The case of Makarena Tolosa, a 29-year-old Chilean woman who has been missing since May, took a disturbing turn after two of her uncles were arrested and placed in pretrial detention for their alleged involvement in a kidnapping resulting in homicide.
But the investigation is not only trying to determine what happened to the young woman. The Prosecutor’s Office is also investigating a particularly disturbing relationship between Makarena and one of her relatives: according to the information presented during the investigation, the man allegedly made payments to his own niece in exchange for having sexual relations with her.
According to the case file, 49 bank transfers were allegedly made by one of the suspects to Makarena beginning in 2025. The Prosecutor’s Office considers these transactions to be among the elements that must be clarified in order to establish the relationship between the two and the possible motive behind the crime.
Makarena was last seen on 8 May in Pudahuel, Santiago de Chile, when she met with her uncles. Security cameras recorded the three of them together before they boarded a bus. After that moment, she was never located again.
Investigators maintain that the two men have crucial information about what happened that night. During the initial interrogations, however, they maintained an attitude that the Prosecutor’s Office described as little or no cooperation.
Now, both have provided a different account.
One of the uncles said that the three of them left together, but that Makarena had decided to part ways with them and continue on her own: “The three of us left on foot; at one point, Makarena said she was going to Pablo VI and left”.
The other gave a similar account and said that Makarena “had already split off at a corner earlier”.
The Prosecutor’s Office, however, does not consider these statements sufficient to explain what happened afterward.
The regional prosecutor for the West, Marcos Pastén, stated that the suspects “have lied” and that, instead of helping to clarify the facts, they may have tried to conceal information relevant to the investigation.
The investigators’ hypothesis is that the fear that the relationship between Makarena and one of her uncles might be discovered by the family could be connected to the crime. This is one of the lines of inquiry the Prosecutor’s Office is currently pursuing.
Meanwhile, the search for the young woman continues. Investigators have even carried out investigative work in areas near the Mapocho River, following leads about the suspects’ movements.
For now, Makarena remains missing and her two uncles remain in pretrial detention.
The case is still under investigation and neither of the two has been convicted of murder.
The great mystery is no longer only what happened to the young woman that night, but also what lay behind the strange relationship that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, involved payments from an uncle to his own niece in exchange for having sexual relations.