The architect who hired hitmen for inheritance

The architect who hired hitmen for inheritance: The triple homicide of María del Pilar Pérez López

A mother ordered the murder of her ex-husband, his partner, and her niece's boyfriend on the same street in Santiago. All to keep properties she believed belonged to her. But the hitman was arrested 24 hours later, confessed everything, and an innocent woman nearly spent years in prison for his crimes.

In this episode, we explore the contradictions that dismantled the operation: 80 recorded calls between the mastermind and the hitman, a handwritten plan detailing every room of the target house, and an accidental murder that was not in the original plan. How did a respectable architect, daughter of a successful immigrant, end up sentenced to life in prison?

Victims: Francisco Zamorano, Héctor Arévalo, Diego Smich
Date: April 23, 2008, and November 4, 2008
Location: Santiago, Chile
Status: Sentenced to 40 years effective, January 2011

- 80 calls between María del Pilar and the hitman Rus documented ongoing coordination post-murders.
- Claudio Sosa, completely innocent, was arrested and pressured into confessing to a crime he did not commit.
- A handwritten plan found in the hitman's house detailed the safe, rooms, and exact layout of the target.
- Diego Smich died in an unforeseen struggle, it was not a planned murder, which generated unusual legal tension in the sentencing.

María del Pilar Pérez López, Santiago, qualified homicide, hitman, property crime, 2008, forensic investigation, hired killer, criminal mystery, Chilean justice, Spanish true crime

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