At 7:15 a.m. as he was walking to the radio station he was intercepted by two gunmen, one of whom shot him twice in the face. The hit men robbed him of papers from his briefcase and fled on a motorcycle.

1996:
On May 29, 1996 Johnny Alberto Merino Arrieta, Eduardo Antonio Campo Carvajal and Eliécer Peña Navarro were sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Johnny Alberto Merino Arrieta, Eduardo Antonio Campo Carvajal and Eliécer Peña Navarro were acquitted in a second hearing in 1996.

Alfredo de Jesús Liévano, alleged perpetrator, was acquitted on October 2, 2002 by the Barranquilla Specialist Court. On October 6, 2003 the acquittal was upheld by the Barranquilla High Court.

Alfonso Zapata was placed in preventive custody on June 30, 1999 for the alleged offense of aggravated homicide. On February 28, 2000 the order was overturned and he was released.

Alfredo de Jesús Liévano Alcocer was placed in preventive custody on July 5, 2000 for the alleged offense of aggravated homicide. He was later acquitted and released.

On June 5, 2002 the Attorney General’s Office abandoned the investigation against Bernardo Hoyos, a priest and former mayor of Barranquilla, the alleged mastermind, “in application of the ‘in dubio pro reo’ (deciding in favor of the accused in doubtful cases) as the evidence offered did not allow him to be directly and without any doubt to be linked to the crime investigated.”

On October 1, 2007 and at the IAPA’s request the Attorney General’s Office overturned the suspension of the investigation that had been rapidly shelved in February 2006 and ordered new evidence to be sought.

On February 21, 2006 the investigation into this murder was halted.

In January 2006 the Attorney General’s Office agreed to work on this case.

On March 11, 1997 the IAPA submitted the case to the IACHR. Case No. 11.731.