During the case, nine people that apparently could have helped the investigation have been killed and to date nobody knows who is responsible for these murders.

They all had something in common: they would all have been key witnesses in determining the mastermind behind this crime. Four of them shared something more: they had already hinted at some details in the murder to the Prosecutor’s office.

The series of selective murders, according to various statements in the investigation, appeared to have begun three years ago, on December 31, 2002, one day after the killing of the Assistant Director of La Patria. That day, two hit men killed the director of the Manizales Prison, José Aristides Orozco Londoño, in the area surrounding the jail.

The relationship between this death and Sierra Hernández’s murder is based on a statement made by a witness, also killed, who affirmed in his account to the Prosecutor’s office that Orozco Londoño was the one who hired the hit men to commit the murder.

It is thought that when the criminals that planned the journalist’s murder found out that the police had arrested the killer, they decided to kill the prison director to avoid being snitched.

According to officials, the statement that brought the prison director into the scene lost weight since the supposed witness contradicted himself and asked for money in exchange for information.

Despite this incident, like Sierra Hernández’s murder, the killing of Orozco Londoño is also unsolved and the possible relationship between the two murders has not been established by the courts.

Four dead hit men

The list of people murdered continues with the killing of four individuals known as the alleged hit men from the Galería neighborhood, who were allegedly kidnapped and killed by members of the AUC’s Cacique Pipintá Front.

The violent death of the four occurred on February 16. Two of the victims were found in the Nuevo Horizonte neighborhood, in Chinchiná, and the other two in the La Bocatoma neighborhood, between Manizales and La Violeta. Each body was found with a sign saying “AUC Present. Death to Hit Men, Kidnappers, and Drug Dealers.”

The victims were identified as Gilver Mejía Delgado, a.k.a “Gilver”; Giovanny López Castro, a.k.a “Giovanny”; Carlos Iván Montoya Hidalgo, a.k.a. “Perill”; and Ferley Alberto Villa Bedoya, a.k.a “El Tuso,” were found in rural parts of the town of Chinchiná.

According to reports, these four individuals worked for Luis Miguel Tabares Hernández, a.k.a. “Tilín”, alleged boss of the hit men in the Mercado Plaza area. According to investigators, the four had participated in planning to kill Sierra Hernández.

Days after the event, the illegal armed group sent a press release declaring that the people killed were part of gang of criminals that took advantage of innocent people like the Assistant Director of La Patria and the prison director.

One of the theories surrounding these deaths is that there was a pact between Tilín and the AUC to eliminate these people and share control in the Galería neighborhood. However, there are even people that add that behind this pact there allegedly was the desire of Tabares Hernández to eliminate all those involved in Orlando Sierra’s death.

The Hostess and the Extortionist

Adding to these homicides are those of a hostess, extortionist and a delinquent that had been tied to the investigation of Sierra Hernández’s murder. The first was the employee of one of Tilín’s bars, who testified against her boss stating that she saw him hand the gun over to Luis Fernando Soto Zapata, the hit man that shot Orlando Sierra.

According to the lady, this happened in ‘Pereque’s meat shop, located in Mercado Plaza in Manizales and, also, according to her story, the murder was ordered by ‘El Picao,’ who had asked that “they do it quickly, before elections, because a reporter had information on him.” This statement is in the case files.

After this murder, a man was killed on June 13, 2002, in a residence located on Avenue 17, Street 20, in the Galería neighborhood of Manizales, after several suspects entered his home. Officials had issued an arrest warrant for this individual to investigate his involvement in the murder of the Assistant Director of La Patria.

Along with this group of people killed there was also an extortionist who was killed at the end of July 2002, in the City of Neira. The victim was identified as John Jairo Giraldo Carvajal, who told the Prosecutor’s office that he had details on the journalist’s murder.

Giraldo Carvajal spoke to the prosecution when he was in jail in Cartago serving time for extortion. The Prosecutor’s office approached him after they had heard that there was somebody in that prison with information about Sierra Hernández’s murder. After several visits by detectives that person said that an employee of Tilín, who knew the whole group of hit men in Galería, told him details about the planning and execution of the crime.

Months after this alleged witness testified against the people involved in the murder, he was released from jail and returned to Neira, where he lived before being sent to prison.

Giraldo Carvajal had only been out of jail for a short time. One day a group of people arrived at his house and after identifying themselves as alleged police officers, forced him to leave the house and they killed him outside.

The Key Witness

Finally, the list of nine murders is complete with that of Marco Aurelio Candelo, a witness who testified to the Prosecutor’s office that Orlando Sierra’s murder was ordered by the Men’s Prison Director, José Aristides Orozco Londoño, and testified that he heard that the hit was paid for by politician Ferney Tapasco.

Candelo, who was working as a bodyguard for a gambling company, was one of those who testified in detail everything about the journalist’s murder, which he heard in one of Tilín’s supposed bars.

After giving details and mentioning names and nicknames of those that allegedly planned the journalist’s murder, his testimony was entered into evidence. However, he contradicted himself during a second statement and apparently asked for money in exchange for information. Marco Aurelio Candelo was killed on September 15, 2002 on a bus by a hit man who fired at him at point blank.

Thus, three years after Orlando Sierra’s murder, of all the witnesses identified by the Prosecutor’s office in trying to solve the crime, only two are still alive and one of them already retracted their story. The others who would have been key witnesses in finding the mastermind were killed and brought with them all that they knew to the grave.