Approximately an Hour Later, He Died Inside the Apartment He Shared With His Family in Colombia

Chirley Mildred Hernández Rojas, a CTI investigator with the Atlantic section of Colombia's prosecutor's office, was arrested Tuesday afternoon in Barranquilla as the alleged mastermind behind the death of her husband, Aldemar Alfredo Avendaño Carrillo, an official at the Superior Tribunal of Barranquilla. She is set to appear before a judge Wednesday for preliminary hearings, four months after the case began under the hypothesis of suicide and the investigation ultimately pointed toward an alleged homicide. Hernández Rojas was detained by Sijín units of the Metropolitan Police of Barranquilla on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 25, on Carrera 45 with Calle 53, as she was leaving the Catedral Plaza residential complex, located next to the María Reina Cathedral in the Boston neighborhood.

It was in that same complex that Avendaño Carrillo died on the night of March 21, 2026. The man, who worked as a process server for the Criminal Chamber of Justice and Peace at the Superior Tribunal of Barranquilla, had three gunshot wounds. According to information gathered during the investigation, Avendaño had returned to his home around 9 p.m. after socializing with friends at a nearby establishment. Approximately an hour later, he died inside the apartment he shared with his family.

In her initial account to investigators, Hernández said she opened the door when her husband arrived and then returned to the bedroom while he remained in the living room drinking a six-pack of beers. According to that version, minutes later she heard several gunshots and, upon returning to the living room, found Avendaño dead. Sijín units of the Metropolitan Police handled the urgent procedures, and among the first hypotheses considered was the possibility of suicide.

The progress of the investigation and, especially, the results of the autopsy performed by the National Institute of Legal Medicine later led authorities to establish, according to the prosecutor's office, that it was a homicide. The investigation was coordinated by Prosecutor 23 of the Life Unit. Over the following months, interviews were conducted and material evidence and physical evidence were collected, leading the investigative body to request an arrest warrant against Hernández Rojas.

The request was filed with the First Municipal Criminal Court with guarantee control functions in Barranquilla, which issued the order against the CTI official. Hernández Rojas is expected to appear Wednesday, August 26, for preliminary hearings. According to information known to local media, the prosecutor's office will charge her with aggravated homicide and illegal possession of firearms as the alleged material author of Avendaño's death.

Hernández Rojas is a CTI investigator with the Atlantic Sectional Prosecutor's Office and is assigned to the Economic Heritage Unit. She had been married to Avendaño Carrillo for 16 years, and the couple had two children. She spent the night in the prosecutor's office's holding cells.