went missing. Scientists compared them with one sample from her mother, Gloria Romero, and said that the probability of a mother-daughter link was over 99.9%. 

“The probability of a maternal link between Romero Gloria Carina and the woman from whom female genetic material was obtained in four (4) different swabs with samples collected on the floor of room #3 with chemiluminescent reaction to the reagent Blue Star Forensic, in portions of two (2) swabs with samples collected from a wooden bed frame and in pieces of mattress fabric in sectors 1 and 2, sector 3, is higher than 99.99%,” concluded the study.  

Some of the blood samples had been collected at a private home belonging to the Senas — according to the prosecutor’s case, that is where the murder allegedly took place on June 2.  Other samples came from fabric cut from a mattress that the Senas donated days after Strzyzowski went missing.

Amnesty International, the international human rights watchdog, recently launched a campaign demanding justice for Strzyzowski and reacted to today’s news with a communiqué.

“The world is watching what happens with the Cecilia case,” Amnesty said on Instagram. “In a context where the accused have strong ties with political power, it’s imperative that the state guarantee an effective, impartial, independent investigation with a gender perspective.”

Strzyzowski’s in-laws, Emerenciano Sena and Acuña, were candidates for Chaco Governor Jorge Capitanich’s Frente Chaqueño in last month’s primary elections but were removed from the ballot after suspicion about their role in Strzyzowski’s disappearance grew. 

You may also be interested in: Amnesty International launches campaign for Cecilia Strzyzowski 

—Herald/Télam