In 1988, Ecuadorian architect Mauricio Cárdenas Negrier carried out a shocking and deeply disturbing act when he sent six arsenic-poisoned cakes to his pregnant girlfriend, Claudia Flores, with the clear intention of terminating her pregnancy.
The young woman only took a small taste of one of the cakes, but her mother and sister ate the rest. All three women quickly fell seriously ill and were hospitalized for four long and agonizing months. During that time, they were on the brink of death, suffering the devastating effects of severe arsenic poisoning.Cárdenas was eventually sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1993.
However, he fled the country before he could be taken into custody and began serving his sentence. For the next 13 years, he lived as a fugitive within Ecuador, successfully evading justice. Astonishingly, during this time he even worked openly as a university professor, continuing his professional life while hiding in plain sight.He was finally captured and extradited back in 2006. He then started serving his prison term at El Manzano prison in Concepción.
Due to good behavior, he now benefits from a highly controversial daily release program: he is allowed to leave the prison every day and only has to return at night to sleep. This arrangement has caused significant outrage and deep frustration within the affected family, who believe that true justice has not been serve
