Crime, Murder

2 Suspects Arrested In Lawyer's Brutal Murder

Many thought this case would go unsolved, but police have already made some arrests.

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Following last week’s depressing news on prominent expat attorney John Ralston Pate’s savage murder in Venezuela, there have been some developments in the case. Many thought that Pate’s fatal stabbing case would remain unsolved — after all, 90 percent of homicides in the crime-ridden country do, and even we had doubts when we wrote that it would be “terrible if his death becomes yet another one of Venezuela’s many unsolved murders” — but the South American country seems to be using all of its resources to bring Pate’s killers to justice.

Fox News Latino has details on the goings-on that have occurred since Pate’s death:

Venezuela’s Attorney General, Luisa Ortega Díaz announced on Tuesday during her weekly radio show that Juan Carlos Pimentel Pacheco, 24, and Antoni José Rodríguez Moreno, 26 have been arrested in connection with the killing of John Ralston Pate, 70.

In what appears to have been an attempted robbery or kidnapping that went wrong, Pate and his girlfriend, the 67-year-old Sally Elizabeth Evans, were attacked at the Vista Real building in the Lomas de San Ramón neighborhood of the city and stabbed repeatedly.

A website affiliated with the government of President Nicolás Maduro, Aporrea.org, said a third man had also been detained in connection with the Pate case but did not name him.

No details have been released by police as to why Pimentel and Rodríguez were under suspicion for Pate’s murder, but according to Ortega, they were to be arraigned yesterday. The Apporea site also stated that Pimentel’s and Rodríguez’s bank accounts had been frozen. Per Fox News Latino, several opposition groups have complained that arrests are made only in high-profile murder cases, and Pate’s seems to be one of them.

The Associated Press noted that following Pate’s killing, the U.S. Embassy in Caracas reminded Americans that the city is, and will continue to be, a dangerous place.

It will be interesting to see how John Ralston Pate’s murder case plays out on an international stage. Our condolences remain with his family, friends, and colleagues.

2 arrested in connection with murder of US lawyer in Caracas [Associated Press]
Two arrested in killing of American lawyer in Venezuela [Fox News Latino]
Detenidos tres presuntos responsables de la muerte del estadounidense John Ralston Pate [Apporea]
2 suspects arrested in home invasion slaying of American lawyer in Venezuela
[ABA Journal]

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Earlier: Prominent American Lawyer Murdered Abroad In Kidnapping Attempt Gone Bad

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