Maitena Luz Rojas Garófalo, a 14-year-old missing since Wednesday in Merlo, Buenos Aires province, was found dead on Thursday. Police sources stated that evidence points to suicide, though investigators are probing possible third-party involvement through foreign contacts on her phone. Authorities ordered an urgent autopsy.
Maitena Luz Rojas Garófalo left home Wednesday morning headed to Escuela N°16 in Merlo with her 17-year-old sister. She told her to go ahead while she greeted a friend, but never entered the school or returned home. Her family reported her missing that day, prompting a large search involving police, forensics, and prosecutors.
Surveillance cameras captured her at 8:20 a.m. walking along Bicentenario Street toward Hospital Héroes de Malvinas, and at 9 a.m. at Kilómetro 34.5 station on the Sarmiento line. She boarded the train at 9:15 and got off in General Las Heras around 10 a.m., where her body was found. She left her phone at home, which had chats and calls from foreign numbers with fake names, according to her mother: “We discovered that people whose age or sex we don't know [...] induced Maitena to leave voluntarily”.
Police spokespeople said: “Everything indicates she took her own life”. The case shifted from missing person to suicide investigation, but experts are examining the phone for possible incitements. The autopsy aims to rule out foul play. She carried $40,000 and a loaded SUBE card, plus farewell letters.
