The family of Lizeth Marzano, a Peruvian athlete who died after being struck by a vehicle in February, has raised concerns about delays in the investigation against Adrián Villar Chirinos, who faces charges of culpable homicide and failure to render assistance.
Gino Marzano, the victim’s brother, said luminol testing and a technical inspection of the vehicle believed to have hit his sister were not carried out until four months after the incident, even though he said those procedures should have been completed as soon as the vehicle was handed over to authorities.
He said the tests found no traces of blood inside or outside the vehicle, but that parts recovered during the investigation did match the car involved in the collision.
A closed hearing was held Friday to expand the statement of Adrián Villar, who has been held in preventive detention for nine months at Castro Castro prison in San Juan de Lurigancho. The hearing was requested by the Marzano family’s legal team.
The family also called for additional investigative steps before the preliminary investigation phase closes, with its deadline set for late August. Villar’s preventive detention runs until December, and the family said they fear that delays in pending procedures could lead to his release before the case is fully resolved.
The family additionally asked that members of the Montenegro family be included in the investigation, citing security camera footage that showed Villar meeting with his father, Rubén Villar; his stepmother, Marisel Linares; his then-partner, Francesca Montenegro; and her father, Juan Montenegro. The family’s lawyers also asked that the role of police officers in the case proceedings be examined.
The incident occurred on the night of February 17, when Marzano was exercising on Avenida Camino Real in the Lima district of San Isidro.
