In compliance with an international arrest warrant, agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) arrested in the United States the former Guatemalan soccer player Pedro Julio Samayoa Moreno, his mother and his brother, accused in the case of the murder of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz, the Public Ministry (MP) confirmed this Tuesday, April 21.
According to official reports, Pedro Samayoa was apprehended along with his mother, Zully Moreno Barbier, and his brother, Eduardo Alejandro Samayoa Moreno, who are being held in an immigration detention center in Georgia, awaiting their deportation to Guatemala, where the justice system declared them in absentia in the process.
The Special Cases Prosecutor’s Office indicated that the arrests were made thanks to the coordination carried out to activate international alerts that allowed their location.
“These people are wanted by the Guatemalan justice system for their alleged connection with the murder of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz, which occurred in 2005. In 2025, the prosecution managed to have them declared in absentia, and arrest warrants were issued against them for the crimes of murder, obstruction of criminal action and false testimony,” the MP detailed.
The MP added that steps are already being taken to return the accused to the country, with the aim of placing them at the disposal of the competent jurisdiction to resolve their legal situation.
Claudina Velásquez, a 19-year-old university student, was found dead on August 13, 2005, one day after being reported missing.
The young woman disappeared on August 12, 2005, after attending a party. A day later, his body was located in a vacant lot with signs of violence. Twenty-one years have passed and the case is still ongoing in the corresponding courts, where the motives for the crime have not been clarified.
Her parents received a call from Zully Moreno, mother of Pedro Julio Samayoa, who indicated that she was talking to her on the phone when she heard her scream: “No, no, no!” Given this, Claudina’s parents reported her disappearance to the National Civil Police.
On December 19, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court) announced a ruling against Guatemala for the lack of diligence in addressing and investigating the complaint regarding the disappearance of Claudina Velásquez.
The disappearance alert for women known as Isabel-Claudina honors the cases of María Isabel Véliz Franco, in 2001, and Claudina Velásquez, in 2005, both found dead.
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