On Wednesday of this week, the Bogotá Criminal Magistrate imposed preventive detention in a detention center on Juan Carlos Suárez Ortiz, one of the two people charged with the murder of Jaime Esteban Moreno on October 31st. The judge agreed with the attorney general’s office and victims’ representatives that Suarez is a danger to the community and someone who is likely not to appear in judicial proceedings. “The considerations made to argue for not appearing in court to serve a sentence and to frame it as a danger to the community are fully integrated,” he said.
Togada argued that Suarez acted maliciously and premeditatedly with the clear intention of killing the 20-year-old University of Los Andes student, and acted with contempt for human life and without a minimum of remorse. “Even when he saw Moreno drowning in his own blood, covering his face and convulsing, he did not stop the blows, but he returned and threw two more kicks,” he emphasized.
It further stated that the 27-year-old acted with a lack of respect for authority and with the intention of evading justice, including fleeing the scene of the crime “as soon as he heard the siren,” but he did not go so far as to “share” or “bragging” about what happened. Suarez is charged with being an accomplice to aggravated murder and could be sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison. At his arraignment, he denied the charges.
“After you’ve done it, please calm down,” the judge said. “It would send a disastrous and false message that freedom precautions will not be imposed,” it said, adding that “society would be in grave danger (…) because (Suarez Ortiz) could face a similar scenario and end someone’s life.” Additionally, Suarez believed that his freedom would threaten the integrity of his friend Juan David Cárdenas, with whom Moreno left the Before nightclub on Halloween night and who tried to defend Moreno on the night of the event.
The court also emphasized that the defense’s claims have always strayed far from being proven, such as when they claim that the attack on Moreno was not coordinated between the two men or that Suarez delivered a “light” blow. Meanwhile, criminal lawyer Francisco Bernate, a spokesperson for the victims, argued that preventive detention was ideal.
Images recorded by a surveillance camera three blocks away from the nightclub show Suarez lunging at Moreno as Cardenas tries to stop him. The assailant knocked Jaime down and hit him with fists and kicks. Cárdenas managed to stop the assault, but another man dressed in black and wearing a rabbit mask arrived and resumed the assault while being watched by a woman in a blue dress who had arrived at the scene. Cardenas tries to protect his friend but fails. At 3:05 a.m., the two attackers and the woman returned the way they had come, but Moreno was still lying on the ground, unresponsive.
Suárez was arrested on the day of the incident, along with two women in blue dresses, Karedima Paola Fernández Zurbaran and Berta Parra Torres, but both were released as they had no connection to the incident. Eleven days later, Ricardo González Castro, the man wearing the rabbit mask, surrendered to authorities in the Caribbean city of Cartagena, more than 1,000 kilometers from Bogotá. On the same day, the prosecutor’s office indicted him on the same charges as Suarez as the second co-author of the murder case. González also did not accept the charges.
The prosecutor’s office also requested preventive detention, alleging that González’s actions included fraud and intent to harm the victim, and that he is a danger to the community, has no roots in the community, and is attempting to evade justice.
The defense said the defendant had no history of arguments or fights and that he arrived in Bogota from his native Cartagena in December 2024 “in search of an opportunity” and surrendered voluntarily. González was working at a hot dog shop in the San Victorino neighborhood in central Bogotá. A hearing to decide whether to send him to preventive detention is scheduled for the morning of this Thursday, November 13th.
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