Monday, January 9, 2023 | 4:00 p.m.
While Marcia Noemí Mattoso (27) recovers at her parents’ house under strong police custody, the attacker Adrián Zuachzer (26) remains a fugitive and is very active on WhatsApp and Facebook, from where he communicates with the victim, family members and even with the press.
In this regard, after confirming that Mattoso was discharged last Thursday, the defendant contacted this correspondent through Messenger and assured that he will appear before the Court this week in the company of his lawyer. Already in previous days, Zuachzer had anticipated that he would turn himself in after his ex-concubine was discharged. He remains to know if she will keep her promise.
On December 22 at night, the hitherto fugitive attacked the woman in the Villa Bonita square, Campo Ramón municipality. Neither the previous complaints of gender violence nor the current ban on rapprochement prevented the attacker from keeping his word and trying to kill her ex, as he had threatened several times. The three sons of the defendant and the victim witnessed the violent act.
Since then, the attacker has been on the run and remains very active on social media. Mattoso suffered 13 stab wounds to the chest, legs, arms and back, for which the worst was initially feared.
But the commitment and care of the professionals at Hospital Samic de Oberá, as well as the prayers of family and friends, produced a true miracle and the improvement was notable. After being discharged, she was transferred to the house of her parents, in Picada Mandarina, Campo Ramón, where her children are also.
Reproaches and requests for forgiveness
After the attack, Zuachzer fled and never stopped contacting the victim, alternating reproaches with requests for forgiveness. “Why did you do that”, he wrote to Mattoso at 12:12 a.m. on Friday, December 23, less than an hour after the brutal femicide attempt.
Meanwhile, at 03:58 he sent another message as if wanting to justify himself: “Why did you send someone to go if you were going to be with that garbage, what do you have in your head”, referring to the fact that the woman would have summoned him, supposedly, but when he arrived he was with another man.
Days later, with Mattoso still in intensive care, he contacted again but in a conciliatory and sorry tone. “You will get out of that, if you leave I’ll go with you, I swear and I love you, I never thought we would get to that. You are strong, you will be fine, ”he said.
These messages were received on the victim’s cell phone and the family handed them over to the investigators. In parallel, Misiones Police Cybercrime has been tracking the fugitive, although so far he managed to mock the authorities.
Minutes before the New Year, he wrote to his ex: “I know you’re having a shitty end of the year, but I wish you the best in the world and be very happy.”
“Sorry, sorry for doing that to you, I will pay with my life, I promise you Noe,” he said in another message, adding: “You will see me in a drawer because what I did is unforgivable.” “I just want you to know that I love you and I love my children (…) Please visit me at my grave,” she insisted.
Even, after four minutes of 2023, he wished “Happy New Year” to the woman who days before he stabbed 13 times.
“I did it and I have to pay”
Adrián Zuachzer has been on the run for 18 days, which requires resources and certain logistics. Clearly, he is not hiding in the bush, as his constant activity on social media shows.
In parallel, from the outset the Misiones Police have been reporting that they are following in their footsteps, although so far the search has been sterile. Meanwhile, the fugitive contacted this journalist on three occasions to tell his version of the events and acknowledged his guilt. “I did it and I have to pay. I don’t want to live my life in hiding,” he noted.
On the other hand, he denied that he had crossed into Brazil, he said that he is sorry for what he did and that he will turn himself in, but only once his ex is discharged, which has already happened. He tried to justify himself by saying that Mattoso provoked him and even threatened him, since he wanted to keep the house they were building in Villa Bonita.
He also denied the girl’s father who treated him as lazy, while accusing him of a serious crime to the detriment of his daughters.
“It was the spur of the moment”
Zuachzer stated that a month before the event, she had a strong argument with her ex and he left the room they rented in Villa Bonita. According to what he said, Mattoso intended to keep the house they were building in Villa Bonita.
“But two days before what happened, he brought me food and mate, and said that we would return and that he continue doing the bathroom in the house that was about to be finished. She provoked me because she ordered me to go, and a few days before she threatened me that she was going to send two or three to beat me up and take away the key to my own house, ”she indicated via Messenger.
Immediately, he clarified: “But I had no intention of doing it. It was the rage of the moment, that I saw him drinking and on his lap (by another man with whom the victim was in the Villa Bonita plaza, supposedly). And what the parents say, that I am a thief, is a lie. How the daughter would be with a thief and beater for nine years, if we even built a house. Why don’t they talk about what happened when she was younger. The father is not perfect.
At another point, he stated that he did not escape to Brazil. “I didn’t leave. I am in Misiones because I am going to turn myself in,” she said.
promised to give himself up
The fugitive also denied that years ago he had burned the house they lived in in Alba Posse, as the victim’s parents mentioned.
“That’s a lie, the house burned down when we weren’t there. The Alba Posse policemen know very well how it happened and I went to declare everything. We killed a pig with my brother, we finished, I left the fire on and went to my mom’s. And she (by Mattoso) was in the square. I did not burn the house down,” she stated.
And he added: “If it was as the father says, she would not be with me. There is no logic in what she said that rubbish. I have always worked and I am an official bricklayer. I just want them to see that I am not a thief or a beater and that I have never set a fire in a house”.
Prior to the discharge of his ex, Zuachzer indicated that “if she (by Mattoso) leaves the hospital, I will turn myself in. I regret what I did and I have to pay my sentence.”
When asked if he is aware that when he surrenders he will be detained, since he himself acknowledged responsibility for the act, he replied: “Yes, I know, from 8 to 25 years old. But I did and I have to pay. I don’t want to live my life in hiding.”
For the aforementioned amount of the sentence that would correspond to him, it is presumed that he would have the advice of a lawyer.
Also, after his ex was discharged, he stated that he will turn himself in in the next few days in the company of his lawyer.
A relationship tainted by conflicts
A few days ago, in dialogue with this newspaper, the parents of Marcia Noemí Mattoso recounted that over the years of living with the aggressor, the victim filed several complaints of violence and a ban on approaching was currently in force. It is also true that on more than one occasion they resumed a clearly toxic relationship. The last complaint, the last alert dismissed by the authorities, occurred in early December.
“He manipulated my daughter a lot and she didn’t see reason. That’s why I went to the police station and asked to be arrested. He even sent threatening messages to us. But they did nothing, he continued free and attacked my daughter in front of everyone, ”said Mariela, the victim’s mother.
For his part, Carlos Mattoso mentioned that the attacker “did not even respect his children. He never liked working and lived on his salary; but when the money ran out, he was crazy ”.
In this context, concerned about the situation of their eldest daughter, the week before the event they asked another daughter to accompany her in Villa Bonita, at least for a few days. They never imagined that the girl would witness the brutal attack.
In this sense, the father begged that “now the authorities take seriously what he is capable of doing, because for nine years he made my daughter’s life hell.”
For her part, the mother remarked that “there were complaints and restrictions, but the Police only started to move now. When I asked for help for my daughter, the Villa Bonita police station told me that they couldn’t do it without the authorization of a judge. Then the worst has to happen for them to act”.
