Jorge Ugalde, brother-in-law of victim Eduardo Cruz-Coke, was formalized for the triple homicide of Cruz-Coke and his two 17-year-old sons, which occurred on October 18 in La Reina. Prosecutors charge premeditation and treachery with an economic motive tied to a family inheritance, while the defense denies the patrimonial basis. The court ordered preventive detention for 180 days.
The crime took place on October 18 in a property at La Cañada 6652, La Reina, where Eduardo Cruz-Coke (62), a cameraman, was found with at least six stab wounds to the neck, not self-inflicted. His 17-year-old twin sons were discovered asphyxiated in the master bedroom, with traces of submission drugs in their bodies according to toxicology reports, facilitating their lack of resistance.
Jorge Ugalde (59), a psychologist and brother-in-law of the victim married to his sister Trinidad Cruz-Coke, was arrested on Monday after PDI reports linked his DNA to blood samples on door handles and other areas of the house. The Eastern Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office, led by Carolina Remy-Maillet and Francisco Lanas, presented videos of Ugalde walking his dog with a cardboard bag at 18:33, possibly to dispose of a knife used in the attack. In a call to Carabineros at 19:30, Ugalde reported coldly: “They were killed”.
Among the evidence, Ugalde bought a Halloween-style mask (described as gorilla or monkey) that morning, with blood traces found in his room, and a fake pistol discovered at the scene to simulate a robbery, a hypothesis quickly dismissed. A late 2024 poisoning attempt against Cruz-Coke involved Ugalde, per unreported background.
The motive points to inheritance disputes: in 2014, Trinidad and Ugalde formed a company with Cruz-Coke's parents, who held over 80% of assets valued at more than one billion pesos after deaths in 2017 and 2022. Querellante lawyer Libertad Triviño highlighted this feud, but defender Marcelo Castillo rejected it: “That's totally ridiculous, he has 2% in the company... No one kills for 20 million”.
Testimonies include a female voice shouting “Eduardo” and Ugalde seen with an unidentified woman. Trinidad is imputed and has given a statement, with suspicions of a role in planning; prosecutors are examining her communications. Judge Carolina Araya weighed the audiovisual evidence to order preventive detention, without yet fixing the economic motive, to be deepened in 180 days of investigation. Ugalde, found meditating with marijuana jars, denies the charges and will cooperate with proceedings.