The boyfriend of an Argentinian model allegedly murdered in her home in Mexico three years ago has been arrested while hiding out illegally in the US, according to authorities.
Juan Manuel Reverter, 38 and also from Argentina, is accused of murdering Agostina Jalabert, 31, in February 2023 and then leaving her hanging from a towel rack in their Playa del Carmen apartment to look like a suicide, KOIN reported.
He was arrested by a team from US Marshals, Homeland Security and Interpol in central Oregon Thursday morning, having been in the US on a six-month visa since August 2024.
“In violation of our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said, confirming his arrest.
An Interpol red notice had been out for Reverter’s capture since December last year and authorities suggested he may have fled to either the US or Belize, Guatemala or Argentina, La Nacion reported.
“For us, this is like Christmas,” said the model’s sister, Candela, who had first found her “soul mate” sister’s body.
“Three years counted in hours waiting for justice. The day has arrived,” Candela and her other sister, Camila, posted on social media.
Agostina was found hanging from a towel rack in a Playa del Carmen apartment on Feb. 18, 2023.
Prosecutors said Reverter killed her and tried to frame her death as a suicide.
Agostina was “tortured, burned, abused [and] beaten with blows to the head,” her mom Carolina told the Argentine network América TV in March 2023, according to Mitre.
Candela was just 21 when she found the body, soon after her sister had sent an alarming text to her mom, according to the family.
“Mom, I feel ugly, I feel like I deserve men who hurt me,”
Candela made the discovery after realizing her sister, whom she described as her “soulmate,” was missing after staying with the couple.
“I asked him, ‘Okay where is my sister?” she told KOIN. “Where is Tina?”
Reverter was tight-lipped, and Candela opened the door — where she saw her sister’s body.
Mexican authorities initially described Jalabert’s death as a suicide before they reclassified it to femicide.
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