The Disappearance of Marita Verón

The Marita Verón case became a national symbol in Argentina's fight against human trafficking. It also demonstrates why a criminal case can be partly adjudicated while the fate of the victim remains unresolved.

The disappearance

On April 3, 2002, Marita Verón left her home in San Miguel de Tucumán and did not return. The investigation came to focus on evidence that she had been taken and moved through a network connected with sexual exploitation in Tucumán and La Rioja.

Published sources differ on whether Marita was 22 or 23 at the time. Because that discrepancy persists across reputable coverage, this file does not present a single age as an uncontested fact.

Susana Trimarco's search

Marita's mother, Susana Trimarco, conducted an extensive search for her daughter and gathered information from women who had been exploited in prostitution venues. Her work helped expose trafficking networks and later became closely associated with anti-trafficking advocacy in Argentina.

Witnesses described places where Marita was allegedly held or seen. Those accounts became central evidence, but none produced a verified recovery of Marita or a definitive account of what happened to her after the period described by the witnesses.

The 2012 acquittals

Thirteen defendants went to trial in Tucumán. In December 2012, the trial court acquitted all of them. The decision drew national criticism and was appealed.

An acquittal at that stage was not the end of the process. The Supreme Court of Justice of Tucumán later reviewed the judgment and found that the lower court had improperly assessed significant evidence.

Ten convictions

In December 2013, the Tucumán Supreme Court partially reversed the acquittals and found ten defendants criminally responsible. It maintained the acquittals of María Jesús Rivero and Víctor Rivero; another defendant, Lidia Irma Medina, had died while the case was pending.

In April 2014, a newly constituted court imposed prison terms ranging from 10 to 22 years. The convictions concerned aggravated retention and concealment for the purpose of prostitution / sexual exploitation, with different defendants found responsible as coauthors or necessary participants.

The two highest sentences, 22 years, went to José Fernando Gómez and Gonzalo Gómez. Other terms included 18 years for Daniela Milhein and Andrés Alejandro González, 17 years for Carlos Luna and Domingo Pascual Andrada, 15 years for María Azucena Márquez, 12 years for Humberto Derobertis, and 10 years for Mariana Natalia Bustos and Cynthia Paola Gaitán.

Finality and a separate line of investigation

After further appeals, the Tucumán court in 2017 ordered the convicted defendants back into custody as the judgments became enforceable. Later reporting describes the trafficking-related convictions as final.

Separate investigations involving people associated in public discussion with the broader criminal environment must not be conflated with the Marita Verón judgment. For example, federal prosecutors investigated Rubén “La Chancha” Alé and others for alleged money laundering and criminal association. Those allegations were separate from the specific ten convictions entered in Marita's disappearance case.

Where is Marita?

Despite the convictions, Marita's whereabouts remain unknown. In 2023, a new line of inquiry arose around allegations that photographs of a body may once have existed in a Tucumán medical or union context. Searches and judicial measures followed, but by 2026 no publicly verified discovery had established that Marita's remains had been found.

Reporting published on the 24th anniversary of her disappearance in April 2026 continued to describe the search as unresolved. The site therefore classifies this case as partial / unresolved, not because the trafficking convictions are uncertain, but because the fate and location of Marita herself have never been judicially or forensically established.

Timeline

1. April 3, 2002
   Marita disappears

   María de los Ángeles Verón leaves home in San Miguel de Tucumán and is not seen again in circumstances that can be independently verified.

2. 2002–2012
   Search and trafficking investigation

   Witness testimony and Trimarco's search lead investigators toward prostitution venues and alleged trafficking networks in Tucumán and La Rioja.

3. December 2012
   All trial defendants are acquitted

   The first trial ends in acquittals for the 13 defendants, triggering appeals and widespread criticism.

4. December 2013
   Tucumán Supreme Court reverses part of the judgment

   The provincial high court convicts ten defendants and maintains two acquittals; one defendant had died.

5. April 2014
   Sentences of 10 to 22 years

   A new panel fixes the prison terms for the ten convicted defendants.

6. 2017
   Convictions become enforceable

   The provincial high court rejects further relief and the convicted defendants are ordered back into custody.

7. April 2026
   Still missing after 24 years

   Current anniversary coverage confirms that Marita's whereabouts remain unknown despite the trafficking convictions.