Jhonier Leal Hernández accepted the charges against him for the murder of renowned stylist Mauricio Leal, his brother, and his mother, Marleny Hernández Tabares. The decision to accept responsibility for the two murders was made, according to what he said, after being advised by his lawyer after the hearing in which the Prosecutor's Office presented a large amount of evidence against him. Here we tell him who the confessed murderer is.
Jhonier Leal, like his brother, is also a stylist and has had a hairdressing salon for 25 years in the Polo neighborhood of Bogotá. The place is recognized for doing keratin, balayage and shatush treatments. He was also related to the premises of his brother Mauricio, so much so that he publicly denounced a massive resignation of stylists after the first details of the crime were known. Around eight hairdressers, apparently, left their positions, while the Prosecutor's Office carried out the investigation work.
Throughout the investigation, the Prosecutor's Office has collected testimonies and voices from workers at the hairdressing salons owned by the late Mauricio Leal. According to what one of the employees said, Mauricio said that Jhonier "was the black sheep, that he was selfish and they always had quarrels because Mauricio was the closest to the mother, he was the favorite." Likewise, the worker assured that it was evident that "Jhonier was very envious of Mauricio, both for work and for the family issue, I saw it, it was evident."
The worker's stories maintain that the relationship between the Leal brothers was not good and was surrounded by Jhonier's envy. According to the testimony of another friend of Mauricio, the celebrated stylist had managed to achieve triumphs such as buying his own apartment in the north of Bogotá and was looking for others, such as "having his own book, his makeup brand, his clothes, even a brand of keratins." ”, something that, according to the witness, Jhonier did not take well, despite the fact that Mauricio had promised him that all the profits from a new floor of the hairdressing salon would be for him, since he was not going through his best economic moment.
Mauricio Leal's friend also said that the late stylist had told him on one occasion that "when he was a child, his mother tried to commit suicide twice, once he tried to hang himself and on another he ate some pasta." According to that testimony, this would have happened when Mauricio was eight years old and at that time, "both the father and Jhonier abandoned them because of her having tried that."
For his part, José Jair Ruiz, the driver of Mauricio Leal and who found the bodies of the stylist and Marleny Hernández, described Jhonier as a “good father”, he said that, “he loves his family, his whole family, noble person with a very good heart”. Likewise, Ruiz said that Jhonier, before going to live with his mother and brother to commit the crime, lived with his second wife, with whom he currently had a son who is approximately 15 years old. The driver's testimony ensures that the son of the second wife was raised most of his life by Jhonier. That stepson is now of legal age and is also a stylist.
On his part, his current wife, with whom he no longer lived, stated that she met him 30 years ago in Cali, when they were approximately 17 years old. At that time Betancourt, according to her statement, worked in a beauty salon owned by the father of his first child, where the late Mauricio came to work helping as an assistant and as a makeup artist. There he also met who years later would be his partner, Jhonier, as he assures that he brought the stylist lunch every day.
The friendship between Mauricio and the woman grew to the point of being close to the other's family, until, in 2001, Jhonier Leal and her became boyfriends. After five years of relationship, the woman assures, she became pregnant with the son she had with him, at which time Mauricio decided to go live and work in Bogotá. By then, the couple, who lived in a free union, decided to marry civilly.
Carlos Andrés García is the other brother of Jhonier and the murdered Mauricio. Carlos is currently imprisoned in the Jamundí prison (Valle del Cauca). The Prosecutor's Office interviewed him in his place of detention and the man assured them that he lived with his two brothers until he was 14 years old, after they arrived in Cali around 1991. “I observed that they got along very well, they played soccer together, the The three of us grew up together and got along well. There were no rivalries or anything, they didn't even rival each other professionally. My mother loved us all very much and equally, ”said García.
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