Millionaire Fernando Pérez Algaba’s dismembered body found stuffed inside suitcase along riverbank
The 41-year-old millionaire who was killed while vacationing in Argentina, left a strange message for his mom about wanting to clear his head, only days before his dismembered body parts were found stuffed in a suitcase, his head floating down a stream.
Police are still investigating the events leading up to the death of Fernando Pérez Algaba, the flashy cryptocurrency influencer and entrepreneur who was reported missing on July 18.
On July 23, his body parts started washing up on a riverbank. Keep reading to find out more about the tragic ending to Pérez Algaba.
Fernando Pérez Algaba amassed millions by renting luxury vehicles and selling crypto. The man, who had more than 900,000 followers on Instagram was also reported to have owned several companies, one that was accused of fraud, another that had no tax identification number, and a third in debt.
According to Metro UK, the man was struggling with debts, tax issues, and demands for money from investors in a “failed” cryptocurrency business that Pérez Algaba confessed had gotten “out of hand.”
Boasting about his riches, while claiming humility, Pérez Algaba falsely presented himself as a wealthy man but in real life, he faced multiple lawsuits as creditors chased him down for money owed.
Pérez Algaba had many enemies, and it’s suspected that he had connections to the Barra Bravas, a violent Argentinian group of football supporters that use mob-like rituals, and owed $40,000 to local gangs.
Argentinian news outlet Telam reported that Pérez Algaba received threatening voice messages from a man known as Iglesias, whom he reportedly owed $70,000.
“I’m going to kill you, I’m going to do something worse to you,” the message said. “I’m going to gouge out your eyes and cut off your hands so that you can’t have any more money in your life.” It continued, “I swear on my children that I have no problem going to jail.”
It was more than his hands that were cut.
Days after the man went missing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a group of children playing by the riverbank in the town of Ingeniero Budge found a red suitcase containing Pérez Algaba’s legs and forearm.
Three days later, his other arm, head, and torso were recovered from the same stream.
Using fingerprints and tattoos, police identified the body parts as Pérez Algaba and an autopsy revealed he had been shot three times before being dismembered.
“If they had shot him, I can think it was a reckoning, but what doesn’t [make sense] to me is that they cut him the way they cut him,” said Pérez Algaba’s brother, Rodolfo, who added that he was unable to confirm his brother’s link to the crime organization.
According to Argentine newspaper La Nación, clues were left behind on Pérez Algaba’s phone, suggesting that he felt his life was in danger.
“If something happens to me, everyone is already warned,” the source claims he wrote.
#Crimen | Fernando Pérez "lechuga" Algaba llevaba una falsa vida de ostentaciones entre Miami y Puerto Madero, pero su último negocio registraba deudas. Había sido denunciado por estafa. Sus acreedores lo perseguían hasta debajo de la cama y termino descuartizado en una valija. pic.twitter.com/I2v58ySQRz
— 221 NOTICIAS ● La ciudad en vivo. (@221NOTICIAS) July 26, 2023
Police are still trying to determine a motivation, but the discovery of Pérez Algaba’s death comes days after he shared a social media post about “evil people.”
“It’s incredible how there are such evil people in the world that while you’re thinking of helping them, they’re thinking of destroying you,” Algaba wrote.
But that wasn’t the only peculiar post. There was also one addressed to his mom.
Pérez Algaba shared: “Hello, mum, I needed to clear my head as always.” The now deleted post continued to say that while “clearing” his “head,” he had a revelation. “From here, I am realising two things: that we can’t escape from problems and that problems will follow us.”
Meanwhile, Rodolfo reflects on his dead brother’s youth: “He started as a boy delivering pizza, but no one says that at about 17 years old my father died and left an inheritance, which we all collect.” Rodolfo continued, “In other words, my mother, I, he received an inheritance and that’s how he started to do another kind of business buying low-end cars.”
Explaining that his brother was receiving treatment for anxiety, Rodolfo added that he hopes the suspect is soon found.
“I’ve been [Argentina] for three days and hardly sleep, thinking, breaking my head, how could this happen,” Rodolfo said after his brother’s body parts were recovered. “But I’m not going to sit still, I’m not going to do justice with my own hands, but I hope that justice will be done.”
Nicole Chamarro is in police custody as a “secondary participant” in the murder of Pérez Algaba, and the family’s lawyer, who insists the woman is innocent, said the homicide is still being investigated: “there are many questions that cannot be answered.”
What do you think of this disturbing case? It appears the man was entangled with some bad people and businesses but still, it’s really sad his life ended so tragically. We send out best to his family in their time of grieving.
