Security cameras were one of the keys to reconstructing the last hours of Pepa Almendra Vergara di Benedetto, the 18-year-old Argentine girl who had disappeared in Maldonado and was found dead in the area of Stop 5 at Playa Mansa, in Punta del Este.
The footage allowed investigators to follow part of the young woman’s route from Maldonado to the coast and to focus the search on the spot where she was ultimately located. However, the images also raised questions within her family, who challenged the Police’s interpretation of Pepa’s behavior.
The bus journey that guided the search
Pepa had disappeared on Monday, July 27, after leaving her home in Maldonado. The family had reported her absence and launched an operation to try and locate her.
During the investigation, a key detail emerged: the young woman had boarded a bus from Maldonado to Punta del Este.
The driver who operated that route reportedly recognized Pepa after seeing her in the missing persons notices and provided that information to the authorities. From that detail, investigators were able to steer the search toward Punta del Este.
What the cameras recorded
The Maldonado Police turned to public and private security cameras in an effort to reconstruct the young woman’s journey.
The footage allowed them to place her in the vicinity of the Hotel Enjoy, the former Conrad, and then to track her movement along the coast. Cameras in buildings along the Rambla captured Pepa walking near the beach.
That footage became one of the last clues about her whereabouts. The sequence allowed investigators to establish that she had reached the area of Stop 5 of Playa Mansa, where the search operation was concentrated.
Ultimately, Pepa’s father and others involved in the search spotted a lump among the bushes and alerted the Police. The officers arrived at the site and confirmed that the body belonged to the young woman. The initial forensic examinations determined that she had died only minutes before the discovery.
“It seemed like she was delirious”: what the family said
The images were also analyzed by Pepa’s relatives. According to one of her aunts speaking to Montevideo Portal, the Police conveyed to them an interpretation of Pepa’s behavior that did not align with how those close to her perceived the situation.
“The Police told us that in the images she seemed delirious, but that didn’t sit well with us,” the woman recalled.
The family also remembered Pepa as a reserved young woman who did not usually talk much about her problems, but they asserted that those around her never imagined she would hurt herself.
“She was the kind of person you would never think would harm herself. She wanted life; she really wanted it, but we don’t know what happened,” she said.
In this way, the family expressed their bewilderment at the outcome and asked for answers about what happened during Pepa’s final hours.
What is being investigated about Pepa’s death
The main hypothesis being pursued by authorities points to suicide, although the investigation continues and several forensic analyses still need to be completed to determine the circumstances of the death.
For now, the reconstruction of her last movements makes it possible to say that Pepa left Maldonado, traveled to Punta del Este, and was captured by cameras along the coastal area before being found dead.
The investigation aims to determine what happened between those last images and the moment she was found at Playa Mansa.
Meanwhile, her family is trying to get through the pain and find answers. During the search they had held on to the hope of finding her alive, and after learning the outcome they thanked the support from relatives, friends, and those who joined the operation.
