Blanca Arellano, a 51-year-Mexican, was looking for love. After meeting a Peruvian man on a gaming app online, she traveled more than 3,000 miles just to meet him—she thought he could be the one.
On the last day of October, Arellano took a flight from Mexico City to Lima, Peru to meet Juan Pablo Jesús Villafuerte, a 37-year-old Peruvian. Her final destination was the beach city of Huacho, where Villafuerte lived, from where her family last heard from her on November 7. At the time, she talked to her niece Karla Arellano, and said that her relationship with Villafuerte was going well and that she was in love, according to authorities investigations.
Videos by VICE
But two weeks later, after no word from Arellano, her niece called for help on Twitter.
“I never thought I would be in this situation, but today I’m asking for your support to spread this post and find one of the most loved and important people of my life. My aunt Blanca Olivia Arellano Gutiérrez disappeared on Monday November 07 in Peru. We fear for her life,” the post read.
Arellano and Villafuerte had been in an online relationship for several months, according to her family, before she left for Peru. She often shared her feelings towards Villafuerte and said she was “happy and at peace” with her relationship.
But when she went quiet, her niece Karla was the first to suspect something was wrong.
“I reached out to Juan P [Villafuerte] since he was the only one she knew in Peru and that’s where our fear started,” her niece wrote on Twitter.
Arellano’s niece shared a screengrab of her initial conversation with Villafuerte, where she asked him if he could ask her aunt to call.
“Is she ok?” she asked.
Villafuerte said he had stopped talking to her several days back and said “she decided to leave because I couldn’t offer the life she wanted, got bored of me and left to find a plane ticket back to Mexico.”
“I hope she is doing well, but my role here is over. I don’t know anything else from here and I’m saying this with sadness. I’m sure her phone is not working or she’s out of battery. Take care and I hope she gets safe back home,” said Villafuerte in his last exchange with Arellano’s family.
Peruvian authorities launched an investigation after the post was shared thousands of times. On November 10 they made an ugly discovery: a severed finger on the beach of Huacho. The fingertips had been removed and it still had a silver ring on it, according to investigators.
A day later, the authorities found a faceless head and then an arm. The next day a torso without any organs inside appeared on the same beach. They eventually identified Arellano via her family by the ring on the finger that was recovered.
On November 17, Peruvian authorities arrested Villafuerte as the main suspect in Arellano’s murder.
“Juan Pablo Villafuerte was arrested on charges of human organs trafficking,” Peru General Attorney said to local news on Monday.
Villafuerte, a medical school student, reportedly posted TikTok videos of human organs for days after Arellano’s disappearance. Investigators said they found traces of blood all over his apartment.
A similar case played out recently in Colombia after a California man traveled to the South American country, and went out to meet a date he made via Tinder. After family members and friends reported his disappearance on November 10, Paul Nguyen’s body was found in the city of Medellin.
