Murdered Ecuadorian Beauty Queen May Have Led Killers to Her Location by Posting Food Photo on Instagram: Report
A former Miss Ecuador contestant was killed in a restaurant just minutes after she posted an image of her meal to social media, according to reports.
Landy Párraga, 23, who allegedly had links to an Ecuadorian crime boss, was fatally gunned down while eating at a shopping centre in Quevedo, Ecuador, on Sunday, April 28, according to sources.
Párraga, who placed fifth in the 2022 Miss Ecuador pageant, posted a photo of the octopus ceviche she ordered at the restaurant to her 173,000 followers on her Instagram Stories, according to sources.
Shortly after posting the image, two armed gunmen entered the restaurant and reportedly shot her three times before they fled the scene.
The shooting was captured on cameras inside the restaurant and showed Párraga standing at a table next to another person before the gunmen entered and started firing.
The beauty queen reportedly had links to Ecuadorian drug trafficker Leandro Norero, as she was mentioned in text messages obtained on his phone, according to sources. The conversations were found as a part of Operation Metastasis, an investigation that seeks to find criminals accused of corrupting Ecuadorian state officials.
Investigators found photos of the businesswoman and beauty queen on Norero’s phone, along with evidence that he had given her expensive gifts like apartments and cars, sources reported.
It was also implied in his messages that he had a relationship with Párraga outside of his marriage and had messaged his lawyer Heliver Angulo to say, “her name cannot come out anywhere. Otherwise, my world will come crashing down,” per reports.
Párraga also reportedly ran a sports clothing label and a goods-importing business, which authorities are investigating to see whether it was tied to Norero, according to the outlet.
Norero himself was killed in a prison riot about 18 months ago, and some of his known associates, including Angulo, are being prosecuted as a part of Operation Metastasis, sources reported.
Since Daniel Noboa became president of Ecuador in November, he has aimed to clean up the streets of Ecuador. He even signed a declaration of “internal armed conflict,” allowing the use of Ecuador’s military force to take down nearly two dozen criminal gangs and using military forces to regain control in prisons, according to sources.
