The Los Lagos Guarantee Court extended the detention of the three children and ex-son-in-law of Mapuche leader Julia Chuñil, accused in her disappearance and presumed death. The formalization hearing was postponed until Thursday, and her identity card was found in one of her son's homes in Temuco. Prosecutors requested communication restrictions among the suspects to safeguard the investigation.
Julia Chuñil, a 72-year-old Mapuche leader, vanished on November 8, 2024, in the Máfil commune in the Los Ríos Region, while searching for stray animals. According to neighbors, she told one she wouldn't return until she found them. In the early hours of Wednesday, January 14, 2026, the Los Ríos Regional Prosecutor's Office, along with Carabineros, arrested her three children—Pablo San Martín Chuñil, Javier Troncoso Chuñil, and Jeannette Troncoso Chuñil—and ex-son-in-law Bermar Flavio Bastías Bastidas in operations in Máfil and Temuco.
During the detention review at the Los Lagos Guarantee Court, the judge upheld the legality of the arrests despite defense claims, which challenged the detention and sought to disqualify prosecutor Tatiana Esquivel over alleged unlawful coercion, an argument dismissed. Prosecutor Esquivel described the probe as 'complex, secretive, and reserved,' with sufficient evidence to charge the children with parricide and the ex-son-in-law with qualified homicide with treachery.
Defense attorneys, including Karina Riquelme for the children and the Public Criminal Defense for the ex-son-in-law, argued they lacked time to review the case files provided that morning, noting the file contains 'hundreds of proceedings.' The formalization hearing, initially set for Wednesday, was rescheduled to Thursday, January 15, at 11:00 a.m.
A key discovery that day: Carabineros found Chuñil's original identity card in Pablo San Martín's home in Temuco. The prosecutor requested communication bans among the suspects to 'prevent undue coordination and ensure individual free exercise of defense rights,' a measure approved by the court, which extended detention until Thursday. The victim's body remains unfound, and the investigation proceeds with ongoing inquiries.
